Please read the companion piece to this photo. It’s one of the most beautiful posts on Solo Traveler.

Solo Travel in India: A letter from Calcutta.

Click on the title above to have a read.

Solo Travel in Paris poses no problems for me, nor should it for you.  Pre-planning mixed with a hint of spontaneity will combine to set the stage for a fantastic trip for one to Paris!

For Starters
A must, in my opinion, is to book a hotel with breakfast included.  This ensures that you will start off your day with a fabulous cup of coffee while getting mentally prepared to speak a foreign language.  Practice French with the morning desk clerk, plan your routes, and seek advice from fellow map wielding travelers in the lobby who will hopefully offer insider tips for your day ahead.

Stay Busy
Organized activities focus your day and help break the ice meeting others, making solo travel something to be embraced, not dreaded!  Sign up for a session learning the history of chocolate making (tasting included) at La Maison du Chocolat, book a wine and cheese tasting at O Chateau, or head for a concert at la Cité de la musique.  These experiences are great alternatives that give you the opportunity to mingle with locals and tourists alike while experiencing something nouveau.

Solo in a Group
Craving dinner companionship at the end of the day?  I have never been, but hear from a very reliable friend, Stuart, that dinner at Jim Hayne’s house is quite an adventure.  Strangers from all over the world show up solo or in groups and engage in repartee while dining on fabulous home-cooked food.  Jim seeks a donation only to defray the cost of the meal.  Anything extra reportedly gets passed along to various artistic charities.  The suggested donation is 25 Euros and there is no need to bring a thing – wine included!  Reservations can be made at Jim-Haynes.com.  What better venue for solo travelers to not feel alone in a foreign city!

Incognito and Introspective?
More traditional ways for parties of one to tour Paris incognito or to meet other people include museums and cafés.  Museums are an obvious choice because you have the option to take a guided tour to be with others or purchase headphones and go on your own if you are feeling especially introspective.  Cafés and Brasseries are the preferred places to eat when solo in Paris – you will see many a Parisian dining alone outside (no matter the weather) facing the street where it’s the best people-watching in the world!

Whether traveling alone for business or choice, Paris is one of the easiest places to amuse oneself.  The Joie de Vivre is infectious – go for it!

Two houses would likely be a bit of a stretch financially for most of us. Fortunately, there are less expensive ways to get a bit of space for your personal well being and that of your relationship. You can take a break and travel solo.

The right to be solo is for everyone.
Single people have no trouble enjoying their right to be solo.  They simply ask themselves: is this trip one for friends or is it my personal adventure? It’s up to them.

People who are coupled can sometimes struggle with their right to be solo. Yet very often it is these people who need a bit of time alone more than any. With responsibilities for children and a partner and possibly parents, they may never find time for themselves. They need a bit of solo time  for renewal.

I’ve also known more than one couple like Diego and Frida. Unwilling to live without their partner, yet frustrated when they have too much time together. These people have planned time apart. Solo travel is their way of meeting their personal needs.

Reclaiming the right.
There’s nothing odd about needing some time alone. Children do it all the time. They seem to know instinctively when they need to shut down, read a book, play a solitary game or just sit in a tree and stare into space. Adults need that time too. We just have to learn how to listen to our needs. Listen and take a bit of time solo.

Please tell me…
How do you tell your partner you want to travel solo.

Chef Oscar making Tequilajito - a signature drink at Hacienda Tres Rios

It seems that everyone has a tequila story.

But, for a moment, let’s forget the salt and lime, forget the margaritas, and take tequila seriously. As seriously as you would a fine scotch. Yes? Yes.

We’ll get to the scotch comparison in a moment. I want to share with you all my Tequila discoveries from my recent trip to Mexico.

Tequila by Day
In the heat of day on Riviera Maya in Mexico, refreshment is the most important function of a beverage. And that’s what the Tequilajito offered.

I’m not a fan of the Mojito. I find it too sweet and undefined. But the Tequilajito, which is the creation of Chef Oscar at the Hacienda Tres Rios (who were my hosts for this trip), is fabulous. Mixing crushed basil leaves with brown sugar and grapefruit juice, it is full of interesting flavor. Here’s the recipe and how to make one. Take note, in the picture above, Oscar is making a dozen at once.

Rachelle of InntheKitchen.com

Tequillajito

Lime – 2 1/3 ounzes

Basel – 8 leaves

Brown sugar – 3 tablespoons

Tequila – 1 1/2 ounces

Fresca or grapefruit soda

I watched Chef Oscar make the drinks. Crush the basil leaves into the lime juice, mix in the brown sugar, add the Tequila and then the Fresca and you’re done.

I highly recommend them!

Tequila by Night
The next evening, we were encouraged to expand our understanding of Tequila at a proper tasting. There was no lime or salt involved but there was a lot of Tequila. A lot. We tasted at least 10 types starting with the young and harsh moving toward the mature and smooth.

Like Champagne, Tequilla cannot be made by just anyone. There are 355 Tequila producers in Mexico and they make over 1000 kinds of Tequila. Just as there are different production methods there are also taste and color differences.

The Tequila Tasting.

We were first taught how to taste and appreciate Tequila. The Tequila does not burn when you follow these steps:

• Pour a small amount – 1 to 1 1/2 ounces – into wine glass or snifter.
• Swirl the Tequila in your glass to open the scent.
• Hold your glass to the light to look at the color. Clear? Amber?
• Rotate again, circling the Tequila high in the glass then hold it still to see how long it takes for the Tequila to fall back into the glass. As with wine tasting, you’re watching for how long it takes the legs to form which is an indicator of the sugar content.
• Sniff the Tequila with your nose about an inch from the glass so you’re aren’t overwhelmed by the alcohol.
• Take a deep breath.
• Swallow the Tequila.
• Breathe out.
• Notice how the flavor affects different areas of your mouth.

Without doubt, by the time we tasted the high end Tequilas, I was enjoying a fine spirit as good as single malt scotch.

Cleansing the Palate with the Sangrita
While we didn’t use this typical drink for cleansing the palate at Tequila tastings between each one we tried, we did get to experience the refreshing Sangrita. This recipe makes one litre:

• 400 ml Orange juice
• 400 ml tomato juice
• 50 ml Lemon juice
• 30 ml Grenadine syrup
• 20 ml Worcestershire sauce, Maggi and Tabasco hot sauce
• Sale & Pepper to taste

Mix together and serve cold. Lasts in fridge 3-4 days.

Please read the companion piece to this photo
Solo Travel with a Disability

Click on the title above to have a read.

An upgrade to a small (really small) motorhome has some appeal.

This summer I camped for the first time alone. I have camped for years and I love being outside all day long. I love hiking, a hammock and good book, building a fire… I love rambling the day away with no chore other than cooking and eating.

Now, to be clear, I don’t do interior camping. That is “true” camping in the eyes of serious hikers and canoeists.  I do the lowly car camping. But for me, the now solo camper, it’s safer than going off into the woods alone.

But is it safe?
As a solo woman traveler, I wonder how safe it is to live in a nylon house. There truly is nothing physical protecting me. What is protecting me is a code of ethics that keeps all campgrounds safe. People respect one another and their gear. Simple as that.

However, almost 20 years ago now, I experienced that code broken when some kids stole our cooler. The value of the loss wasn’t the issue. It was the breach of the code that was appalling. It was unheard of. How could they do such a thing?

So I have this in mind when I think of traveling and camping alone. The code only has to be broken once for an unpleasant result. Ultimately, I think that my ideal would be to camp using a small mobilehome – one similar to what we traveled in as a family during the long-term trip in Europe.

This VW Pop-up was our home for most of the 10 months we were on the road.

Renting a motorhome or camper
While camping is inexpensive, renting a motorhome can be quite expensive. However, if you go on the off-season it can be affordable. When we camped our way through Europe, the VW Pop-up cost the same for 10 months in the off season as it did for a few weeks in peak season. Amazing!

I’m hoping to make it to the UK again this fall. Last time I took Britrail everywhere, from Cambridge to the Lake District (beautiful, part of the National Trust) to Bath and then London. This year I’d like to explore more National Trust lands. I’m sure that, especially in the fall, there will be plenty of motorhomes for hire that are available at a good price.  So I’ll look into this and, if I make this trip, it will be a completely different Britain that I experience.

It’s kind of funny. If I don’t speak the language that’s spinning around me, I automatically speak French.

It’s not that I’m hoping that someone will understand French. It’s some crossed wire in my brain that says “if I can’t understand it, it must be French”. And it just comes out of my mouth if I don’t catch it in time.  Another traveler recently confessed to the same phenomenon only for him, the optional language is Spanish.

Clearly, I don’t have an ear for languages. Yet, I do manage to travel places where the language doesn’t resemble English at all. It can be done.

Solo travel when you don’t speak the language.
It’s usually recommended that first time solo travelers go to countries where they speak the language. After all, language is your life line for safety, food and shelter.

But when you’re ready to go a bit farther afield and discover the adventure that awaits in less familiar cultures, it’s important to have a strategy for the language issue.

So I give you… 10 tips for travel in a foreign language.

1. Learn the basics – at minimum learn to say please, thank you and  hello in the local language before you go.
2. Use hand gestures and sounds to get your point across. Read the Kwintessental guides to etiquette in other countries to ensure that your gestures and sounds are not insulting.
3. Have important details on a card in your wallet written in the local language – the address of your accommodation, the telephone number, your name and a contact person in case of emergency.
4. Carry a phrase book. I know, it’s old school but for many people it offers a level of comfort that other options don’t. You could also save a bit of money by researching basic phrases on the web and printing them on a sheet of paper before you go.
5. Go to iTunes and download one of many translation apps.
6. If you make a local friend at a coffee shop or grocery store, recruit them to be your teacher. Try to add a few, practical words to your vocabulary every day.
7. Learn as you go. Use the phrase books as a crash course in the language. Extract the most important words – the nouns and verbs — and use them to communicate like a young child does, with very simple phrases.
8. If you have the cash, hire an interpreter for special situations.
9. Be patient, stand back and observe. Many questions can be answered without speaking.
10. Build language lessons into your travels. Immersion into a culture and language is the best way to learn.

Number 11 comes from Jeffery, a member of the Solo Travel Society on Facebook.

11. Draw pictures. Whether on paper or in the dirt you learn a lot – you can  even get directions as he did by drawing pictures in the sand in the middle of nowhere, Cuba.

On a solo road trip, driving at night from New York City to Cape Cod, I was listening to the fantastic National Public Radio available in the U.S. I’m not sure what the program was but I was sure to note the person being interviewed. Chimamanda Adichie was speaking about the danger of a single story. (You can view her presentation on the topic in the TED Talk video on the right.)

She explained that when we are inundated with one story about a people via the media, those people become one-dimensional. They are all poor or uneducated or radical or, or, or… In fact, this is not possible. All cultures have their challenges and joys if we take the time to look.

It got me thinking about what Mark Twain said: “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.”

Why does travel strike a fatal blow to such problems? I believe it’s because it forces us to observe and integrate multiple stories about the people/nations we encounter.

The value of the many stories I gather as a traveler – not travel tales but the stories of the people I meet — inform my understanding of the world.

Next month, Meet Plan Go, an event to inspire and encourage long term travel (the type of travel that could never produce one single dangerous story) will be held on September 14th in 13 cities across North America. I’ve already written once on why this is such an important event in the post Should I Stay or Should I Go. The opportunity to gather a rich understanding of the world is another reason to attend Meet Plan Go and prepare for your trip of a lifetime.

To give you examples of how long term travel challenges the danger of the single story, I asked my fellow MPG hosts to give a short example of their own. I asked what surprises they encountered along the way. And how did travel produce multiple stories to round out their understanding of the world. Here are the responses.

Mike Cooney, Cooney World Adventure and host of MPG host of Orlando
During an around the world trek that ended in 2009, my family and I arrived in Vietnam with a predetermined view of communism, and left with a completely different opinion.

Vietnam’s form of capitalism would give any Western version a run for its money.  The sheer number of “mom and pop” shops at the markets and along the streets is overwhelming.  It proves that if given enough time, politics, ideology and overall quality of life can and does reach equilibrium.  Vietnam is a great example of this phenomenon, which is powered by the human spirit, determination and patients.  You can more at This is Not Your Father’s Communist Country.

Granada

Kirk Horsted, BreakAway and host of MPG Minneapolis
Whenever I return, folks ask, “What was the best thing about your big trip?” They don’t get it.  They want only the “single story.”  (Or—more likely—they just want me to shut up!)

Several weeks on the island of Grenada in three distinctly different locations inspires endless stories.  Grenada is third-world, but the residents are rich with food, history, wisdom, and love.

In my mind’s eye, I see a colorful blur of fishing, swimming, sailing.  Eating giant starfruit, armadillo, and stews.  Lounging with locals, sailors, and Europeans.  Being white on a black island yet feeling no fear.  Finding new friends, rhythms, and bliss.

Jeff Jung, Career Break Secrets and host of MPG Austin. Twitter, Facebook, YouTube
I arrived to my eco-camp in the Ecuadorean Amazon after the three-hour boat trip down the Napo river. This wasn’t a must-do trip for me but I found a cheap last-minute deal and decided, why not? At that point of my trip, I hadn’t been on the road very long and the thought of communing with the Amazon rainforest and its spiders, snakes and who knew what else did not thrill me. But, I also felt I needed to step out of my comfort zone.

Despite being welcomed by a large tarantula hanging out above my bed, I didn’t want to leave the camp on my fourth and final day. When the tarantula was escorted out of my cabin, so too was my squeamishness.  Not only did I commune with nature, I marveled at it.  Being surrounded by ants, monkeys, birds, butterflies, caiman and pirana renewed me rather than intimidated me. I learned that many of the assumptions I carry around are irrational and I’ll never know which ones are unless I challenge them head on.

Laos

Michaela Potter, Briefcase to Backpack and co-host of MPG New York City.
“I knew very little about Laos before venturing there on my 2007 career break. But having spent time in the chaotic-ness of Cambodia and Vietnam in previous travels, I didn’t expect to find the people of Laos so warm, funny, laid-back, and intelligent. Because it is not a popular destination in SE Asia, I was surprised by how many people we interacted with who had a great grasp of the English language – even better than most people in tourist-rich Thailand. Even tribe people, whose first language wasn’t even Lao, not only understood English, but also understood our sense of humor, which is often lost in translation. And waiters/students whose yearly income was $25 understood US economic policies better than I ever would. Just goes to show that you don’t have to be rich (or come from a rich nation) to strive for better education and global understanding. How many Americans even know where Laos is, or that it is the most bombed nation in the world to have never been at war because of America?

Sherry Ott, Briefcase to Backpack and co-host of MPG New York City. Blog – Ottsworld + Global Photography On Twitter @Ottsworld
First of all I think that long term travel really only challenges the danger of the single story if you are willing to get open up your mind to accepting the alternate stories. It takes traveling slowly; having your stereotypes be challenged; being observant.  I still remember the first time I traveled in a Muslim country and I went into a Mosque and thinking, how could all of these people be ‘wrong’; whole countries can’t be ‘wrong’ or ‘bad’.  The same thought struck me when I went to Asia and saw all of the Buddhists.  It made me really start to think about religion and what the core beliefs are.  Here’s the kicker…we all really want the same thing; happiness, safety, family, and do unto others as you would have done unto you.

My biggest surprise in uncovering a culture and breaking down stereotypes was when I was in China.  I had been traveling there for about 3 weeks, and it finally dawned on me – I never saw anyone eating a fortune cookie, nor selling one, nor referring to one.    I asked my guide why I never saw fortune cookies thinking maybe they were only seen in certain provinces of China.  He then told me that fortune cookies weren’t Chinese!  Wait a minute…they have to be Chinese…right?  Not so – most of the research actually tracks their creation back to the US and San Francisco to be exact.

Travel is the best education possible.  In the 4 years I’ve been doing it, I feel like my brain is a sponge, taking in new sites, smells, rituals that I never even knew about.

Lisa Lubin, LLWorldTour and host of MPG Chicago
One of my travel stories is not location specific. It affects all societies. Homelessness. While traveling in London, I volunteered for a week between Christmas and New Years with Crisis Christmas, an amazing program that not only shelters people in need during the holidays, but also provides fun, medical attention, and just simple human contact. I loved it. We often think of the homeless as drunk or destitute people that just don’t try hard enough. By spending a week with ‘these people’ I could see for myself that they were truly from all walks of life, all kinds, and going through all different kinds of struggles.  In just a few days, I knew many by name and they were now my friends. It was an amazing experience, one I will never forget and the main reason thousands of volunteers go back every single year. You can read more in Lisa’s post “The True Meaning of Christmas”.

Alisha, Small World Pursuits and co-host of MPG Dallas. Twitter: @alishaamr
I wanted to find out for myself about a part of the world I had never explored. I made my decision to go to South America. Chimamanda Adichie speaks about hearing how poor a family was, and that it was impossible for her to see them as anything but poor. I felt the same way here in The States. Always, I had heard only stories of poverty and misfortune in South America. I only had single stories. I soon realized that all we have are merely notions of what we think about others when there is no experience. I was surprised by the hospitality, education level, willingness to learn, the quality of life that most were able to live. It’s a pity that for so long I had misperceived notions. I have stories of people, of religions, of holidays, of truth.  This is the reason I travel. For freedom, for understanding, to constantly round out my understanding of the world.

Elizabeth Pagano

Elizabeth Pagano, Your Sabbatical and co-host of MPG Atlanta
“I sailed away on a small boat with my mother at age 31, looking for answers to my life’s questions at the time – Should I marry? What work am I called to do? Will children add joy? We sailed for six months, and I never found the answers. In fact, I returned to land life with more questions than I’d left with. But I also returned with a widened and deeper perspective of the world, as well as greater self-confidence. And that’s really what I needed all along.” Read more.

Lillie Marshall, AroundTheWorldL.com and host of MPG Boston.
I’m a Boston Public Schools teacher of 6 years, and Boston schools and students were all I knew.  Then I took a leave of absence from BPS to travel around the world for 9 months, and spent 3 of those months volunteer teaching in Ghana.  What an eye-opener as an educator and an American!  The students and teachers I worked with in Ghana were the best I’ve encountered in my life: hard-working, respectful, kind, and incredibly sincere.  I returned to Boston with new, sky-high standards for what excellence in learning and teaching looks like.

For those dreaming about long term travel, Meet Plan Go is an opportunity to MEET inspirational speakers and like-minded travelers; get motivation, contacts and resources to PLAN the trip of a lifetime; and start taking concrete steps forward to GO on that global adventure. It’s a free event. Please go to Meet Plan Go to find an MPG event near you. Though it is free, registration is required.

The companion post for this photo is:

Kissed by the Blues

Click on the title above to have a read.

This is from BB Kings on Beale Street, Memphis, TN. The best blues I saw was actually in Jackson.

You may also be interested in Women Traveling Alone Part 1 – Tips and Women Traveling Alone Part II – Destinations.

A twitter friend, @DSXmac, told me that she heard a woman say that all women should travel alone before they get married.

Interesting comment. While I don’t like the “should” word – it’s quite judgmental in my mind, — going solo is a good idea for women — and men — at just about any stage of life. Whether you’ve never been married, are married with kids, divorced, widowed, partnered with an empty nest… here are some great reasons to travel solo.

7 Reasons to Go

1. Discover yourself as your discover the world – before you get tied down, learn self-reliance, decision-making and how to organize your time.
2. Do what you want to do when you want to do it.
3. Have a last hurrah before you have children.
4. Discover who you are when you’re not responsible for children or a partner
5. Take a break from endless daily responsibilities and come back refreshed.
6. Build confidence after a divorce or loss.
7. Eat dessert first – do anything you want to do without being judged.