I don’t insist to be a solo traveler. I’m not a loner. Oh I’m definitely not.
It just happened from the beginning and it works fine so far. I have love and hate complicated relationship between solo travel for years, but generally I’m proud to be one and enjoying it. Although there is always a hidden side of the moon. Well, not so much hidden, just an occasional meteor shower.
Yes, sometimes I don’t really care for Solo Travel. Am I the only one?
1. I want to have pretty photos of me
Is that so wrong?
Whenever I look through photo albums… I don’t have a decent photo of me. Most of my photos are.. you know, my face is on a half of the frame and an arm is sticking out on the other side.
*sigh*
No, this is not the best moment of solo travel. No, I don’t want that to be my signature look! In fact, it is one serious downside of solo travel.
I want a memorable and pretty photo of me, in front of a gorgeous landscape, with a famous building but in a natural facial expression. When I posted this in Facebook, people said ‘just ask anyone-a good looking guy, preferably- to take a photos of you!’. That’s right and I did it, many times. But you know what? When stranger took a photo of me, I look super weird. In fact, I’m a shy kid. Almost every photo of me that taken by others, I looked so awkward. And often times, I went to a solitude places rather than a crowded one. Who would I ask then? To Treebeard the Ent? Well, I would if I could.
This happened, when stranger takes my photo. I can’t even look at it. I’m like the symbol of awkwardness there.
2. I want to joke
I’m a joker.
I kid and kid and kid. But I’m a serious person, believe me. Well, I don’t blame you if you don’t.
Though, I think I feel lonely when I don’t have anyone to share a joke. When I saw something, funny lines are passing by, and thought ‘oh! This is a punch line!’. I think this is more about desire to laugh together than just make a smart joke. What’s the point if there’s no laugh following after the joke, right? As much as I love laughing, I think that is it. And there’s this joke that ‘oh you have to be there’ to laugh. Well, I was the only one there, so it’s a not-shareable.
Yes I want to have someone on my side, because I want to kid.
3. I want to eat two rather than one
Greedy much? You might say. But think about it. When you travel with someone, you rarely order the same thing at the restaurant. “Do you want to order two different dishes and share?” is a normal and very a smart dialect. How nice? a) I have a company to eat together and b) I get to savor two different foreign cuisines instead of one. This is like experience times two! Of course there’s always the third option, just order two and eat as much as I can. However as a budget traveler, and as a girl, I think I shouldn’t do that no matter how much I want to.
4. I want to be featured
I like to take pictures without them knowing. This is a type of photography I quite like. Don’t get me weird, it’s nothing like that. When my friends are laughing together, when you are reading under the tree with a pretty sunshine, when you are watching the sunset, when you caught the fish, when you are talking to locals with a funny body language, and many, many more occasions. I consider this as the act of document the moment and vibe. I have quite a lot of great photos in this kind. And at some point, I thought ‘I would like to be in it.’ That was new. That I thought right after I took this shot.
I was and still am always ‘a girl with a camera’, since I can remember. It’s fine, I like it but being a single photo taker in the group means there’s no memory left for me except a pathetic self-photo with one arm’s sticking out. Especially it’s different when I’m traveling, and having a moment of my life. I want to be in their memory too, not the one who was behind the camera.
See? I told you it’s not a weird thing.
5. I want a second opinion.
No doubt, I consider myself as a seasoned traveler and a super independent human being. Though, I have moments time to time, that I want to hear a second opinion about things. Not only just shopping for clothes at a local market – well, to be fair, yes, I need someone more than ever with a dress shopping! But seriously, even though making decision and the implicit freedom is a beauty of solo travel, sometimes that’s just tiring. It happens; I am tired of being a super independent individual. Yes, it’s a weak moment and often a very short one too. But it’s there, time to time. Maybe it’s because I miss human interaction. Just a tiny bit but I miss it.
What do you think? Are you a fan of solo travel and sometimes don’t really care for it?
It’s just a moment of weakness, but it happens.
Do you agree?
