I finally took my first solo trip!
Hey! I've been a long-time lurker of this sub and decided to finally take the plunge on a solo trip. It was very short and in Canada, so not a big change from the US where I'm from, but I'm still proud of myself for testing the waters. Honestly, I have pretty mixed feelings.
I stayed in a hostel with the hopes of meeting other fellow travelers, but it seemed like everyone was already in their own closed off group. I tried to introduce myself to a small group of girls in the common room, but when I asked if I could join them, I got pretty weird looks and a reluctant "...sure". After a few minutes of conversation it was pretty clear that I was unwanted. This was a discouraging start, since it took like half an hour to psych myself up just to go into the common room alone.
On the bright side, the hostel staff was incredibly welcoming and introduced me to another fellow solo traveler during bingo night who was great to talk to. I met some nice people, but I also felt pretty uncomfortable with the amount of attention I was getting from men. I'm a totally average looking girl, too, but it seemed like a lot of them saw me being alone at a bar as an invitation to get handsy. This has never happened to me when I travelled with others.
The worst of it, though, were the occasionally icy responses I got if someone found out I was American. I was asked about my opinion on Trump so many times that I thought my head would explode, and one dude was so rude about us 'americans' that the bartender stepped in and told him to leave me alone. This seemed odd, since the city is on the American border so I would have assumed they met plenty of Americans. Fortunately most people didn't see to care where I was from, but the ones who cared, really cared.
BUT you guys were right about how amazing the total freedom is! I loved being able to do absolutely anything I wanted. I didn't have to wait for anyone to be ready, I could stop into any cool shop or attraction I passed, and I even got to go to an NHL hockey game (something that NONE of my friends would have been down for). Also, of course, plenty of my friends and family thought taking a solo trip was a very weird thing to do. But I know you guys are familiar with that.
I'm still on the fence about solo travel. I loved the freedom, but I didn't have the best of luck with people. It was a very short trip though, so I think I'll give it another shot next near! Thanks for reading, I just wanted to share my thoughts on my first solo trip that was inspired by you guys!
Submitted December 20, 2017 at 04:59PM by ScaredOfSharkWeek http://ift.tt/2Bor73s
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