In my previous post I pointed out the highlights of my trip to Rome: the Colosseum, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, the Vatican City, the food tour, and meeting up with friends. Hanging out with some friends who were visiting Rome from California was a nice surprise since I originally had planned this trip as a solo vacation. It was my first time visiting a city where I knew no one and I was excited to experience a brand-new city completely on my own. While I definitely recommend it for those who really want to travel and don’t have a friend or partner to travel with at the moment, I would be remiss not to mention the challenges (as much as its payoffs) that come from solo traveling. But that’s OK. Nothing worthwhile is all roses!
True, I did feel a sense of accomplishment from planning a trip and going on an adventure of my choosing, and it also helped me feel a little bit braver in other aspects of my life, knowing that I could just make a dream a reality. (One summer in high school I taught myself beginner’s Italian by listening to cassette tapes I had checked out from the local library because I knew I wanted to travel to Italy one day). But I also felt scared as I got closer to my travel date and started to question the entire operation. “OMG! this is too Eat, Pray, Love for me! I should be saving money! Is it really going to be that much fun going by myself?” I told myself that I knew this trip wasn’t going to perfect, but I was determined to enjoy myself and feel safe at the same time. Once I arrived at that decision, it became easier for me to plan for a solo trip. Here are some strategies I followed and that I hope will help when planning:
Strategy #1: Try to book a hotel in the city center or an Airbnb en suite in an apartment rented by an Italian family. The key is to reserve a space where people are expecting you and you have the convenience of having people around in case you have questions or need something. A hostel is an option, too, but my backpacking days are behind me so I crossed that off my list.
I opted for having an immediate connection in Rome so I chose the Airbnb en suite. My host was a woman who lived in a large apartment in Campo de’ Fiore with her daughter and husband and they were offering two separate private rooms to Airbnb travelers. The room looked clean and, more importantly, the bathroom looked modern and clean on the Airbandb webpage (this is a biggie for me). Her Airbnb blurb was appealing from the get-go. She would provide tips on transportation from the airport to the city, a voucher for breakfast a local cafe, and greet me at the door to help me get situated in my room. I booked the room and it ended up being a fantastic find! My host had the best travel tips and food recommendations and I found it easy to communicate with her via WhatsApp if I had any questions that came up while I was exploring the city.
Strategy #2: Book a couple of group tours. The food tour was one of my favorite experiences. You eat a variety of things and you find out where some of the best restaurants are in the city. You also meet tons of folks! I met a lot of fellow Americans. There was a fellow from Chicago who was spending the day on his own because his wife was busy at a work meeting/conference in Rome. There was a young married couple who were visiting multiple cities in Italy for vacation. And then there was the Cuban American family that was traveling from Miami. As our group sat for a gelato break in Sant‘ Eustachio, the grandmother and I struck up a conversation in Spanish and she started to tell me more about their family vacation.
It turns out they had left Miami right after Hurricane Irma devastated parts of Florida and Georgia. The vacation was already planned and their property wasn’t severely impacted, but they did experience power outages. It was a big family vacation and everyone from grandchildren to grandparents were part of the trip. It was the opposite of my solo vacation, I thought, and I could tell that they were surprised that I was traveling alone. When the tour ended, the grandmother wished me safety and good luck with my trip with a “que Dios te protege/ God protect you” goodbye. It was sweet and I waved goodbye to her and wished her well as I walked toward the famous Sant’ Esutachio cafe in the neighborhood.
Strategy #3: Take a break from the English language. The ability to speak or not speak different languages certainly plays a role in how you experience a new city. I had been practicing Italian with my Duolingo app for a few weeks (and then I had that summer I taught myself in high school using library tapes, which counted for something thankfully) but when I asked for my first cappuccino with a cornetto at the local cafe, the Italian barista responded with an English, “I’ll bring it over to your table” and even as I said “Grazie” in response, I knew that I wasn’t fooling anyone with my Americanized beginner’s Italian.
Having grown up speaking Spanish, however, gave me access to other experiences and provided opportunities for connections. There was of course the Cuban American family that had blessed me on my trip. I also had a fun conversation with a Spanish couple while I was having lunch in a restaurant near the Pantheon. I overhead them speak Spanish so when they asked me something about the waiter, I responded in Spanish. They were pleasantly surprised. We then exchanged travel stories and I learned that they had been taking a motorcycle tour of Italy. The couple and their motorcycle first started their journey in Barcelona–where they were from–traveled on a boat from the Spanish coast to Italy to ride their bike to multiple destinations, including Florence, Tuscany, and Pisa. They showed me pictures of the bike and the places they had travelled to with each other or with their young children. The husband lingered on a photo of him with their children playing with the family on a beautiful beach. It was La Costa Brava in Spain, which he highly recommended. His wife agreed. For her, that was that most beautiful coastline in Spain.
Strategy #4: Book a day trip. I met new friends on a day tour to Mt. Vesuvius and Pompeii. We left Rome around 7am from Piazza del Popolo and took in the scenery from the Lazio region all the way to the Bay of Naples from a large tour-bus. Most of us were from the States or Canada. Once we got to the Naples area, we could see the volcano from afar and also the beginning of the Almalfi coast with the Island of Capri only a boat ride away. As our giant tour bus made its way around Vesuvius, the view of the coast became grander. Our first stop was the volcano. The bus left us as close to the top of the volcano that any vehicle could get, which made the hike a pleasant uphill walk rather than a challenging climb. Some people rented hiking sticks. I paced myself by stopping at the major lookout points and taking a few pics.
It was a this point that I started making friends–one of the fellow hikers who was part of the tour bus offered to help me take pictures. He was visiting from Alabama with his entire family. His family did big international trips together and he took the opportunity to do his own solo day trip. I thought it was funny how one travels so far to find oneself easily striking up conversations with other Americans. I’m the kind of person that finds small-talk difficult (yes, I am more of an introvert), so learning how to have a friendly conversation with strangers with no expectations was something that traveling solo forces upon you.
By the time we made it to the top, we started to chat with other English-speaking folks who had overheard our conversations. The guy from Austin, Texas was in Rome for the first time and was excited to check out Paris in a few days. A bubbly older woman who had a recognizable zest for life was from Toronto, Canada and, when we all sat together over a slice of Napolese Pizza, shared with us that her love for travel had bloomed after divorcing her husband of many years. After lunch we all boarded the bus and headed to Pompeii. There we found the eerie remnants of a Roman city that was petrified by volcanic ash and pumice, as Vesuvius erupted and killed its inhabitants in 79 CE.
We all marveled at the beautiful villas that once existed in Pompeii and the remaining stuccos that decorated the large rooms. The tour guide took us to the gymnasium and bathhouse, as well as to a section of town that was considered to be the town’s brothel area. My friend from Alabama (a fellow Game of Thrones fan, I found out) turned to me as we’re about to enter the rooms and said, “This is where Littlefinger would have lived.” But of all the rooms and passageways we visited, the most striking images of Pompeii included the volcano overwhelming the landscape behind this Roman city and, of course, the plasters of people. These statue-like figures captured in plaster show Pompeii citizens who were discovered in petrified form. Seeing how they crouched or reached out in what were probably their last moments of life was powerful and almost haunting. One could not escape the fact that people lived and died there.
Strategy #5: Enjoy your solo trip. As much as there are challenges that may come from traveling solo there are definitely pluses–so why not enjoy them? Wake up whenever you want to wake up. Eat gelato before dinner. Go shopping for souvenirs for family and friends at Campo de’ Fiore. Sit in the Sistine Chapel for as long as you want. Or go window shopping on Via Condotti and fantasize about buying some Prada. It may not be a transcendental experience like we see in the movies where your life changes dramatically (I see you Under the Tuscan Sun, Eat Pray Love, etc.) but it will be a chapter in your traveling life to remember and treasure. If you have any other solo traveling strategies please feel free to share!
Critical Chica 