Rome & Florence : Why Solo Trips are a blessing

If I’m being honest here, travelling solo never really appealed to me.

I’m annoyingly chatty and excited and plan for days before any trip.

Not being able to share ‘that gorgeous 15^th century statue’ or ‘That light as air custard’ with someone wasn’t something that I could wrap my head around.

And then, somehow, I did.

Believe me – BEST. DECISION. EVER

The trip to Italy was a result of boredom (because hey! Need a vacation – everyday!) and frustration (because… well… need a vacation). I’ve been lucky to have some amazing friends who make the best travel companions. I remember a friend and I were stranded in the middle of nowhere in Prague and somehow managed to make our way back to the apartment; drenched in the rain; and fell into a pile laughing about the whole situation. (See? Amazing.)

But quite frankly, I was a bit tired of the ‘Heyyy do you want to join me??’ followed by the elaborate convincing routine every time I wanted to travel.

(Welcome to the sad singles’ club where group plans come to die)

Add to it the fact that I find it nearly impossible to get someone as excited as I am when I read about a farmstead in Sweden that serves waffles light as clouds ( Find the link here – sigh! The Bucket list just never ends!)

During one of my endless rambles, a friend suggested Rome and I was intrigued. If nothing else, I get to have some amazing Pizza…so that’s not all bad, eh?

After a lot of thinking (and overthinking), I just went for it. Booked my flight tickets – non-refundable and everything – because not only am I annoyingly chatty, I’m also unbelievably indecisive.

I decided to keep it simple – 8 days. 2 cities. History and Heritage and Hallelujah! Great food!

The planning bit is something that I am particularly proud of.

It’s the part I enjoy the most – reading extensively about all the fun activities to plan and places to see and food to eat. All the while frantically making notes and bookmarking pages. Call me crazy but you cannot find more comprehensive excel sheets on which places serve the best gelato in Rome (segregated by area and price range, thankyouverymuch)

( Psst – Don’t know where to start planning? I’m more than happy to help!)

I have itineraries for Spain and Iceland lying in my laptop (Wistfully wipes a tear away dreaming of plans that never materialized). Train schedules? Hotels? AirBnBs? Visa applications? Nothing fazes me anymore!

My research was exhaustive.

Useful Italian phrases were learnt, money was stowed away safely, hosts were contacted and bookings were confirmed. A long list of restaurants was finalised with everything from wood-fired pizzas to freshly-filled cannolis.

There I was… sitting at the airport… wide-eyed and waiting to board my flight when the nerves started to kick in.

Suddenly it was all too real.

It was going to be just me. All alone. In a foreign land.

What if I get mugged? What if I lose my phone?

What do I do when I stand in long lines for hours? Whom do I bug?

Whom do I ask to click my carefully maneuvered posey-but-believably-candid photos?

I’m glad that I went anyway.

As I sipped on some beautiful Rosé my first balmy evening in Rome, I knew I would be just fine.

I’m not going to wax eloquent about the details of my trip.

It goes without saying that both Rome and Florence are absolutely surreal. The food is sublime, the people are friendly (helps if you’re a single lady) and the history that surrounds you at every corner and every street is stunning.

Italy in July is unbelievably warm (Yes, I am from India and I’m complaining) and yet I found myself wanting to wander out and walk around as much as physically possible. I just couldn’t get enough.

There are a million things that could go wrong.

I had to lug my luggage around everywhere, stop and look for directions, track funds (hello sale season), make bookings and manage not to spill my fast-melting gelato – all alone.

I stopped keeping count of the number of wrong turns I took somewhere between Trastevere and Ostiense on the 5^th day. Same goes for metros. And buses.

But was it all worth it? Absolutely

Ofcourse it gets lonely sometimes. Sometimes you crave company, even if it’s only to split a large pizza. There are times when I saw something spectacular and wished that I had someone around just to share the moment with. I had to always remain alert of my whereabouts, look over my shoulder every once in a while. I had the Embassy contact and emergency numbers always handy. I had one eye on my purse and phone in places even slightly crowded. Because… no back up if something goes wrong.

 

On the flip side…

More often than not I had the liberty to adjust my itinerary as per my whims and fancies. With every wrong turn I took, I got to explore a new alley, a new part of the city and I just kept walking on. Any place that seemed interesting, I would just walk right in. Whenever I felt like stopping for an iced coffee or Gelato or even a sandwich – I could. Without a care in the world.

Because I was alone, I could open up and talk more to fellow travelers, listen to their stories and share mine.

I am not particularly fond of hanging out in large groups and partying like there’s no tomorrow, so it helped that I could head out for the solitary drink (well… mostly solitary) every night at my own pace (that’s glacier slow)

Most importantly, it taught me that I can do this.

I can travel and live and enjoy all the new experiences life throws my way – and I can do it by myself and I was going to be fine.

I wasn’t exactly travelling on a shoe-string budget and I do know that there is a certain luxury in travelling with a well-planned itinerary and confirmed bookings and some extra cash at your disposal.

But travelling alone is rewarding and comforting in more ways than you can imagine.

Don’t get me wrong – I would still jump at the opportunity to travel the world with a friend!

But every once in a while… I’d like to take off all by myself.

Because every once in a while I’d need some time just for myself.

Just me… and maybe those cloud-like waffles.

Someday…