{"id":3069,"date":"2013-06-02T15:37:21","date_gmt":"2013-06-02T15:37:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ididgo.com\/?p=3069"},"modified":"2013-06-02T15:42:10","modified_gmt":"2013-06-02T15:42:10","slug":"when-traveling-alone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ididgo.com\/?p=3069","title":{"rendered":"When Traveling Alone"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Travelling alone is a right of passage for many.\u00a0 It’s not for everyone.\u00a0 You need to understand your personal boundaries and learn to be okay with yourself.\u00a0 How can you – how will you enjoy the sights, sounds and smells of your new city?\u00a0 How will you take pictures of yourself at these great landmarks – table for 1?\u00a0 How can you feel safe after dark or even in light?\u00a0 When you see something so amazing – who do you turn to, squeeze their arm and say “did you see that”.<\/p>\n

I embarked on my first European adventure years ago – the story is not fresh but very share worthy.\u00a0 London, Berlin, Budapest, Amsterdam and Italy (Pisa, Florence and Rome).\u00a0 I planned it carefully, I wanted this to be the ultimate trip.\u00a0 I was meeting friends in London, meeting my friend in Budapest, meeting my sister in Amsterdam, and proceeding to Berlin with her ..but who would I be meeting in Italy?\u00a0 Who go to Italy with me?\u00a0 I desperately wanted Italy on my itinerary – Could I?\u00a0 Should I?\u00a0 Would I? Were all questions than ran through my mind.\u00a0 Could I conquer this “brave old world country” alone?\u00a0 I don’t speak Italian and I don’t have a lot of money so it would be budget all the way.\u00a0 I was a little shy and the idea of speaking to strangers was terrifying.\u00a0 These are all the thoughts that danced in my head (what happened to the sugar plums?).<\/p>\n

After a considerable amount of thought and reflection I\u00a0realized that I am a grown a$$ woman- I could do this and I could survive – and then I realized that was the error in my logic –\u00a0I will do this and I will survive<\/span><\/b>.\u00a0 Booked.\u00a0 Another one for the bucket list.<\/p>\n

I left Berlin (alone), took a train to the airport (alone), boarded a plane to Pisa (alone), stayed there for a night and explored the city (alone),\u00a0 took another train to Florence (alone).\u00a0\u00a0 All this aloneness and I survived.\u00a0 I was the girl in university and high school who travelled to the ladies room in group.\u00a0 This was huge for me.<\/p>\n

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Florence was amazing.\u00a0 I loved every single minute of it, especially the gelato.\u00a0 When travelling alone I lay off the wine and limit to one glass.\u00a0 Safe travels are good travels.\u00a0 The Statue of David, the Bell Tower, Foundation of Neptune, Piazza di Santa Maria Novella, the Uffizi, and Ponte Vecchio to name a few of the memorable attractions for me.\u00a0 Florence is definitely a walkable site. Tip #1- Do walk about – get lost and enjoy finding your way back (in day light of course).<\/p>\n

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Off to Rome – Glory Glory.\u00a0 I’m big and I’m bad.\u00a0 I’m enjoying this alone time.\u00a0 My trip – my pace- my time.\u00a0 I arrive at my hostel (after taking the train from Florence to Rome – did I mention – alone?). \u00a0It was a little confusing getting there but I figured it out. \u00a0As I approach the oversized door, walk through the courtyard and go up the stairs I’m thinking this is a nice place, people are looking approachable and friendly.<\/p>\n

There is a lounge area, maybe I can even go in and speak to some fellow travelers. \u00a0We can share stories and enjoy some laughs. I have a new sense of confidence – so I was ready to take a step or two out of the comfort zone.\u00a0 I proceed to the check in and provide my name and reception proceeds to walk me out and then walk me upstairs – not down the hall. \u00a0I know you are thinking this must be a multi-floor type of hostel with many rooms.\u00a0 But – nah – we walked out of the hostel and up to a private apartment of 2 “Nona’s” .. I began to call them “Mama and mama”.\u00a0 I felt like Mama 1 was 90 and Mama 2 was 190 but who knows – I was still in shock and horror and of course there is a huge language barrier.\u00a0 They proceed to show me my room, which was lovely and very clean.\u00a0 Everywhere I looked I saw religious icon’s and memorial’s to Mama 1 late husband. \u00a0There was no room at the inn – they overbooked. \u00a0The shock and horror – what was I going to do?\u00a0 Where was I going with my big bad self \u2026 this was pre-paid – I was at the second last leg of my journey and funds were limited – it was getting late – do I stay or do I go?<\/p>\n

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I stayed and survived! Would you have stayed?<\/p>\n

Making the best of the curves the travel gods may your way is the only way to go.<\/p>\n

I heart Rome and ended up having a wonderful time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Travelling alone is a right of passage for many.\u00a0 It’s not for everyone.\u00a0 You need to understand your personal boundaries and learn to be okay with yourself.\u00a0 How can you – how will you enjoy the sights, sounds and smells of your new city?\u00a0 How will you take pictures of yourself at these great [&hellip<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":3070,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1031],"tags":[604,988,1030],"class_list":["post-3069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-solo","tag-italy-2","tag-lisa","tag-traveling-alone"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ididgo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ididgo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ididgo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ididgo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ididgo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3069"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.ididgo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3069\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3080,"href":"https:\/\/www.ididgo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3069\/revisions\/3080"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ididgo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ididgo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ididgo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ididgo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}