The first thing I did when I decided to write this post, was to throw ‘How to start travelling solo‘ into Google. Back came 42 million hits and right at the top was one that had a list. Everyone loves lists so I took a look:
Wow…if I had read this list before my first trip alone I would never have gone!!! It would have scared the living daylights out of me! 😅 Of course one has to be safe but…sheesh….what a guaranteed way to turn somebody off travelling alone.
Anyway, I have travelled by myself so that must mean I’m a fearless kinda person who thinks nothing of booking a ticket to the other side of the world and then winging it? Right? [almost falls over while laughing hysterically].
Right, so I’m not that person. I’m an absolute scaredy-cat who suffers anxiety, has no sense of direction, is terrified of public transport and really shouldn’t go far without a responsible adult to accompany me. So how did I get to be travelling alone? Read on…
“Eng-a-land swings like a pendulum do, Bobbies on bicycles, two by two…”
You’ve got that song in your head now, haven’t you. Sorry ’bout that. 🎵 England was my first trip completely alone since my husband Norbert died, so I thought I’d put together some of my loveliest memories, and also share what I learned from the occasions when I turned into a panic-stricken idiot!
In Part 1 of this 2 part journal I left you in Lake Como. That was officially the end of the tour however I had booked for the ‘tour extension’ where a few people from two different tours joined together to travel on together. This meant that..again..I was travelling with strangers and this time, half of them did not know my story. So what happened next?
Warm, tropical rain was coming down when I left home, but the sun was already shining by the time I got to the airport. This trip began like all other trips in the past…standing in queues and sitting around in an airport. I’ve done this plenty of times before, so why was my heart palpitating a little faster than usual? Why was I experiencing just a little bit of trepidation? It was because this was my very first solo trip overseas.
My second foray into travelling solo was going along perfectly well and then it fell apart in 5 seconds flat! One minute I was sitting on the hotel bed to take off my walking shoes after exploring a new city….and the next minute the room started to slew to the right and the floor was spinning around my feet. Vertigo! Aaargh!!!!
This trip was a practice run for travelling solo. My husband and I had planned to spend our retirement doing lots of travel as both of us loved it, but since his tragic death, everything changed. Now my travel future would have to be about going it alone.