Advice for inexperienced solo travelers 05/17/2012
 It's been a week since I returned from my solo trip to Isla Mujeres, Mexico. This is the second vacation I've taken on my own to a place I've never been before. I've encountered enough people who were surprised or mystified by my choice to travel alone that I thought it was worthwhile to share my experience and offer advice to others who want to travel alone but aren't sure how to do so. In this post, I’ll talk about picking a destination. Where should I go? If this is the first solo trip you're planning, then pick the place you've always wanted to go-- your dream destination. You’ve waited this long to go; now that you’ve made the decision, do exactly what you want to do. My dream trip was Barcelona. I've wanted to travel there for years. During grad school, I had no money for travel. Shortly after grad school, I had an income, but I never had a significant other or friend who was in a position to travel with me. I finally got tired of waiting-- who says we must travel in pairs?-- and started researching Barcelona. (More on researching later.) Where have you always wanted to go? How does my destination affect what I’ll do on vacation? (Am I sure I want to spend a week, 10 days, etc., doing what’s done where I’m going?) Going to an old European city?  During last year’s 10-day trip to Barcelona, I spent most of my time taking in art and architecture. The point was exploration. I spent a lot of time walking the city (I always prefer to walk). Barcelona is a big city and there’s easy rail access to daytrip destinations so I knew I’d have plenty to keep me busy. In addition to spending several days in the city, I took day trips to Figures (to the Dali museum) and Montserrat (a monastery in the mountains). None of those required advanced planning, but I did know before I left the US that I had plenty of options. Going to a beach?  Isla Mujeres is a 4.5 mile-long island off the coast of Cancun. It’s a quiet alternative to the grandiose all-inclusive resorts of Cancun. The island is a small Mexican village full of restaurants, homes, small hotels, and shops. There is precisely one Mayan ruin. The point of this vacation was relaxation. I packed more books that I could possibly read in 7 days. In Barcelona I was busy; in Isla Mujeres I was lazy. One thing you have to consider when traveling on your own is how easily you get bored and how adventurous you are in finding things to occupy your time. I was never bored in Barcelona-- I always had options. After two days in Isla Mujeres, however, I was not *quite* bored, but I was worried about getting bored. Seven days is a lot of time to spend reading and walking along the beach by yourself. On my third day, I happened to meet two women who were on vacation from NYC. We did a few things together over their last two days in Isla Mujeres. Nothing that eventful, but it was nice to make some new friends and spend some time in conversation instead of in a book. By the time they left, I had two more days on my own. I was content to spend that time on my own again. Were I to plan another solo beach vacation, I would probably opt for a shorter trip-- 7 days was a little too long. Another way to think about this is to ask yourself if you like to be alone. Or, how do you like to be alone? Anyone is capable of traveling alone, but whether or not you’ll enjoy it depends on how you approach the prospect of spending a lot of time without your regular friends and contacts, and perhaps around a lot of people who don’t even speak your language. If you’re all-out gregarious and confident, then you’ll have no trouble. I’m more of a timid extrovert-- I am very curious about people and the world, but I’m also guarded and cautious. I don’t let this tendency stop me from seeking new experiences, but it does mean that in order to feel confident, I like to know as much as I can about a new experience ahead of time. Doing so gives me enough footing to withstand my wariness. (In other words, you don’t have to be Rick Steves or Rudy Maxa or that Lonely Planet guy who eats fire with locals in Papua New Guinean hostels in order to have an amazing travel experience.) If you absolutely know you’d be miserable on your own, then you probably shouldn’t take a trip by yourself. If you’re wary about it but want to try it anyway, then this advice is for you. Researching your destination Before you book your trip Perhaps the biggest factor in committing to your dream trip is the cost-- Can I afford this trip? You don’t need to do detailed research at this point. Instead, you need a rough idea of your two biggest expenses: airfare and lodging. When researching flights, I like hipmunk-- they search all the major carriers (but not airlines like Southwest) and you can open several windows if you want to do a few different searches (put in different travel dates, look into different airports). The flight options are presented in a reader-friendly infographic that quickly shows you prices, flight times, and flight durations. 
When researching hotels, tripadvisor is fantastic. (It’s also great for restaurants and local attractions.) You can search for a list of hotels in your destination-- you can view the list in order of aggregate user ranking or by price. You can select for key descriptors (eg. “trendy”, “romantic”, “on the beach”). Each hotel page provides contact information and links to several major booking websites (eg. Orbitz, Expedia). Once you’re on this page, look at the user ratings, comments and photographs. 
Read enough reviews to learn about the main things visitors have liked and disliked. I don’t pay much attention to really angry reviews-- people who are really angry are more interested in airing their grief than offering useful property information. Forums This tripadvisor feature isn’t evident unless you stumble upon it-- in fact, I can’t even give you instructions on a trail of links to follow to get there. What I can do is tell you that if there’s something specific you’re wondering about where you’re going to stay, type it in the search box. I searched “solo traveler Isla Mujeres” and found several links in the forums. As a solo female traveler, I like to make sure that I’ll feel reasonably safe, and reading through these discussions left me with confidence about the hotel I ended up choosing. Booking & preparing for your trip Once I knew the airfare and what I would need to pay for the kind of hotel I wanted, I was able to decide on the trip. In both cases, I booked the flight first. (Don’t put off booking your flight-- prices usually increase as the travel date gets closer.) Then I booked my accommodations. Once I had booked these two components, I had plenty of time to read through all the tripadvisor forums on my destination. From the forums, I learned about the MapChick maps/guides. Her maps are gorgeous and contained more information than I could use on attractions, restaurants, and transportation options. I would never have found these maps without the forums. I also read some recommendations about yoga classes on the island-- it hadn’t even occurred to me to look into yoga on vacation, but the forum contributors suggested a few different instructors. I googled one that was close to my hotel, found her website (Meg DeClerck), and her schedule of classes while I was there. Both of my solo vacations have been wonderful because I've been able to use these tools to create an experience that was new but not disorientingly unfamiliar. I hope some of this information will help you plan your next trip. If you have questions, feel free to ask! Add Comment Back to school! 08/28/2011
School starts tomorrow, so it's a natural moment to look back and take stock of my summer. For the first time in eight years, my summer was my own. I was responsible to no one but myself. Last summer, I taught. For the six summers before that, I was in grad school, either working on my dissertation or cobbling together a living from the kinds of summer teaching opportunities that crop up on college campuses (thank you Upward Bound and McNair!). It wouldn't be accurate to say I had the summer off, though. I did some writing and sent out an article for publication and sowed the seeds for the next article. What I really did this summer, though, was recharge. How? Mostly, by going to Barcelona. Almost as soon as I turned in my spring grades, I was on a plane to Europe. Why Barcelona? Several people have asked me that question, and I have cobbled together an answer that works, though it's not entirely satisfying to me. I knew I wanted to go to Europe. I knew I wanted to be near a beach. I think my first glimpse of Barcelona came from the Woody Allen film Vicky, Christina, Barcelona which features an unfortunate amount of narration and some absolutely striking scenery, particularly of Park Guell. I think I've been learning about the city in bits and pieces ever since then. I talked to a few friends who'd been there for short visits-- they all raved about the city and said it was very English-friendly. Before I went, I knew this was important because I don't speak Spanish (Castillian). Once I got there, I realized the English-friendliness was important because I don't speak Catalan either. I spent eight days walking, watching, eating, and breathing. There was nothing else I needed to do. I went alone. There's a great deal of freedom in being by yourself-- I think our culture-- so caught up in our Hollywood coupling narratives-- ignores the joy that comes from being completely free and independent. At times I get caught in those narratives, too, but in Barcelona, I was on my own. It was wonderful. If you ever get the chance to travel on your own, DO IT. I also recharged in New Hampshire/Maine. I went back for a wedding and stayed with dear friends. After a good length of time-- maybe four of five years-- the best friendships become harbors where you can be absolutely at ease. Many of my UNH friends are like that now. At 18, I would never have guessed that I'd have many strong friendships with people I rarely see. Back then, I thought I would always live in the same place with all the same friends. I like this unanticipated turn. Lastly, I visited Ohio. I'm lucky to have an extended family full of wonderful people who aren't just nice to me because they've always known me, but because they also like me. There's nothing remarkable to say about my Ohio visit-- I did what I always do-- there are people and places I always visit. My Ohio visits are always moments to remeasure the distance and time that has passed since my mom passed away. I moved out of Ohio six months after her death, and I haven't lived there since. I mourn what I cannot share with her-- she would have loved to hear about Barcelona. She would like to hear about my plans for the new school year. And I do have some plans-- I'm excited for school to start again. World Travels, interrupted 05/20/2011
As I was preparing the next entry, I discovered that I have already met the maxed out my bandwidth (?) or something. I can't upload any more photos unless I shell out some more money for more space. I can't figure out how to simply use a link to summon images from flickr (where I'm already paying for the upload space), so I'm a little stuck at the moment. Until I figure out what I'm going to do, I'm pausing the travel narratives. In the meantime, all of my photos are viewable (organized by location) here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/intenteffect/collections/72157626708449026/ World Travels- Day 4 05/15/2011
 I started the day at a tiny cafe recommended in my guidebook. I tried the "very Catalan" meal of cheese with honey (though I don't know if this was a breakfast recommendation or not). I found it "very gross." But the coffee was good. This day was devoted to Montjuïc-- on top stands an old fortress overlooking the sea. Getting up to the fortress required a train, a funicular (informal definition: hill train), and a cable car. Once at the top, there are views of the harbor and the whole city.  There are plan in motion right now to turn the fortress into an international peace center. Though I took transportation uphill, I walked my way down. Shortly downhill from the fortress is Fundació Joan Miró I don't know Miró's work as well as that of Gaudi and Dali, but Miró is definitely an artist that intrigues me.  Unfortunately, photographs were not permitted in most of the museum. I loved this visit, though. Years ago, my BFA-bearing brother taught me how to appreciate abstract art. I was always so worried about "getting it," and he told me it's not necessary, or even always possible, to "get" abstract art. Just look at it, and right away, listen to your reaction. "I like it." "I don't like it." Either one is fine. It's certainly no way to pass an art history class, but it gave me the freedom to luxuriate in staring at something without trying to figure it out. Experience the work aesthetically. So I did a lot of that in the Miró museum. I like it. The next downhill stop was the 1992 Olympic stadium and torch. There's not much to see here, but there was a black cat wandering around on the stadium field. I'd already had a giant fill of art at Miró, but the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya was next on my trek back to sea level. It was also covered by the Articket I purchased at the tourism office (Highly recommended--22 Euros, covers 7 major art sites in Barcelona-- I only visited 3 and I still saved money). I was most enchanted by the Catalan Art Nouveau. The collection is the largest gathering of Art Nouveau I've ever seen. It frustrates me that American museums seem to only hold one or two token Nouveau items. MNAC held plenty of items, though. I also really love this lady (I forget the artist):  I skipped so much of MNAC. I regret it a bit, but my feet and my brain were tired. This entry may seem short, but I spent a long day on Montjuïc. I got to the fortress mid-morning, and I didn't finish at MNAC until 5 or 6. I took my time. That's a great feature of my trip. I had enough time that I never had to rush. I could stare at a Miró, sip a glass of wine in a cafe, or relax in a shaded spot. All Montjuïc pictures here. More World Travels-- Day 3 05/15/2011
Day 3: Dalí Theatre-Museum After La Sagrada Familia, my next priority destination was the Salvador Dalí museum. The museum is in Dalí's hometown, Figueres, 2 hours from Barcelona by train. After my espresso and croissant at Cafe de L'Opera, I headed from the train station. Barcelona has an excellent Metro system: clean, clear signage (all important instructions in Catalan, Castillian, and English), and quick. I learned from reading my Rick Steves book that I needed to get to the Passeig de Gràcia station to transfer from the Metro to the regional trains. At that station, I headed for one of the ticket machines. These always have multiple language options, so I found the round trip ticket option and made the purchase. I read the ticket, followed the signs, and hopped on the proper train. I settled into my seat and pulled out my postcards-- I had two hours, so I might as well fill out the cards. At the second stop, the train didn't start again. I looked around and saw absolutely no one on the train. I looked outside-- beyond the platform, there were stopped trains or empty tracks on either side of me. When I pushed open the door, I saw that this wasn't just a stop: this was the end of the line. Somehow, I had gotten on the wrong train. I had no idea quite where I was, though I could see I was still in the bustling city. I looked at the monitors-- none of them listed Figueres as a destination. (But they wouldn't, given that trains usually only list their terminal stop as the destination. In order to board the proper train, you need to know what the end-of-the-line stop is.) I didn't recognize any of the city names. Fine. Find an information desk. "Parla angles?" "No." Just that: no. No helpful pointing toward someone who could speak English. He was an older man, perhaps annoyed at yet another traveler who doesn't speak the language. How can you work at a major train station in a major city and not have enough English to point a traveler toward the right train? But that's not fair. I didn't have as much of the local language as I should have. I'm planning another post on language, but I'll say this in my defense now: I had bits of Catalan, though I'm by no means conversant. I have more Castillian, enough to conduct only basic conversation. In that moment, though, I didn't have the words in either language to say "I'm lost, I'm panicking, where am I, how do I get to Figueres from here, please be nice to me, I'm feeling a little overwhelmed!" So I wandered back to the tv screens, hoping to see something that looked familiar. I knew I wasn't far from where I started, so I just needed to get back there. But I didn't see Passeig de Gràcia anywhere, though of course I wouldn't, because it's not the end of the line stop. I wandered a little more. The place was relatively deserted. Also, and perhaps this bears a little personal reflection (though not now, some other time, of course), I hate asking anyone for help. I don't want to bother anyone. Also, I pride myself on being a capable, competent person. Asking for help seems to undermine that. I did spot a different information desk, with a word that looked like "passenger" on it. I stepped in and-- joy of joys-- the woman working there did "parla angles." She told me which train to get on to get back to my starting point. That was simple. "Gracias, gracias. Muchas gracias." I got back to Passeig de Gràcia, talked to another information desk worker, who told me which train I needed to board: the one bound for Portbou. So I did. Settled in again. Wrote out my postcards. And arrived at Figueres two hours later.  Dalí created his theater-museum while he was still alive. If you're familiar with Dalí, you know that his work is surrealist. The museum is definitely in keeping with that. By Dalí's design, the term theater is meant to invoke performance-- it's not called a theater-museum because there's an auditorium attached to the galleries. The museum is interactive. Many of the works have coin-op slots which spur something to happen within a work.  My favorite example of this interactivity is with this courtyard sculpture. It's an assemblage: the car was supposedly owned by Al Capone. The female figure was created by another artist (I forget whom). The pile of tires behind the car supports a boat, to which the female statue is chained. At the front passenger wheel of the Cadillac is a coin slot. For one Euro, it will rain in the car.  The best way for me to communicate the strange fantastic-ness of the Dalí museum is to encourage you to look at my pictures. Photos were allowed in the museum, so I took plenty. The full collection of my Dalí Theatre-Museum photos is here. It was worth the daytrip. When I got back to my hotel, I took a nap. Catalans don't even think about eating dinner til 9:00 (so says Rick Steves), so I was trying to join in that custom. Barcelona is heavy with tourists, though, so you'll see people eating, sipping espresso, and drinking wine at all times of the day. I walked through the Barri Gòtic neighborhood-- mostly the northern part, which is a big shopping destination. It's not really tourist shopping--though there are plenty of tourists there. It's El Corte Ingles-- the major department store, Zara, DeSigual, H&M, tons of shoe stores, jewelry stores, etc. It's akin to "the mall," but the shops are all separate storefronts that line the streets. I didn't do a whole lot of shopping while I was there, but I enjoyed wandering through stores and getting an idea of culture through consumerism. Also, I was a little obsessed with a fabulous jacket in DeSigual. It was a trenchcoat with this bright floral embroidered design. It was also 176 Euros. (Exchange rate: 1 Euro equals approximately 1.40 Dollars.) I couldn't justify spending that much money on a coat, but oh, did I want to. Spanish fashion seems so much brighter and bolder than it is here. Maybe fashion is fabulous in Miami, but it's not in the places I've lived. I was enchanted by all the prints and colors. That night, I found my way into a classy tapas bar. It was nicer than the ones that line La Ramblas, but nothing too stuffy. There, I ordered, ate, and enjoyed the weirdest thing I have ever eaten: cuttlefish.  As I said in the last entry, I decided that I would be more adventurous in my eating on this trip. So I ordered this weird fish. It was quite good-- grilled with a little olive oil. I would suggest that if you ever choose to eat cuttlefish, make sure you thoroughly chew the tentacles before swallowing. Otherwise, you might feel a little gaggy. But if that happens at the end of the meal, it's not the worst thing in the world. Also, sangria helps wash it all down. More Barcelona food pics here.  I spent the first 8 days of May in Barcelona, Spain. I've wanted to travel there for a long time-- ever since I became aware of Gaudi and his expressions of Art Nouveau. I saved up money, bought two guidebooks: Rick Steves' Spain and Lonely Planet Barcelona. That was probably overkill; if I were to pick only one, I'd pick the city guide over the country one. But I consulted both because they did have some different recommendations and information. In this post, I've summarized my trip and provided some links to my photos, all of which are uploaded to flickr- Barcelona collection. Day 1: Arrival Left Oklahoma City at 12:30pm local time, landed in Barcelona at 10:00am local time (7 hour time difference). I didn't sleep much on the plane, but I did watch "How Do You Know?" (cute, love anything with Reese Witherspoon) and "Black Swan" (hated it, almost as much as I hated "The Wrestler"). Got to my hotel around 11:30, but couldn't check in until 1:30. I was exhausted, but this forced me to stay awake as long as I could, which helped me adjust to local time pretty quickly.  I headed back out to the central city destination: Las Ramblas. This is a broad boulevard-- the center is wide, bricked, and full of cafes and vendors. It's tourist central-- perhaps what Times Square is to New York. Las Ramblas begins at Plaça de Catalunya and ends at the harbor-- specifically, at a statue honoring Christopher Columbus. The statue is located on the spot where Columbus presented hale and hearty "Indians" to Ferdinand and Isabel and said "hey, look at these choice slaves." Or something like that. I stopped at a cafe and ordered tapas-- mussels and fried small fish. (I had decided that I was going to be a more adventurous eater on this trip. I've head mussels before, but I didn't know quite what the small fish would be like.)  Turns out they're WHOLE fried small fish. I would never eat fish heads in my normal life, but, ADVENTURE! So I jumped in. They were not that good, in fact. Chewy, not much flavor. But the mussels were delicious. So was the red wine (rioja) I had with lunch. I wandered a while longer-- Barcelona is an amazingly walkable city. The streets are narrow and the sights are interesting. I spent a lot of time on this trip just picking out different sections of the city and walking. Seafood paella for dinner. Mussels, clams, and prawns cooked in a savory rice. It was fantastic. I don't know how you're supposed to eat prawns, though, so I might have muddled that a bit. Day 2: La Sagrada Familia After a breakfast of cafe Americano and a croissant, I set out for La Sagrada Familia. I could have taken the Metro (subway), but I wanted to see the city as I went. It was a long walk-- my feet complained by the end of the day-- but walking enabled me to approach the church gradually, getting peeks as I got closer.  Of all the sights I wanted to see, this was on the top of the list. This is Gaudi's masterpiece. Construction begin in the 1840s and continues today. They expect to complete it in the next 15 years or so. Thought I've always been a bit suspicious of Catholicism, there's no denying that they know how to build a worship space. I still remember the visceral awe I felt when visiting Notre Dame (in Paris, not Indiana) 20 years ago. La Sagrada Familia (The Sacred Family) is an amazing combination of nature and structure. Gaudi is part of the Catalan Art Nouveau, and Art Nouveau is known mostly for it's elaborate, nature-inspired decorative features. In La Sagrada Familia, however, nature doesn't merely inspire flounces and flourishes-- the structures of trees inspire the structures of pillars. When you walk in, you are immediately in a magical forest. The two existing facades are striking: the Nativity facade contains scenes from Jesus' birth. It also contains animals and other decorative flourishes. This facade was mostly completed by Gaudi.  The opposite side is called the Passion facade. It contains 12 scenes from the end of Jesus' life. This was conceived by Gaudi, but not completed during his lifetime. Artist Josep Maria Subirachs created angular, weighty figures to act out Gaudi's plan. According to the tourguide, Subirachs' work here is controversial. It is clearly not in keeping with Gaudi's aesthetic.  For reasons I don't understand, it is supposedly very cool that you can add up the numbers in the 4x4 box in any direction, and you'll end up with 33, Jesus' age when he was killed.  If you go to the basilica (the Pope visited in November 2010 to officially christen it a basilica), you can pay a few extra Euros to ride up one of two elevators. Do this, and pick the Nativity elevator (not the Passion one). The elevator takes you up 4 floors or so. You walk across a small bridge behind the dove tree (you can make out a few heads to the left of the on the bridge in this pic). You wander down narrow spiral staircases that present view after view after view.  All of my La Sagrada Familia pictures are here. Christopher Columbus monument pictures are here. Miscellaneous Barcelona photos, including Las Ramblas, are here. Edited to add: I forgot to include my visit to La Pedrera-- one of Gaudi's buildings. I stopped on the way back from La Sagrada Familia. This building is mostly occupied by private tenants, but the roof and one apartment are open to tour.  Most rooves in Barcelona are hideous: chimneys, air conditioners, storage shacks. They are unseen places, for the most part. Gaudi made them fantastical. See my arty photo of some chimney tops? See all my La Pedrera photos here. | Meagan Rodgers
I'm an assistant professor of English at USAO- a public liberal arts college in Oklahoma. I blog about academic issues, personal musings, and pop culture. About the blog title: "That's not what I intended," she said. "But," I suggested, "perhaps that was the effect." from Rhetorical Listening: Identification, Gender, Whiteness by Krista Ratcliffe Note: I used to blog at this web address: http://intenteffect.blogspot.com/ My flickr
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