I haven't posted in a bit because I was travelling out on the west coast. I had an amazing time at Seawheeze half marathon (more on that later) and fell in love with Vancouver, British Columbia. Who wants to move to the pacific northwest with me, haha? Taking the whole trip solo was a really great experience. I've done plenty of longer weekend solo trips including 2 last month, but this was the first time in a while that I was travelling solo for a full week.
Of course everywhere I went people were asking who I was travelling with and were a little surprised when I said I was out here alone. I'm assuming the feelings are the same ones I was having. People are scared of being lonely, feeling unsafe, or looking like they don't have anybody-similar to taking yourself out to dinner alone. I have some social anxiety which makes it a little understandable for me but still, people are constantly on their phones and rarely just sitting anytime they are on public transit or waiting for someone. The beginning of the trip during my couple days in Seattle was still a little stressful for me. I had some things going on in my personal life still messing with my head and was feeling a little insecure about being out on my own.
Obviously I had friends.acquaintances, and November Project people I met up with in Seattle and Vancouver so it wasn't like I was in a completely foreign place with no one. Still, there were a few days where the world was my oyster, and I had hours and hours to fill. I was also having a stressful feeling those first few days like "what am I doing here?" & "why am I spending all this money when I'm a broke graduate student?". There was also the big question of "What in the world do I want to do, today?"
Eventually post-race in Vancouver, I spent a lot of time outdoors and with the amazing views that Vancouver has to offer and reached a really nice place of zen that I had not found in a while. It was a very centering experience and has helped solidify for me some things that I was feeling anxious about. I am an awesome person and settling for anything in life is not worth it. I may be paying off this trip for months, but it was freaking worth it. My saying that I always tell people is that I'll never have time and money all at once, so if I want to travel-I'm going to make it work. That has been my feeling really since the amazing experience I had flying across the country to go run Hood to Coast in Oregon 2 years ago this month. Flying solo and being able to stay in hostels or Airbnbs nowadays also helps keep things cheaper!
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| Top of Quarry Rock in Vancouver, BC |
Also travelling solo became really relaxing. My day didn't have to be jam-packed scheduled with things. I didn't have to worry about someone else's schedule or figuring out what they wanted to do. If I wanted to grab a coffee and pastry and leisurely window-shop for a couple hours, cool. If I wanted to check out this art museum that I really wanted to go to it was great. I didn't worry about if others were bored or how long to spend at each piece-I took my time. Another perk was that pretty much any restaurant or place that had a bar meant not waiting for a table! I got okay with sitting at a bar and grabbing a beer to watch the Olympics at night. I love planning, but I spent a lot of time living in the moment and letting the day take me where it would. Jumping into plans I was just invited to turned out to be the best times of the trip.
As far as for Seawheeze I was in a Facebook group, and there were many "orphans" or people who were coming out solo for the race that connected and posted about meeting up for dinner or activities. I ended up meeting a fellow Baltimore runner lady for dinner after connecting on the Facebook group!
While travelling with family and friends is great, I really recommend that everyone travels solo even for just a weekend. I would also like to thank Google Maps and Starbucks free wifi for making navigating an unfamiliar place easy for a lady with a terrible sense of direction like myself. I saw an amazing part of the country and met some awesome people. Now the hard part is being back in the real world with school, work, and stress and trying to keep this little piece of zen inside me.
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This quote at the top of Grouse Grind has become my mantra for the trip and beyond!
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This post was linked up with my fave Friday Linkup ladies Courtney, Mar, and Cynthia as well as Nicole and Amanda.
Have you ever traveled solo? Have you ever taken a solo race-cation?
