A travel blog? Maybe....

Yes. It has been 8 year's since I last blogged. But I have been inspired by this blog post about solo female travelers over 40 and want to try to jot down some of my best travel memories and maybe be successful in documenting future travel in real time.

When I was in my early 20's I desperately wanted to travel and was constantly trying to get friend's to commit to taking trips with me but in the end they would always flake  on me. In the fall of 2000 I booked a trip to Europe through a tour company.  The itinerary was London, Paris and Rome.  It was not fully guided but tour company dealt with travel and lodging arrangements and there was a half-day guided tour the first day in each city and then you were on your own for three or four full days. I was so excited!

Then 9/11 happened.  The tour was cancelled. i was heartbroken but after a few weeks I thought "I can recreate the trip without the tour group!". As an added bonus the cost of flights to Europe dropped to about $250 round trip! I ended up going for about three weeks adding a stop in Switzerland and wine country in France to the itinerary. My mom was so nervous and made me promise to call her every single day. Did anyone else use ekit's international calling card to make calls from payphones?

That trip changed my life. I learned to be happy with my own company. At the beginning of the trip I felt awkward eating alone but by the end I was sitting at actual tables (instead of just the bar). I had moments where I was desperately lonely and after eating a bad eggroll in Switzerland I learned that people in France may ignore you if you pass out in a train station but a good Samaritan will step up and help you find am "American style" hotel room (private bathroom!) you can afford and arrange for a doctor to come to the room! Note: this was probably also the first time I really thought about what it means to have health insurance and wondered why the US doesn't treat access to health care as a human right. I learned that internet friends are true friends when my trip to wine country got cancelled due that bad eggroll and I needed a place to stay for a few nights before my flight back home from London.

And I learned that travel was something that shouldn't wait for other people. It is something you should as often as your schedule and budget allows. Traveling solo is wonderful! Sure, I've taken a few trips (or parts of trips) with friends since then but my travel companions always know my rules: I am going to do what I want to do. I will tell you may plans for the day and you are welcome to join me but I'm probably not going to ask you for your input on what we do or where we eat. Basically, this is my trip but you are welcome to tag along!

It was another 10 years before I went on my second solo vacation and while I dont' get the opportunity to travel as much as the women highlighted in the blog post I linked above, I have learned to make it a priority and am always planning what's next.

So what's next?  I want to reflect on the trips I've taken so far:

1) The first European adventure: London, Paris, Rome, Gimmelwald.
2) The second European adventure: Barcelona, Santiago de Compestala, Berlin, Prague, Budapest
3) The Japanese adventure: Tokyo, Hamamatsu, Kyoto, small Japanese town who's name I can't remember right now
4) The Costa Rica adventure: Playa Grande, Monteverde, La Fortuna
5) Nephew the first's 16th birthday European adventure: Athens, Rome, Venice, Vienna, Munich
6) The New Zealand/Australia adventure: Aukland, Rotorua, Sydney, Brisbane

And I want to try to remember to document future trips in real time. Trips currently in planning stages:

1) The mini European adventure: Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Ghent, Brussels
2) New the second's 16th birthday European Adventure: itinerary planning in progress
3) The African Adventure

I admit, I don't have a great faith in my ability to stick to this and keep up with this blog but I'm going to give it a shot!

posted by Toxigal @ 10:38 AM