How to stay sober while traveling and still have fun

I have gone back to hostel living; on top of always being the oldest one in the hostel, I am always the nondrinker.

When I first quit drinking, it bothered me that everyone asked me why I didn’t drink or told me to have a little it’s ok. So I stopped going out, and I stopped staying in hostels, or I chose the most boring hostel, and then I would never meet anyone.

I realized that was not an option. I love meeting people while traveling, I love going out, and I love to dance. If I stay at a hostel with zero atmosphere, I will remove a few of my life’s joys.

So I still go out and try to dance; I do it all sober. I allow everyone to ask me all the annoying questions; they no longer bother me.

The magic bullet for staying sober while traveling is a combination of time and desire.

What does time have to do with sobriety, a whole hell of a lot.

The longer you are sober, the less you care about what other people think of your sobriety. The first year was rough, I admit. Then the second that came into play was desire.

I desired not to wake up hungover or regret what I may or may not have said the night before. The desire to be hangover free and healthy was more substantial than my desire to drink.

It all comes down to not picking up that first drink; that is the rule I utilize.

Instead, I get a soda or lemonade, plus watching others get stupid around me makes me realize why I don’t drink, so all I have to do is wait until the liquor starts to flow, and then I go. Once most people are drunk or even getting tipsy, they do not know you have left or remember you leaving the next day.

I can stay out until about 1 am, but that is my absolute max. Usually, anything after 1130 gets messy. Last night we went out to play Tejo, and I was out until 1 am. I am still tired this afternoon.

I had so much fun, and I think I was asked to drink over 100 times, as well as why don’t you drink, plus a girl gave me a funny look. I said no and continued doing what I was doing.

People will judge you; that is something that you have to accept when you are the odd one out.

I have a lot of experience being the odd one out, being born the black sheep of the family; I now see it as another ¨oddity¨ that I possess and will wear as a badge of honor.

Sober fun is as fun as drunk fun, minus the hangover and drinking all the unwanted empty calories that destroy your skin, health and liver. No, thank you. Instead, I will choose a big piece of chocolate cake over a million alcoholic calories any day.

The desire and the time are my two magic bullets to staying sober and being around others who drink — also the confidence to say no, which will come with time.

Today I leave Colombia on a long bus from Pereira to Ipiales to Ecuador and slowly wiggle my way to Iquitos. Very unplanned, and all my fingers are crossed.

I post it all on YouTube also!

I have just spent a week in my favorite town in the coffee region, and I will be back here next year when my visa resets!

Originally published here.