Normalize taking trips by yourself

I had never been to New York City before this past week. It had always been a dream of mine to go, but the opportunity hadn’t come up yet. I took the chance when I got it for spring break this year, though.

My best friend was supposed to come with me originally. I was paying for almost the whole thing. She only had to cover her food and her registration for the event we were attending. Long story short, we’re not even friends anymore and she obviously didn’t come with me. No one did.

This is the first time I’ve ever taken a major trip on my own. I didn’t really know what to expect, but now, I’m itching to repeat this experience regardless of the side effects that came with the current global pandemic.

From my experience, people don’t think to take major trips on their own all that often. It’s typically something you do with friends or family, but I think solo vacations should be much more common.

It’s extremely freeing to travel to a new city with no fear of judgment as you figure out how everything works in that new environment. What strangers think doesn’t matter when you’re only there for a few days and will likely never see them again. There’s a weird confidence that comes with a solo adventure.

I was able to go wherever I wanted whenever I wanted. That desperate need for pop and French fries at midnight? Solved with a walk a few blocks away. I even got a cinnamon roll. There was no one there to stop me. The sketchiest looking gift shop in the entire city? Yeah, it had $10 t-shirts that were beyond worth the stop. I probably wouldn’t have gone in if I had company.

It’s also easier to pass as a native. One person walking around taking pictures with a nice camera and headphones in could just be a someone testing out a new camera or building a photography portfolio. It’s harder to make assumptions, and I appreciate that.

At 21-years-old, I still don’t always register that I’m at a point in my life where I can do things like travel to a major city on my own. I can book a hotel room. I can go to bars. That’s something I forget all too often, and a part of that comes from the fact that older people still look at me like I’m a child when I check into my room or walk through the doors.

It’s refreshing to go somewhere new and feign confidence in the way I exist there. It’s so much better to finally figure out what I’m doing, like navigating the subway or finally figuring out how to get to 7-Eleven from the hotel. I gave someone directions in New York City the day I left, and explained how the bus station we were at was setup. I didn’t have to second guess myself. I didn’t have to say I wasn’t from the area and couldn’t help. The several trips on the subway and the minimum of five miles walking each day in the city was enough to help me get a good grasp on things.

With the COVID-19 outbreak and no one accompanying me on this trip, I almost didn’t go. I would have missed a student media convention, a chance to see New York University, proof that I do in fact want to move to New York once I graduate and seeing a live taping of The Daily Show. Personally and professionally, I would have been severely missing out, so I’m glad I decided that I wasn’t going to let someone bailing ruin my plans.

For the next trip I take, I’m planning the details to go by myself. If someone else comes along who can and wants to join me, I’ll consider it. I’m not limiting my experiences to cater to the idea that I need anyone else’s company to go do things. I don’t.