I have done a fair amount of traveling alone (gasp!). I am not sure why this tends to shock people so much, but when they find out I have traveled abroad by myself on more than one occasion their reaction is often something along the lines of, "Wow, I could never go anywhere alone. I would be so lonely!" I am floored by this reaction as I can honestly say that my travels have been anything but lonely. When traveling alone, especially in Europe, it is not out of the ordinary to meet fellow solo travelers. I have met people from all over the globe in hostels, bars, restaurants, train stations, museums, parks, bookstores, playhouses, on beaches and on buses. I find it exciting to travel alone and on the days that I haven't met anyone new I have no issues with going to a museum or a play by myself. It's really not as scary and intimidating as people think imagine it to be. No one stares at you funny when you walk up to the ticket counter and purchase an admission ticket for one. I swear!
I didn't realize it at the time, but all of this solo traveling experience came in handy when I first moved to Chicago. I didn't know anyone when I transplanted myself from the West Coast and it took awhile for me to make friends. In the meantime, because I didn't want to miss out on the things the city had to offer, I started doing things on my own. I attended plays, visited museums, went to the zoo, joined a wine club and a running group, attended networking functions, went to wine and food tastings. The list goes on and on and I quickly made friends through each of these avenues. I will admit, I was slightly intimidated to attend some these functions alone at first but I reminded myself, "When you were in London, you went to the theater alone and it was fine." Or, "When you were in Spain, you met that girl on the subway and spent the next few days hanging out with her in Barcelona and it totally was not weird." No one thought I was a big giant loser when I attended things by myself in Europe, why would they think that here? The answer is: they don’t. In fact, most people do not even notice you are by yourself because they are usually too busy Twittering or texting on their phones to even notice someone is sitting next to them at all… but that is subject matter for another post.
Anyway, I have been living in Chicago for four and a half years and I find that I still like to do things alone on occasion. My boyfriend also works nights so there are plenty of times where normally he would accompany me to an event and he can’t because he is working. Side note: I am going to give him mad props for sitting through the awful play I made him go to with me on Sunday. He fell asleep, but never complained once. He is so great. Ok back to the post. On average, I would venture to say I do something alone at least once a month (give or take depending on the time of year). Obviously, this has nothing to do with lack of friends or people to do things with. Sometimes I just like to do things alone. I call them “me” days.
I have decided to start blogging about these experiences because I want people to know that just because you choose to do things alone, it doesn't mean that these have to be lonely experiences. I also think that doing things alone has helped me develop social skills that many people are lacking. How many people do you know who can command attention in a crowd of people, but can’t hold a conversation one-on-one to save their lives? More than you thought huh?
So without further ado - my first recurring post series (how exciting!). A Single Serving.
