Why Traveling Solo is Something EVERYONE SHOULD TRY

As I write this, I am sitting window-side at a café on a hill somewhere in Lisbon… sipping champagne (that I got for free). The table is delicately decorated with a white flower, salt and pepper shaker, and some napkins neatly tucked into an old glass. My open window looks out onto a hill, where lies a pretty pink building  covered in vines. 

I am in heaven.

All week since I’ve arrived here, I’ve been quiet. I stroll through the charming streets of Lisbon, breathing in the ocean air and relishing the silent sun on my skin. Everyday I pick up a pasteis de nata and espresso, convinced that somehow each is better than the last. When night falls, I run out to one of the famous miradouros, or viewpoints in Portuguese, and watch the sunset with a glass of white wine, and write. 

A few times a year, I find it necessary to not speak for some time. No information leaves my mouth and no opinions enter my brain. Instead, I let my thoughts flow as they please - from one conversation to another. The only times I interrupt it is to order a delicious espresso, or read yet another romance novel that I’ve bootlegged off the internet. For the entire time that I am here, I go where I want, see what I want, eat what I want, sleep when I want, and think whatever I want. 

I am completely, utterly, at bliss. 

So at bliss, in fact, that I have to consciously stop myself from literally skipping and dancing down the street. I succeed only a few times. 

When I tell people that I mostly travel alone, they look at me with a peculiar expression. One where they ponder if they should feel pity for me for not having friends or delighted that I choose to do so.  When I smile and confirm that this is, indeed, a conscious decision, they feel relieved and tell me how brave I am.

But is it bravery? When did enjoying your own time and company become a thing of bravery? Is it brave to face your own thoughts, and dare I say, enjoy them? To me it’s the most natural thing in the world. You don’t have to speak. You don’t have to hold conversations. You don’t have to put on any facial expressions for anyone. Instead, you get to do absolutely 100% everything that you want, at your own pace. 

The real reason why a solo getaway is so necessary (I find) is that you actually get to finish your thoughts, and then some. A passing idea you once had becomes a full blown strategic plan with end goals, visuals, and creative details. As I was walking through the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, I thought to myself that the reason why there are SO many incredible paintings with such intricate details is because back then, they had the time. 24 hours a day with no internet, no easy transportation, and not much else to do other than sit and get consumed by a canvas and an idea. While that thought might drive us to insane boredom now, I think there is some kind of beauty in it that we can apply to our current day and age. We cannot cut out work and we should never cut out the connections we cherish (that make life everything that it is, might I add) but we can slow down every once in a while. Allow the creativity that lives in everyone flourish, and come to life in whatever form that may be. 

Give yourself a long stretched out time to let your engines run at a comfortable pace, doing everything it needs to for YOU, and not someone else. Trust me when I say your mind, body, and heart will show you how grateful they are that you do so. 

When everything moves in one beautiful unison, your body gives your mind the OK to be utterly at peace.