'You truly have not lived if you have not been out on the road alone.'
On a recent trip to northern Italy, I was sitting at dinner with a few girlfriends. The restaurant was mostly filled with tables for two , but a few tables to the right of us, there was a woman dining solo. She was enjoying a glass of red wine and feasting on truffled pasta, and reading a rather lengthy book.
But what if a woman is traveling solo for none of those reasons? What if she is simply indulging in her curiosity for other cultures and looking for enrichment? Gasp! In this day and age, she's probably even married or in a relationship and just wants to get out and explore on her own. Solo travel is on the rise more than ever, according the 2015 Visa Global Travel Intentions Study, and roughly 24 percent of people traveled alone in their most recent overseas vacation .
Let's start with the fears. Travel, solo or in a group, is loaded with uncertainties from the minute you leave your house. Some are more grave concerns-disaster could strike , or you could get sick or injured. And, there are more trivial issues : language barriers, getting lost in a place you don't know, eating foreign foods, understanding social do's and don'ts in a new place, and even flying. All very valid concerns that feel amplified when traveling solo.
What made the experience unforgettable was not the worm, but rather, the fact that it was an extremely sensory experience. I was not distracted by companions and what they were talking about or how they liked the food, instead, I focused on every bite, every smell , every noise around me. I remember wondering if it was appropriate to pick things up with my hands, or if it was a chopstick-only situation. I remember watching the people around me and following suit.
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