Solo Travellers
I travelled solo for the first time – and I’d do it again in a heartbeat
Until fairly recently, I had never travelled solo. I was usually with family, friends, my sister or my former partner. I’ve always enjoyed the process of planning a trip with someone else, especially the chaos of it all when it comes to doing so with a bigger group of friends. The planning is what gets me the most excited for a trip.
One of the things I wanted to do for myself after my divorce was to challenge myself to fly solo – literally – in the hope that I would actually enjoy it. But I had two big concerns. First, as someone who loves company (and specifically someone who will listen while I talk endlessly), I was afraid I was going to be bored. Second, consuming my fair share of true crime podcasts and documentaries has made me slightly paranoid, conjuring up worst-case scenarios of what could happen when in a different country by myself.
But I didn’t want to let those concerns hold me back any more, so I started by picking a destination. Given that I was planning a summer holiday, I wanted to go somewhere where the weather was cooler. It also needed to be a destination that was safe for a solo female traveller, and one that wouldn’t require a visa (as the holder of an Indian passport, that was my biggest challenge).
After a lot of research, I chose Montenegro. A slightly left-field choice for a European destination, many said, but with a US visa already stamped in my passport, it was one of the countries I could travel to visa-free, and in retrospect, it was the perfect choice.
It was incredibly beautiful, rich in history, with friendly locals and great food options (as a picky eater, I had no trouble finding a meal – from delicious Italian to Greek and even Arabic and varied dessert options), and I would recommend visiting the country to anyone who is looking for a place with loads to do on a budget.
In the beginning, I kept mostly to myself, listening to music as I wandered the lanes of the old towns in the four cities I went to – Budva, Kotor, Herceg Novi and Podgorica. But after a few days, I got comfortable chatting to other people in tour groups and asking locals for recommendations. I had an itinerary in place and accommodation booked for the cities I was visiting, but travelling by myself meant that I could change plans at the last minute without having to consult anyone.
My days were full of activities, so I had no time to get bored. Coming out of my shell and talking to people was my biggest challenge, and probably the most interesting part of my experience. I met a child-free German couple who have spent the past 20 years taking cruises around the world, a fellow solo female traveller from Qatar who had undertaken the trip to get away from a break-up, a professional diver who had stories from travelling the world and a British couple who went to different destinations just to dive. All of this has inspired me to broaden my horizons for future travels.
While I followed the basic rules of safety, such as not walking alone through quiet streets and not staying out too late, Montenegro is among the top 10 countries recommended for women travelling alone, and I can see why. It is incredibly safe.
In the end, it felt like I needn’t have worried. Far from being bored, I sometimes found solace in a book or just enjoyed people-watching from a roadside cafe. With the freedom to take the days at my own pace, stopping to do whatever I desired and chatting with fellow travellers when I wanted, I understand why some people choose to travel alone.
I found peace in disconnecting and taking in everything around me without being distracted by company. While I will still enjoy exploring new places with friends, it will no longer be a problem for me not to have company on future trips. I’ve learnt that travelling by myself doesn’t mean I’m alone.
During his research, Menon encountered similar legends referring to an ancient race of “small people” who allegedly constructed megalithic sites across southern India, such as at Moribetta and Morikallu nearby in Karnataka, Sanna Moriyara Thatte in Telanganaand Moral Parai in Tamil Nadu. He speculates that such folklore could be a far-reaching cultural memory of ancient Indians recalling an extinct human-like species, akin to Homo floresiensis, the so-called “hobbit” species discovered in Indonesia who likely lived alongside Homo sapiens 60,000 to 100,000 years ago.
“We know the megalith builders were humans like us,” Menon said. “But stories of these little people persist across the region.”
For decades people have speculated about this image: American Girl in Italy, by the great US photographer Ruth Orkin. On Florence’s Piazza della Repubblica in 1951, a tall young woman in a black dress walks the gauntlet between clusters of suit-wearing men. A few of them are leering at her. One man grabs his crotch, his lips pursed around some presumably unprintable utterance. Almost all of them are following her with their eyes. The woman’s face is hard to read, though she seems aggrieved by the attention – if not outright fearful for her safety.
In fact, according to the woman herself, Ninalee Allen Craig, there was something altogether more playful going on – though she insisted, to counter another assumption, that the photograph wasn’t staged. Craig, 23 at the time, was travelling around Europe when she encountered Orkin, who was staying at the same dollar-a-night hotel as her in Florence. The two women shared notes on solo travel and Orkin proposed a photo essay on the subject.
The next day they jaunted around the city, Orkin snapping the younger woman as she gazed at statues, chatted across café tables and rode shotgun in an open-top sports car.
At the Piazza della Repubblica, Orkin asked Allen to walk the gauntlet twice. The first time, Allen “clutched at herself and looked terribly frightened”, Orkin recalled in 1979. “I told her to walk by the second time, ‘as if it’s killing you but you’re going to make it’” – and that’s the shot that was used.
Allen’s memory of the scene was much sunnier. “I was having the time of my life,” she told CNN in 2017, the year before she died aged 90. “I was Beatrice walking through the streets of Florence.” In an interview with the Guardian she said the image “has been interpreted in a sinister way but it was quite the opposite. [The men] were having fun and so was I.”
Orkin’s photographs of Allen were published in Cosmopolitan in 1952. The article, featuring tips on “money, men and morals to see you through a gay trip and a safe one”, was entitled Don’t Be Afraid to Travel Alone.
New York – New York, a show of photographs by Ruth Orkin, will be at CDIS / PhotoEspaña in Santander from 18 July to 18 October
Stressed about your office commute? Burnt out from long weeks at your desk? Maybe you need to move to one of the best countries for work-life balance. Remote, a global HR platform used by some of the world’s largest brands, has studied the working culture of the 60 highest-GDP nations around the world, to highlight countries that seemingly get it right when it comes to a healthy “life-work” balance. While you’re more likely to see the term styled as “work-life balance,” the stylistic choice reflects Remote’s view that this is a miscalculation: “The attitude should be life first, work second.”
Remote’s study factors in statutory annual leave, minimum statutory sick pay percentage, paid maternity leave and payment rate, minimum wage, healthcare system, happiness index, average hours worked per week, and LGBTQ+ inclusivity. Below are the 10 countries in the world right now that perfectly strike the balance between life and work.
A version of this article originally appeared on Condé Nast Traveller UK. For the full list of results, visit remote.com.
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