Boldly Go Solo

A Titanic museum in Branson, Missouri?

There's a half a ship on the main drag in Branson, Missouri, with a Las Vegas-like marquee out front saying:

                TITANIC

                 NOW

             BOARDING

            9 am - 9 pm

A Titanic museum in the Midwest, hundreds of miles from the nearest ocean? I was prepared to be underwhelmed.

Instead, I've been talking about it ever since. If this museum was meant for children, I must be a big kid. 

I tapped out my first-ever Morse code message. ("Ellen in trouble"). I started a timer and stuck my hand in a tank of water set at the temperature of the ocean that April night in 1912. I was in pain after about 15 seconds.

I tried to walk on three different decks that had pitches of varying steepness, demonstrating what it was like to hang on as the ship was sinking. I needed both hands on the railing to pull myself up the steepest one.

Sitting in a recreated lifeboat, I pushed buttons and listened to the stories of the people who had been in them. I patted two real dogs - Molly and Carter - two King Charles Spaniels whose trainers at the museum talk about the dogs known to have been on board the ship.

Fiji fire walking during which "on the rocks" means hot, hot, hot

For two weeks before Sawau tribesmen from the island of Beqa in Fiji perform a firewalking ceremony, they have no contact with women and don't eat coconut. If they mess with "the rules" their feet are liable to get badly burned during the ceremony.

While in Fiji, I watched fire walking, not on Beqa, but the tourist version at the Outrigger on the Lagoon, Fiji on the island of Viti Levu. Now you can watch it too. (Funny thing, when the video begins, someone nexts to me coughs and it seems as though it's from the smoke you see.)

Read about the tradition of fire walking here. The performance sticks close to what is described. 

(And remember, "vinaka" means "thank you.") 

The population of Fiji is half Indo-Fijian, the descendants of Asian Indians brought to Fiji in the 19th century to work in the sugar cane fields. One guide told us that Indians have a fire walking tradition too, but theirs is religious, whereas the Fijian version is purely ceremonial. 

Either way, don't try this at home. And certainly not if you've eaten coconut in the past two weeks.

If you're a solo traveler at the Outrigger, or just wind up there to watch, you'll feel comfortable as part of a crowd, as you sit on steps that overlook the lawn where the ceremony is performed.

There's a nice vibe and be sure to stick around to watch the performers pose for pictures with kids. It's a hoot as they pick some of them up and hold them upside down or sideways and make scary faces or gestures. 

Video: Ellen Perlman

Shakepeare's Hamlet at Virginia theater festival

Get thee to ... no, no, no, not a nunnery.

Get thee to the Blue Ridge Summer Theatre Festival 2010 in Amherst, Virginia, for a staging of Hamlet. Well, less a staging, than a "fielding." The show will be performed in front of an old dairy barn and you, the audience, will sit on a grassy hill. In the field, as it were.

If you have to travel from, say, Europe, you don't have much time. The performances begin July 14 and end on the 25th. But all you folks in the Mid-Atlantic states have a chance. Think you've already seen Hamlet? But have you seen it set in Civil War Virginia?

I didn't THINK so! And being solo would not be a problem in the least. I could practically guarantee a friendly crowd, relaxed and happy on a summer evening. If you find yourself with no one to talk to, try catching fireflies as the sun goes down! There are tons of them out there.

For a taste of what to expect out of the performance read this story I wrote about the Endstation Theatre Company that appeared in today's Washington Post.

Photo: Ellen Perlman. Actors Catherine Took as Guildenstern and Walter Kmiec as Hamlet, at rehearsals.

Any piano players out there with a yen for solo travel?

Piano players! Come quick to New York City.

As of today, 60 painted and decorated free public pianos are set up in 50 places throughout the Big Apple, from the Metropolitan Museum to the Coney Island boardwalk, according to a blog post with a great headline: "New York City plunks 50 free public pianos."

Does anyone else see how great a solo trip this is for the musically talented? One, you have a goal: Get to NYC to show off. Two, you start playing and there's no way in the world people aren't going to gather and talk with you.

The Nation's Triathlon lets a solo traveler experience the city like a local

I biked to the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., early this morning so I could see the swimmers in the Nation's Triathlon. Having just done a (shorter) triathlon, I was curious to see how racers would get into the water and where the course was. 

What a crazy scene. 4,700 participants. Waves of swimmers starting every three minutes or so from 7 am to 8:30 am. Men and women of all ages.

While spectating, I ended up talking with several people and making friends with a dog who desperately wanted to be swimming along with the participants, the owner told me. It made me realize what a good strategy it is for a solo traveler to cities to attend events that locals go to. You get to see that city come alive beyond its formal tourist sights.

In Madrid, for instance, the locals go to Cibeles Square downtown after their team wins a championship, gathering around the fountain in the middle. I've heard some people jump in the fountain, or they have in the past. Security may be tighter now.

 When I was in Niagara Falls on my own, I learned there was to be a 5K race that weekend. I seriously considered entering it. I'm not sure that's the way to meet people. Better to be a spectator.

On the banks of the Potomac, I don't remember how I ended up talking to the woman behind me. She must have said something about the race and I turned around and responded. Or maybe I made a comment about being glad I wasn't in the cold, not exactly pristine, river.

In any case, it turns out she's a regular racer. She does it as a "hobby." And she looked it, too.

I asked why she wasn't in the race. It's because she has one coming up this weekend. The SavageMan triathlon. I told her about the 79-year-old woman in my race who'd beat me. She told me about the 82-year-old woman in her race who turned in a fine time too.

I asked why she was watching if she wasn't racing. She said she enjoys the energy, and talking with people. It's about being in a crowd that has this thing in common. The event in front of them.

I understand what she means. Everyone likes to talk about the things they're interested in or have experience with. And people in these type of situations are open to conversation. They're watching their father, daughter, grandmother or friend race. They're in a good mood. They're not going anywhere.

Top 10 cities for live music, chosen by travel writers

There were only two surprises on the list of the top 10 cities for music chosen by members of the Society of American Travel Writers.

When I saw the email about the survey I ran through my head the cities I knew would be on there: Austin, New Orleans, Nashville, Memphis. Several others didn't come to mind but were obvious choices: Chicago, Las Vegas, New York, Branson in Missouri.

The two that I wasn't expecting? Denver and Montreal. "Montreal is a hotbed of world music, and free music festivals," according to Nancy Lyon, freelance travel writer and photographer. As for Denver, "A concert at Red Rocks should be on everyone's bucket list...Red Rocks is one of a kind," says Kim McHugh, freelance writer. 

I have to say that music isn't something I do on my own much when I'm traveling. (Or when I'm not.)

I don't picture enjoying sitting in a smoky bar with a drink on my table and no one to talk to, or at a large music venue in between couples. But looking at that Red Rocks amphitheatre, 15 minutes west of Denver in the Rocky Mountain foothills, it seems like a place worth going. And one that might be comfortable for solo travelers. The great outdoors and all that. 

Anyone out there been to Red Rocks?

I don't keep a bucket list. But I could see why Red Rocks might be on someone's.

Arabesque: Arts of the Arab World at the Kennedy Center, a good bet for solo travelers

The singer Nawal from the Comoros Islands played at the Kennedy Center last night. The hour-long performance was free. Nawal's music is described as "Indo-Arabian-Persian music meets Bantu polyphones, with syncopated rhythms and Sufi trance." Not your every day radio station fare, eh?

Nawal was at the Kennedy Center as part of Arabesque, a festival celebrating the arts of the Arab world. My friend Sid suggested going, knowing how intrigued I was by my recent trip to Egypt.

It was a great idea and one that would have been a natural for any solo traveler to Washington, D.C. And, indeed, we connected with two people who had come to the performance on their own.

The Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage is a performance space wedged into the red-carpeted Grand Foyer, between the theater and opera stages on one side and the outdoor terrace overlooking the Potomac River on the other.

Every night at 6 pm, year round, a free show is offered. First-come, first served. (Get there early. There aren't too many seats, though you can stand at the back.)