Going solo

I wrote this a couple of weeks back, but held on to it to see if my perspective would change. It hasn't, so I'm posting it as it stands.

Traveling alone is not an easy thing to do, but after the first few jumps you get used to it. Even though I travel alone, it is not a lonely journey. There are many other people on the road, and plenty of them are going your way. Right now I am sharing a six-seat train cabin with three others: two austrians and another american. It is an overnight train from Venice to Vienna, and we have twelve hours stuck inside this eight-foot-square room together. As usual, we make introductory conversation, then move on into more in depth topics before lapsing into introspective silence. Eventually, in an attempt to sleep we switch around like a jigsaw puzzle, finally pointing our feet at one corner and radiating outwards like spokes in a square wheel. It isn't by any means comfortable, but it's good enough to last through the night.

There are surprisingly few people traveling solo and many people are surprised to hear that I am doing so for such a length of time. I had thought it would be much more common. However, after talking with other people, it seems that those who are traveling with others wish they were alone, and those who are alone wish they were traveling with others. I guess we'll always just be unsatisfied. I tried spending the day with others a couple times, but it was awfully restrictive because you have to consider what the other person or people want. Sometimes they want to eat when you don't, don't want to go to a place that you do, or need to wait in a long line for the bathroom and you just kind of stand around.

I would say the best scenario is to travel with someone, but split up during the day once you reach your destination. That way you have a wingman to guard your stuff during traveling and help you orient yourself, but then you're free to explore as you will after that. Also, eating meals alone in a restaurant is pretty awkward and getting people together to go out from the hostel can take too much time and effort, so knowing someone gives you an automatic dinner buddy.

But I haven't been too worried about security. I always feel very safe in hostels (even when someone punched out a window pane in the middle of the night) and don't worry about leaving my stuff unlocked and unguarded. The backpacker's code is universally followed: don't touch someone else's backpack, first come first served for picking bunks, and don't touch someone else's backpack (it's in there twice).