Spectator by Seema Goswami: Leave the baggage behind
If you’re doing your own thing on vacation with family and friends, you’re probably better off travelling solo. Try it
It was while I was travelling in Egypt last week that I first noticed it. Even though I was surrounded by people who were on holiday with their spouses, children, extended family or large groups of friends, they all acted as if they were vacationing alone.
At dinner, there was the nuclear family at the next table where both the children were rapt, watching videos on their respective iPads with their earphones on while their parents scrolled social media idly on their phones. Next day, as I trundled through a museum, I saw couples caught up in taking selfies of themselves in front of important antiquities, acting as if the other person didn’t exist. At historical sites, members of large groups gravitated to different corners, doing their own thing until it was time to board the bus back to their hotel.
They may have come on holiday with other people, but all of them were essentially solo travellers, concentrating only on what pleased them and treating their co-passengers with what could most charitably be called benign neglect.
Once I became aware of this trend, it was hard to ignore it. The more I observed the people around me, the more I realised that nobody really seemed to care about the other people sharing their vacation; they were only really focused on doing what they pleased.
And that set me thinking. Why is it that people are so wary — even scared — of solo vacations, given that most vacations these days are ‘solo’ anyway?
Is it that we seek safety in numbers, and once we have that we feel secure enough to go off and do our own thing? Is it that we are embarrassed to admit that we don’t have a family or friends that are close enough to holiday with us? Or is it that we feel that we will be treated as curiosities as solo travellers in a world that sees so few?
Which perhaps explains why most people who are holidaying alone sign up with travel agencies to travel with complete strangers rather than be brave enough to admit that they are fine — even happy — with their own company. If you ask me, I would pay good money not to vacation with a group of unknowns. I would rather be pitied as a sad loner than have to make nice-nice with people I will never see again in my life (frankly, the very thought is exhausting!).
So, if you are one of those people who is experiencing trepidation at the thought of heading out on holiday alone, I have three words of advice: Just Do It.
Grab your suitcase or backpack, book your ticket, reserve a hotel room at the destination of your choice, and head out to an adventure of your very own. Pack a good book to keep you company, keep an open mind to any new experiences, and make the most of your me-time.
If you feel any embarrassment at all about being on your own, remember that all those people around you, allegedly travelling with their loved ones, are essentially on their own anyway.
And that, in fact, means that you are not alone — not by any measure!
From HT Brunch, December 07, 2024
Follow us on www.instagram.com/htbrunch
