Experiencing the local cuisines while traveling is often something to talk about while you're enjoying your meal. But, who do you talk to when you travel solo?
A few weeks ago, I asked my Facebook friends what questions they wanted to ask me about traveling solo. Many were expected; particularly around safety when exploring new places, but the question I thought might be the most fun to dive into first was "what do you do for food when you're by yourself?"
One of the greatest experiences of travel is having the opportunity to taste, smell and enjoy foods you may have never been exposed to.
Enjoying a meal is often thought of as a social activity whether you are at home sharing a meal with your loved ones or out experiencing a new restaurant with friends. It's a time when you catch up with the people in your life about your day and what's new. When traveling, it might be the time that you regroup with your travel mates and talk about the experiences of your day. But what do you do when you are traveling solo and have no one with whom to share that experience?
Table for 1, please?
Looking back, the first few times I traveled totally by myself, whether it was to a work conference somewhere here in the States or later abroad, the thought of walking into a restaurant and asking for a table for one was a bit unnerving. Was everyone around me going to be looking at me and wondering why I was alone? What would I do while I was sitting there waiting for my food? Uncomfortably watch other people eat or watch the waiters and waitresses scurry around?
As I began to travel by myself more frequently, I quickly learned that dining solo is quite common. In the years before smart phones and abundant free WI-FI, I always had a book with me in my little travel backpack to read while I ate. Though I'll admit the people watching often won out. As the years went by, I also quickly learned that on those crowded nights in a restaurant, I'd regularly be offered a seat at the bar, where it's often very easy to chat up the bartender or other solo diners. When exploring a new place, bartenders can be one of your best sources of information on the local places to check out that aren't in those trusty tour guides. I can thank quite a few for some fantastic, off the beaten path recommendations!
That one time in Vienna, Austria....
There have been a few meals that have stuck out- not so much for the food, but because of the people I met. In April of 2012, I found myself with a ton of leave from work and a bunch of airlines miles just waiting to be used. So, after contemplating a few different European cities, I settled on Vienna, Austria as I could take day trips to Prague, Budapest and Bratislava as well as have time to explore Vienna. Six weeks later I was off on a solo adventure to a part of Europe I had not yet explored. While most of my meals were quiet and relaxing, and of course, delicious, as this girl LOVES German food, it was the meal on my last day that was the most memorable.
After spending the first six days of my seven-day trip exploring from sunup to sundown, I decided to spend my last day wandering around a nearby wine village, that had been recommended by a friend. I made my way to Grinzing by tram from central Vienna, immediately taking in the quaint little village on a quiet weekday morning. As I explored the little shops and wandered the streets, the skies opened, and it started POURING! I had eaten a late breakfast at my hotel and wasn't quite ready for lunch but found myself ducking into the first pub that I found. I was seated out on the covered patio and ordered a glass of wine with plans to relax with my book until the rain let up. I was the only one there, so I relished in the break from playing tourist to just relax with my book.
My solidarity didn't last long when two men and a woman, all in the upper 70's arrived and sat at a table next to mine. I continued to read my book while trying not to listen to their conversation, though it quickly became hard to concentrate on what I was reading as it was clear the two men were jokingly picking on the woman. As I found myself holding in a laugh, the woman leans over says to me, "I think I need to move to your table to get away from these two!" That was all the opening that was needed for a conversation that ended up lasting for hours. As the rain continued to pour, I found myself chatting with this trio whom I might never have met. I learned that the woman was with her husband and her twin brother. She and her brother were Viennese; he had lived in Vienna his whole life, where she and her husband had lived in London for many years. They were in Vienna spending time with their aging mother who was nearing the end of her life. They told me stories of what it was like to grow up in Vienna so many years before and how the city had grown and changed. It felt like my own history lesson and today, now nearly eight years later, I wish I had written down some of the stories they told. I also learned that the woman and her husband had a daughter who was a nurse and lived in a town a mere 45 minutes from my hometown in the U.S. We chatted for hours, eventually sharing a meal and I remember enjoying the conversation immensely. When it came time to part, I remember telling them I regretted meeting them on the last day of my trip as they also had given me loads of suggestions of things to do, but alas, I was leaving the next day. But, as I rode on the tram back to central Vienna for my last night in the city, I realized it was a great way to end that trip. Oh, did I mention I never got their names?
The footballer reunion in Zurich....
Fast forward to a few years later, in late July of 2014, when I returned to Europe for another solo journey. I began that 12-day trip in Zurich, Switzerland, which would serve as my base for several day-long train journey's to other parts of Switzerland over the next five days. The evening of my first night I was set on finding excellent German food just like what I'd experienced in Austria a few years before. My hotel was situated in the charming pedestrian area, so I set out on foot to grab an early dinner. Finding a small German restaurant just a few blocks away, I went inside to find it packed. Seeing no bar from the entrance, I flagged down a waitress and asked if they had a table for one not realizing it was a seat yourself type of restaurant. She glanced around and nearly turned me away until an older gentleman sitting nearby says "we have an extra seat at our table." And that was how I found myself sitting with seven 70-80-ish year old men who were having a "footballers" reunion. It quickly became a night I'll never forget. I heard stories of their years playing football together and listened to them pick on each other, particularly the one sitting next to me as he was the only "Brit." I shared my plans for the rest of my trip in Switzerland, and unlike my lunch in Vienna, it was the beginning of my trip, so I was able to get feedback on my plans. They gave me suggestions for things to do and see; several of which I took as I journeyed around Switzerland over the next five days. They bought me wine and we shared many laughs. I can only imagine the stories they told later of the American that crashed their dinner. It was random, fun, and while I did get their names this time, I don't remember them now. But I remember that evening as my introduction to Switzerland, a country I grew to love touring around almost as much as I do New Zealand.
So, to answer that initial question about what I do for food when I travel solo; well, I go out and eat. While for the most part my opportunities for dining solo have not led to two-three hour conversations with strangers, it has allowed me to meet people I wouldn't otherwise meet, which in my mind is part of what traveling solo is all about. Like everywhere I've gone and everywhere I am planning to go in the future, you just never know who you might meet along the way.
"Love to travel because it gives a sense of adventure and freedom. It allows us to get away from "normal" life, experience other cultures, to get to know places we have only seen in the movies. We get to try new food and meet new people." - Unknown
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