Travel Alone?
Last Sunday, I took an early morning flight from Berlin to Rome, completely unplanned & unsure about how I’m going to survive alone. Neither did I have any hotel bookings/ travel plans, nor a return ticket.
Backstory: I resigned from my Job 2 weeks ago. Asked a friend to make some travel plans together who was unsure about it because of several personal reasons. So, after 2 weeks of waiting, I told myself — I should travel alone, I’ve done it before (I went to Prague last year for Christmas) and it was beautiful.
Also, I’ve always been a kind of person who likes to stay with themselves, but would love some company as well. You know what I mean, right? :P
So, here I am on the first day — landed in Rome and was welcomed with thunderstorms and Rain. I have a big bag on my shoulder, an umbrella in one hand, mobile phone in another and decided to book a room as soon as possible. So, I took a train from a nearby station and decided to go to the Roma Termini (the central station of Rome). I went there and booked the nearest hostel around it, in order to ensure flexible travel around the city.
I watched some videos the night before and made a list of places I wanted to visit in Rome, top ones being the Colosseum, Palatine Hill & the Vatican City. I checked in my bags and went straight back to the Termini and took a train to the Colosseum. It was such a beauty. Here are some pictures:
I took a tour around which almost took my entire day, had some dinner (spaghetti al carbonara — mammamìa) and was completely drenched by the time I came back to the room. The biggest disappointment was that my shoes were all wet and I didn’t have another pair. I tried using some hair dryer on them, didn’t help much :P
So, after this disappointing day (because of the rain), I was demotivated and thought that I’ll go back to Berlin in 2 days. I checked some flights and boom — they were expensive than I thought they would be. Then it struck me, I didn’t come here to go back so soon, let’s explore more. So, I decided to book for Florence in 2 days instead.
Next day — I woke up, got ready (shoes still wet) and went to Vatican city to have a great view from the top of St. Peter’s Basilica. It was such a delight. Here’s a picture
The third day — I checked out from the hostel and went to Florence not knowing what I’ll be doing there.
While I was in the hostel, in Rome, I talked to some other people and they suggested me to go to Pisa as well If I’m going to Florence. I looked up and it was just 80–90 kms away and took around 1hour via Train. Sounds like a plan!
As soon as I reached Florence, I took a train ticket to Pisa and I decided to spend a night there. The train ride was really good. One could see beautiful farms and mountains on the way.
I reached Pisa in an hour and found out that this is probably the best decision I made. The weather there was exquisite. It was a lovely sunny day. After 2–3 days of being in rain, sun was like a dessert to me. I reached Pisa central station and started walking toward the Leaning Tower and was really hungry so I decided to eat at a small cafe.
Pisa, when I reached there, was all closed — apparently the market would open up around 4:30 and then close at 8:30 in the evening. It was hard to find a restaurant where I could dine in.
While eating, I booked another hostel room for a night near the central station, rested for a while and then went straight to the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Here’s a picture of the tower:
I went to the ticket office and to my surprise, the tickets were available (due of COVID-19, there were not many people who were traveling anymore) and I could go to the top of the tower.
It was quite a hike to the top of the tower but the view from the top was really really amazing. Also, the tickets to go to the top were expensive than the Colosseum tickets, but it was definitely worth it. See for yourself —
And here’s a video for better perspective —
I could look at that view for an entire day and I know you could as well, right? But I had to go back down even before the sunset because they close the tower at 8:00 p.m. You could still sit outside all night and look at the tower if that’s what you would like to do though.
When I came back down, I saw that my phone’s battery was about to die so I went back to the Hostel to charge it up and decided to rest there for a while. At around 9:30, I went out to have some dinner. Oh and btw, the city also had a river.
So, I went to have dinner and found out that the streets were empty, again. The shops were already closed (At that time I didn’t know that the market closes at 8:30pm). Then I looked up on google to find some open restaurants and found an Indian Restaurant nearby. I went there, it was completely empty, I ordered some food and to my surprise, it was one of the best Indian food I’ve had in Europe. I couldn’t find anything similar to this in Berlin yet and it’s been an year. Hopefully one day.
The next day, I went back to Florence, booked a hostel again, near the central station, checked in, looked up for things to do and one of the thing that I was excited about was this place called Piazzale Michelangelo, because, you can take a view of the entire city from the top and you don’t have to go back down by the sunset ;)
I walked around the entire city later that day before coming back to the hostel room and decided to book the next destination — Munich. So, I booked my travel tickets for the next day, late in the night, in case there is still someplace I would like to visit again in Florence city.
Next day I woke up, got ready, checked out from the hostel only to find out that its raining again. Now, I don’t want my shoes to be wet again, so I looked for some cafes nearby and the closest one is a McCafe near the central station.
And here I am, sipping some cappuccino, waiting for the rain to stop and writing this article in the meanwhile.
Now, what are the benefits of traveling alone?
- You can decide what you want to do, when you want to do, how you want to do it, while being happy with all the decisions and without caring about anyone else’s mood.
- You can spend 5 mins or an entire day at one specific location, if you like it.
- You have a lot of time to reflect on what you did and what could have been done in a better way.
- It makes you more confident about yourself.
- Makes you independent.
- You develop to make better/ fast decisions on your own. (A very very important skill)
What you lose?
- You are alone. If something bad happens, you have to deal with it alone, if something good happens, you have to deal with it alone. Well, you do have social media to share it on, but you get the point, right?
- If you’re not mentally strong, you would feel alone and would want to go back in a day or two.
- Selfies are no fun and you won’t have anyone to click pictures of you at some beautiful places.
- Beautiful adventures, when lived with friends, makes them more exciting.
So, to sum it up, it doesn’t matter if you have a travel buddy or not- the important part is to travel and explore. So, go out there and book your tickets to that location you have been thinking about since sometime. I’m sure you won’t regret it. In the end, it would be an experience, Life is an experience, Live it. Win it.
Also, here are some quotes to keep you motivated:
“Travel far enough, you meet yourself.” — David Mitchell
“I travel because it makes me realize how much I haven’t seen, how much I’m not going to see, and how much I still need to see.” — Carew Papritz
“Adventure is worthwhile.” — Aesop
So, go out and find yourself ;)
You can also find me on Instagram where I post cool stuff whenever I travel or sing something nice. Thanks and happy traveling!
