Boldly Go Solo

London chocolates to travel for. Indulge!

Oh no! I missed Chocolate Day. It was July 7. No wait. U.S. Chocolate Day is October 28. Whew. I never knew such a day existed but now that I do, I sure don't want to miss it. 

This news comes to me via a fellow travel writer's site, Travel Diversions with Doreen. I write a blog on solo travel. Doreen writes one on traveling for chocolate.

What. Could. Be. Bad???? In fact, why didn't I think of that?

Doreen has written not one, but two separate posts about chocolate masters in the United Kingdom. This is hugely important information. I'd be remiss if I didn't relay this fact. Particularly if any readers are heading to England any time soon.

She says that Britain is leading the Chocolate Revolution. I have not fact checked this. But I sure wouldn't mind hopping over and indulging for the purposes of accuracy.

AND...be still my heart...when I went to the Rococo Chocolates site, which Doreen writes about, what should be at the very top photo on the home page? (At least as of today?) Torrone! (I can't be positive, but it sure looks like it.)

50 gorgeous bridge photographs to set solo travelers daydreaming

Take a look at these 50 utterly fantastic photos of bridges around the world. 

At first, I didn't think of this as something to write about on a solo travel blog. But scanning (or should I say "spanning") the photos stirred up so many memories of my travels.

I thought maybe it would do the same for you, even if you haven't been across or in view of any of these particular bridges. For instance, seeing the bridge in Venice - one of so many you cross as you walk the quiet, carless streets - reminds me how special a place that city is.

If you've never gone because you haven't had someone to travel with...not a good excuse. You could wander for hours on your own marveling at the uniqueness of the place and stopping for pizza, gelato, cappuccino (what's not to like about eating in Italy?!) Bring a camera and a book and take your sweet time exploring any which way you'd like. 

I didn't see too many other bridges I'd actually visited represented on the 50 Fantastic Bridge Photographs post. But as my mind wandered, I remembered Chain Bridge in Budapest. I got to visit that one because I had gone to Club Med alone, met someone I became friendly with and a couple of years later she moved to the city for work and invited me to visit.

Solo skiing in Davos and St. Moritz in Switzerland and elsewhere in Europe

If you're a solo traveler and ski fanatic, you might want to follow Gabriella Le Breton's winter adventure. Le Breton is the subject of a series of articles in Britain's The Telegraph, called "Single for the Season" about a single woman who is visiting 20 ski resorts this winter.

In mid-January, Le Breton was in Klosters, Switzerland, solo skiing her way at the "preferred ski destination of Prince Charles."

In late January, in report a on Le Breton's solo skiing I found on a blog called Travel Blog Land she was at Courchevel, a ski resort in the French Alps.

I've never skied in Europe. It's such a romantic notion, though. I imagine skiing into huts mid-mountain for hot soup or buttered rum. And skiing right into town at the end of the day, perhaps directly to the back door of my chalet?

I base my fantasies on one spring visit to Zermatt, Switzerland, where these things seemed possible, although I wasn't skiing there. I was staying at the Zermatt youth hostel (I was definitely a youth then) and several fellow hostelers had skis stored against a wall near the door. A few bucks a night for a room near the Matterhorn? Not a bad deal, whether you're skiing or not. 

Nice cups of tea in London, Edinburgh, Oxford and all around England

Feeling British? Like tea? Then celebrate International A Nice Cup of Tea Day, which I learned about on the Traveldudes web site. It's mostly a Facebook event, so if you're not on Facebook,  you're out of luck.

Which doesn't mean you can't celebrate tomorrow, November 28.

Pour yourself a cuppa, relax and treat yourself to some nice biscuits -- or cookies -- depending on your nationality. But if you find some McVitie's Digestive biscuits, all the better. Covered in plain or milk chocolate? You, my friend, are living large.

The British drink 165 million cups of tea daily, according to the Traveldudes' post. But tea for the British is often about more than the steaming brew in the cup.

It's about the atmosphere you drink it in. What you have with it. What you get to take a break from when brewing and drinking it. And nostalgia.

Tea doesn't have to mean something fancy. The way the fine hotels in London serve it. Yes, that's nice. But that's not typical. Plenty of down-to-earth tea shops and inns all over the country serve tea in an ordinary or even rustic atmosphere, without the bone china cups and saucers.

Is London safe for solo travelers?

"Is London an extremely dangerous place to travel alone?" This was the question posed by a "young woman traveling alone" on a site called English Travel Deals.

If you'd been in the room with me you might have seen my eyes roll. And a smile appear. What kind of question is that? If you go to London and nothing happens to you, you will feel like you are in a safe city.

If you go and get pick-pocketed, you will forever think it's the Wild West of Europe.

But to tag a whole Western city dangerous? It doesn't make sense. Is Los Angeles dangerous? Is Dallas dangerous? Is Oklahoma City dangerous? Definitely at certain times and in some places. Particularly when terrorists strike, which they have in many tourist destinations such as London and Madrid.

Advice for 20-something transformation is to "do things alone"

Doing things alone is the best way to develop confidence in yourself, your skills and your judgment. So says, a self-described life coach and Gen Y expert in a post on tips for transforming during the 20's. Or, really, during any stage of life where you are undergoing major changes.

But Christine Hassler's focus is on young adults. She says they often "travel in packs or yearn for a permanent 'plus one.' " She suggests they learn how to be their own companions by going to a movie or dinner alone, "or best yet, travel alone. Be open to discovery."

I was 19 when I headed off to the University of Exeter, England, for my junior year abroad. It was not as part of a university program. I had applied independently to the university and I headed off on an airplane, alone, landing in London's Gatwick Airport.

I'd sent a duffel bag of clothes for the year as cargo. When I inquired at the airport where to find it, someone directed me in such a way that I ended up on an airport road in the cargo/warehouse-y area of the airport. Lost. Confused.

I sat down on the curb with the luggage I'd flown with. And cried. Well, that didn't solve much. When I finished crying, I got up and kept going.

Eventually I was reconnected with my duffel. Signed some papers to have it trucked West to Exeter, a nice city in Southwestern England with a beautiful old cathedral. Personal storm over, and back in the airport once again, I started marveling at the differences of British English.

"Way out" for exit reminded me of a Flintstones cartoon. A woman helping me find my train into London said "shed-jool" instead of schedule.  Except the train schedule is actually called a timetable.

I got on a train (or was it a bus?) to London to make my way to my cousin's place where I was going to stay the night - he was also in England for his junior year - and was amazed to see sheep in the fields right outside the airport. What a crazy place this England was!

Long story short - things worked out really and I ended up feeling strong and in command. I'd made the whole year happen and here I was! Despite all the glitches.

The year itself was one of the best ever. I made new friends, mostly English, but also Indian, Malaysian, Swiss, French. Learned a new culture. Learned to eat fool and brussel sprouts and Cornish pasties and drink tea with milk in it. Learned what plimsoles and jacket potatoes and chokkie bikkies were. Played on the university volleyball team and traveled the country with those new friends.

Picked up a British accent. Sort of. (The Brits could see right through it. But when I returned home, my family and friends said I sounded like Mary Poppins.)

That was the last of my solo travel for awhile. But when I started running out of people to travel with years later, I swallowed hard and started up again. I went on a river rafting trip in Utah, as I wrote in my first couple of posts on this blog.

With each trip I take, or solo adventure I do - even if it's just one night of eating out alone during a business trip - it gets easier. Truly.

Photos: 1. Me in front of my dorm at Exeter University many, many years ago! 2. New British friends from my dorm, being 19 and silly.

Holidays for solo travelers from the Mail in Great Britain

Here's a fun read on solo travel from the Mail Online, a British Web site. The writer rounds up "the best" (that's subjective, though, isn't it?) "holidays for solo travellers." That is, the "best vacations for solo travelers" in American English (just taking the mickey, that is, kidding the British friend who gave me the heads up on this article).

Not all of the trips will make sense for Americans because they're based on British pounds and are geared to travelers starting in England. Nevermind. The article is a good basis for ideas and a reaffirmation that going solo can work out well for all types of travelers, including those who leave spouse and children behind.

Besides, how often do you hear about people vacationing in the Isles of Scilly, off the Southwestern tip of Great Britain, or hiking the Atlas Mountains in Morocco? It's a fun cultural experience for Americans and other non-Brits just to read the article.

I also like sharing articles like these so I can have other people say what I've been saying all along: that things often work out great when you take the risk of traveling solo.

In the article, a 29-year-old court reporter went snowboarding on her own in the Canadian Rockies because she was "fresh out of a relationship" and had no desire to go on a singles tour. " I thought it would be all couples, but there were only a few. It was really good fun and very bonding."

A 46-year-old divorcee who went to a health sanctuary in Thailand: "At the end of my stay there were six of us eating together – a German headhunter, New York museum curator, Italian lawyer, Greek fund manager and a lecturer."

I bet she stays in touch with at least one or two of these new-found friends.

Photo: Ellen Perlman. Thai buddha.

Couchsurfing makes an appearance in "US Now," a documentary on the newest uses of the Internet

"US Now," a soon-to-be-released documentary film out of the United Kingdom, is all about the new ways people are working together and sharing their lives through the Internet.

I was surprised and intrigued to see an extensive section about an American who tries couchsurfing. We follow our solo traveler as he finds his way to a London flat and knocks on the door. The host welcomes him inside. A scene shows them eating dinner together and talking.

It was useful to me for showing the reality of couchsurfing. I have to admit, I felt uncomfortable watching the two guys meet and get to know each other that first night. I was feeling awkward and I wasn't even there.

Couchsurfing is not like hosteling or staying at a bed and breakfast. You are there by the good graces of your hosts and you may or may not have alone time while you are at their houses. You need to be ready to interact with and share your hosts' lives.

And if it's truly a couch you're staying on, as opposed to a spare room, you may have no door to shut to be alone. Which is the point of couchsurfing. It's about "making connections between travelers and the local communities they visit," according to the web site. It's about your host being your conduit to that community.

If you want anonymity and freedom to roam as you please at any hour, or you're on a tight schedule, it might not be for you. That's the sensation I got from this one little episode. Of course, it's not a statistically significant sample...

On the upside, the American did seem to become an insider in London. In one scene, he's drinking with three other guys at an outdoor table. Yes, some of it could have been contrived because of the filming.

Still, it felt like a good view into the possibilities and realities of a couchsurfing experience.

Photo: Ellen Perlman. A couch in Amsterdam

Hoping your celebratory Hogmanay lasts until Ne'erday and beyond

Happy Hogmanay.

One New Year's long ago, I was at a bed and breakfast in Edinburgh, Scotland. The snow prevented a boyfriend and me from heading up to Aberdeen by train. All the restaurants were closed, except the Chinese ones. So that's where we ate dinner.

It wasn't easy understanding the dialect of the folks in  town. When our host told us it was snooie oot, we looked at each other. Then back at her. And just nodded. I don't remember how long it took me to figure out she'd said, "it's snowy out."

That was a year of firsts. A junior year abroad. A new culture. Trips to the Easternmost, Southernmost and Westernmost points in the United Kingdom. And loads of stays in hostels and bed and breakfasts.

That night in Edinburgh was my first New Year's in Scotland, obviously. I intended to celebrate Hogmanay at midnight and American New Year's at 5 am. Good in theory. Tedious and tiring in practice. Didn't happen.

Where's the "solo" part in this? Just that I would recommend a bed and breakfast for the warmth and comfort of a "family" away from home. Even if it's just a warm body talking to you when breakfast is served.

But our host in Edinburgh did more than that. That evening, she brought out Scotch in a decanter on a tray with a doily. And offered us home baked cookies and other snacks at midnight. I seem to recall a crackling fire in the sitting room.

Not a bad place to be, even if I had been alone. And perhaps she and I would have chatted more than we did that night.

To all my readers, Feliz Año Nuevo. Bonne Année. (Add your language here)

And happy, happy New Year. And for those of you in winter climes, enjoy the snoo oot there.

Photo: Cockburn Street, Edinburgh. David Monniaux

Good places for dining solo in London

A three-month-old blog I came across today has a post on London restaurants good for solo diners. I can't vouch personally for the choices but the descriptions indicate the blogger gets what solo travelers are looking for.

For instance, one restaurant offers reservations for a seat at the bar, a place where many solo travelers feel more comfortable than at a table for one. Another offers large communal dining tables. Yet another offers "quick and convenient" eating. See for yourself.