The Pleasure of Traveling Solo ❤️✈️
An introduction to adventuring alone
Solo travel is my immersion therapy. Every year, I pick a place I’ve never been, pack light, and go.
No agenda, no expectations — just a willingness to be.
For me, solo travel is a way to feel alive, to reach deep. To spend my time exactly how I want.
Lately, this has been the pursuit of pleasure and simplicity.
Waking when my body decides, lingering over long meals or long novels, swimming at noon (and again at night), wandering without purpose. Fleeting pleasures we so rarely allow ourselves — until we are alone, with no agenda.
The disconnection is a luxury. The intimacy is a luxury. All alone. At once full and empty.
I don’t take it for granted. The pleasure of a small moment in time. The ability to travel someplace all on my own.
It takes courage to be with yourself. To know yourself. To practice being yourself in the world.
It won’t always go perfectly. The silence can get deafening. The discomfort will creep in. You will discover things about yourself. But that’s the point.
For me, it’s spiritual practice. One that can encourage a new way of being.
Here’s a moment taken from my adventure journal…
September 2022; Hydra, Greece
I landed in Hydra on a friend’s cryptic advice: a good place to travel when you need a journey.
I had no idea how right he was.
On this island, time ceases its relentless march when there are no cars and there is no rushing. Strangers will become friends overnight. Impromptu drinks lead to long dinners overflowing with laughter, no matter your solitary intentions. Dancing until sunrise is an eternal delight. Morning walks are sweeter with a mug of coffee in hand, heading across the harbor. And nothing — nothing — is as liberating as swimming alone in the Mediterranean (day or night).
I stayed in an old captain’s house perched high on the hill at the far edge of town. Balconies overlooking the iconic port on one side, and the expansive sea on the other. From this vantage point I was afforded a front-row seat to my own unfolding. At this point I’d been tentatively mustering the courage to craft a life spending more time doing what my heart desires.
From this perch above Hydra, I began to see my life with fresh eyes—a longing for a softer, slower way. Just as wild and adventurous, but with a different rhythm.
I don’t think it’s any coincidence that a beautiful new chapter began to take hold after I started adventuring alone. This trip cracked something open in me. I left Hydra stepping out of one journey, and into another - continuing to root and to create my dream life.
So here’s my nudge: maroon yourself somewhere beautiful. Stay quiet for a while. Wander without a plan. Leave space for the unexpected. You just might crack something open in yourself.
I hope you too find such magic - in whatever form it manifests for you. ❣️
PS. If that place happens to be Hydra — go visit Josh & his book shop. Anything you need to know can be found inside.
Thoroughly enjoyed these rhuminations on your intentional meandering. Bravely enlightening.
👏💛