TRAVELLING ALONE

Travelling alone is probably one of the things I’ve done most in my life.

And some people find it strange.

“But you’re going alone?”

I am.

“And don’t you feel lonely?”

No.

Actually, maybe it’s precisely the opposite.

For some people, travelling alone might look like loneliness.

For me, it has always been a kind of reunion.

With myself.

At least once a year, I like to pack a suitcase and go somewhere where, for a few days, I don’t have to coordinate schedules, negotiate restaurants, ask anyone what they want to do or hear:

“But are we leaving already?”

I go when I want.

I wake up when I want.

If I want to spend two hours sitting at a café watching people I’ll never see again, I do.

If I want to walk fifteen kilometres with no destination, I do.

If I decide that dinner is at five in the afternoon because I feel like it, no one calls a meeting to discuss the matter.

There’s a very particular kind of freedom in travelling alone.

But there are also some funny moments.

Like walking into a restaurant and saying:

“A table for one, please.”

And noticing that split second of hesitation from the person standing in front of you.

“Just one?”

Yes.

One whole person.

Thank you. 😂

Or arriving somewhere absolutely beautiful, wanting a photo and beginning that slightly undignified process of choosing a stranger who looks responsible enough to hand your phone to.

Because travelling alone also develops skills.

We learn to find our way around.

To solve problems.

To make decisions.

To carry suitcases that, at the departure airport, we swore weren’t actually that heavy.

And we learn something even more interesting:

our own company.

When we travel with someone, there’s always conversation, distraction, shared decisions.

When we travel alone, there are moments when there’s no one between us and our thoughts.

And I like that.

I like walking through a city where no one knows me.

I like sitting alone on a beach.

I like observing.

I like deciding what the day will look like as it unfolds.

And above all, I like that strange feeling of being far away from everything and, at the same time, very close to myself.

Of course, some things would be easier with company.

There are moments I’d like to share.

There are photos that would certainly turn out better if they didn’t depend on a stranger with highly questionable photography skills.

But travelling alone has never meant, to me, having no one to travel with.

It has meant choosing to travel with myself.

And maybe that’s the difference.

Some people look at a person sitting alone in a restaurant, on a plane or on a beach and see loneliness.

I look and think:

freedom.

Because being alone and feeling lonely have never been quite the same thing.

And at least once a year, I like to remind myself of that.

I pack my suitcase.

I choose a place.

And I go and meet myself, somewhere in the world.