Shit You Should Know: How to Travel Solo

Throughout my years working for an international organization, I have had the opportunity to travel extensively around the world. This minor perk, while not fully compensating for the lack of salary compensation,  does translate into enjoyment. I have been to Barcelona for several months, Rome for a weekend, traveled to New Orleans during Halloween, went to DC when my Orioles were in the MLB playoffs, and recently Puerto Rico and Miami for a work-related sporting event. I will write another article soon related to my epic month of traveling that recently passed but, in the meantime, wanted to continue our segment on how to do shit. While not necessarily as tangible as opening a coconut, fixing a surfboard, or how to tape an ankle, learning how to best optimize your trips when you are by yourself is important to anyone who travels for work.

This segment will revolve around the pleasantries of solo missions. While traveling with a partner is certainly more enjoyable as sharing the sights of a city with another enhances the experience, you can still have a good time. It can be rather enticing to live on your own schedule (When you’re not working), meandering aimlessly through the veins of a city, and taking in the visuals without being hindered.  

Make sure to walk- While my sense of direction used to be nonexistent, over the years of living in a city known for getting people lost my internal compass has strengthened which has given me the ability to maneuver through foreign locations. Sure, walking has the tendency to get boring if you don't have anyone to talk to but you also gain a greater intimacy with your location. By being a biped whose eyes are keen on your surroundings, you take in a location quicker and more thoroughly than when you're distracted by someone talking about all the shops they want to hit or the stunning beauties they want to (but don’t) hit on. 

 Financial Limits- Work trips usually entail a per diem for food and travel but ,beyond that, you need to make sure you save enough money to enjoy your surroundings, which range from amusements, local watering holes, museums, and exhibits. By sticking to your food per diem and walking everywhere, you're not wasting your money on transportation and food. Make sure you also have enough money for a stupid souvenir or two. It sounds corny but every time you look at that hat, bottle of booze, t-shirt, or shot glass you will be reminded of that glorious trip.

 

   

    

    

 

       

h    Occasionally splurge: I’m in my mid twenties in New York. My rent, alcohol, food, and drugs are too damn high. I am not financially capable of spending excessively throughout an entire trip and waiting to get reimbursed. With that said, you should go big at least one night. Each city has its own geographically-unique food and some restaurants that might be more expensive than you would like are meccas for such dishes. Enjoy when you can make it, but make it a rare occasion, especially when it burns way beyond that per diem. I tend to experience those delights once a trip pending on duration.

 Get Away- The resort life is not for me. Growing up in a household where our trips more closely resembled death marches for 16 hours in the rain sleet or snow, I’m not one to be cooped in a resort similar to thousands of others around the world. Sure, some of the amenities might be different, but when broken down to their most basic state, all resorts have nice restaurants, a place to swim (whether it be the beach or a pool or both), a plethora of themed restaurants ranging in price, caliber, and interest, and several places to partake in heavy drinking. While they try to infuse the local culture into these corporate shelters, it simply does not work.  You need to leave the comfort zone and explore your surroundings because that's when you truly get a feel of your location. You'll be able to do this as you don't have to drag someone along who simply wants to "lie on a beach and do nothing". There is a difference between being in Puerto Rico and experiencing Puerto Rico.

Research- Make sure you've utilized every outlet to gain the most knowledge on local foods, restaurants, local drinks, and beautiful vistas whether it be from books, online, friends, family, and, hell even porn as the occasional solid back-drop. If you go to a location by yourself without any knowledge of the destination,  you'll end up sitting around watching shoddy Spanish speakers cheating on each other or fighting each other or eating each other. You’ll have no fucking clue because you do not speak a goddamn lick of Spanish.

 Don’t fear the Dive: Let’s be honest, the most native places consist of dive bars or small, family owned restaurants off the beaten path. Away from the sights and sounds of gapers and the over-priced drinks and meals, small haunts are where the locals enjoy themselves without being packed in like sardines or hearing the same story of the same excursion from different people every goddamn night. The food also has the ability to outshine the tourist restaurants. While the larger 4 star dinners might be cooked by high end, culinary-schooled chefs, the local eateries have generations of local recipes made to perfection. Their lives have been immersed in the local flavors. Plus, if you plan on staying a few extra days on your own dime, you could always find a townie and take her down for the cost of a few cheap drinks, which will provide some shelter.

         Finally, and most important, get the Fuck out of your comfort zone: If the locals eat some sort of weirdly-cooked and oddly-shaped fish, eat it. If they drink some gasoline-infused beverage that contains enough alcohol to unclog your drain and heal cuts on your hands from the inside, knock it back. Just make sure you end up with all of your belongings. If it’s the home of bungee jumping, fling yourself off a mountain with that elastic cord. If you get bored but are not usually that outgoing, make friends. It’s actually a great time to learn new thing about yourself. Trips are suppose to get you out of your normal drudgery. If you had a long day of business meetings, rally yourself by getting a small cup of coffee, drinking an energy drink, or finishing that rail the concierge sold you. By being in another country where the people might not even speak your language, you are already experience something new, exciting, but also slightly weird. Take full advantage when you can because who the hell knows when you'll be back, and without someone trying to hold you to some level of continuity and normalcy, you're free to explore. Man up.

-Kyle