ON TRAVELING ALONE
To travel alone, one must like being alone, like silence and solitude. It’s good to be curious. To learn and enthusiastically take part in the world. Read enough that you can converse with anyone about anything. Smile, be polite, trust yourself. Understand that the going is as fun as the getting there. Make every moment the great thing you’re doing. Look out the window and up when you’re walking. Look at the moon every night and the stars if you can. Notice how the day goes from one blue to the next, deeper and deeper till black. Catch that fleeting sunset light as it catches on bricks and buildings. Go around corners.
One needs only to open their eyes to let the adventure begin. By just looking around, not doing anything, one can observe miracles, drama and beauty. If compelled, take a walk, around the block and as you get more comfortable, a bit farther. Feel no guilt if you decide to turn back. Just experience the walk fully. Look around and you’ll have done enough. As a world traveler, you don’t need to go to every museum. Just get there and sit down. You can sit the whole time if you want. There’s nothing to fear. Appreciate the adventure without pinning too many demands upon it. Look at the sky, feel the wind, hear the sounds around you. Realize you sit in an exotic place unlike your own home. A place with eons of history. Be present in that. To do this is enough. If one commits to being still, to starting very simply at the beginning and being satisfied with that, then one finds it possible to take another step, to dare a bit more. Consciousness makes the journey easier. One finds they’ve gone farther because their eyes are wide open and they’re trusting and grateful for the present moments.
With a belief in abundance there is found luck. Trusting this, you can trust your instincts and the safety of the universe. Then something small can happen, a lucky break. The right word or person, direction or decision appear. Luck is the love of the universe and that is the best love to seek because it sustains one through all the unreasoned circumstances which can occur, helping one to see the harmony in all the apparent randomness and discord of our daily lives.
When traveling alone, don’t be afraid of your own counsel. It takes time to still oneself and be patient with the waiting and the silence. But, if you truly allow that to be your constant state and rhythm, you’ll find you know many of the answers and have the skills to navigate your way. Talk to yourself if you must. Carry all that you need to be entertained and yet, carry nothing at all. Make it more casual, like going to the market. A small bag for the odd bob. You begin to fit in. Women carry too much. What do we need all that for? Your day becomes managing things, preparing for disasters that without that bag, never come. You’re freer to move about, climb the hill, stay longer at the fair. Don’t prepare for disaster, don’t even consider that possible. Just choose your path and begin without worry. Set out bravely with faith that the world will protect you. Your fears can’t change your course anyway. What will be will be. Obviously, keep a considered eye amidst dangerous places. Be aware and thoughtful about yourself and surroundings, avoid obvious pitfalls. But on the whole, go and do what you like and be willing to adjust your pattern in midstream. There is often a fear of being alone, but it is such a valuable state in the human condition. This is the place where you get to know yourself; what you like, what you don’t, how to dream, take risks, try on different hats, see what fits. By not having the constant need for conversation, in periods of aloneness and silence, one learns what they truly want to say. Words have power and when meeting another, one doesn’t use them frivolously by talking about the past or worries or nonsense. One keeps their own counsel and shares discriminately. It’s best to listen. Then one can cull, often instantly, what kind of person you are dealing with and if you want to continue.
Practically speaking, I never check luggage, wear one pair of good walking shoes, pants & dresses that can be worn multiple days, a scarf and a hat, no toiletries except what can fit in that 3oz bag, and no jewelry. I have my phone which becomes the camera and my notebook, a map, and a paperback book. I also like to buy thrift store dresses that fit but aren’t special and leave them behind wherever I am. This way I come back with an even lighter bag or can replace them with new clothes I buy there. With such a small bag one can’t really shop and sometimes this is devastatingly hard. But a bracelet or a small thing satisfies. I go to have the adventure and move freely about the place. I collect memories and emotional touchstones instead. And I can’t stress enough that when one is traveling through airports and on buses and trains and going up and down stairs, you want your bag to be as light and unassuming as possible. Its benefit so outweighs any lack of shopping. I do research how to get from the airport to the city via transit and have a plan about what neighborhood or area I want to be in. I have made reservations and it’s nice but sometimes it turns out all wrong and finding the place can become more of an anxiety than just randomly picking a place. My random choices are always better than I could have ever planned. One finds the true lay of the land upon arriving and its easier to know what feels right. I rely very little on guide books and suppose I miss a lot of things this way but I also experience many unexpected adventures. When you’re running trying to find something, you miss all the things in-between. I literally let the city unfold in real time. And then I get home and read the books and am thrilled to be reminded of what I saw. I realize that this is only my approach. What’s true is that traveling is more about the attitude than the specifics. When one learns and knows their own attitude, the individual specifics will emerge. This has been my journey, graced and hard won.