I spent the last week toting my cheap plastic carry-on and backpack around Geneva, Zurich, and Barcelona. The whole trip was planned a little last-minute; I had no idea that my program had a “reading week” where there was no class and just gives you time to complete some midterm projects. Like most other students, I immediately thought that I should take advantage of the cheap flights out of London and head to mainland Europe, so I planned the whole thing with help from my parents sort of last-minute. Originally, I had wanted to go with some other people, but everyone seemed to have plans already, or there was too much coordination that needed to happen, so I just shoved everything in my bags and headed down to Heathrow by myself.
Originally, I hadn’t thought that I would enjoy travelling solo as much as I would travelling with someone else. But, my overwhelming curiosity about the delicacies of Swiss chocolate and fondue and if Spaniard Spanish is that different from Latin American Spanish got the better of me. Both are beautiful countries, but I’d rather focus on some things I learned from travelling alone instead of just telling you that yes, there are beautiful mountains in Switzerland, and that no, you cannot ever escape clueless American tourists in Barcelona.
There are two main things I learned from this trip.
One, push yourself to do things that you’re curious about, even if you’re alone.
I came into study abroad wanting to exercise my free will, and I think I have become significantly better at doing so. You will not always have people to do things with you. Yes, it’s nice to have a plus one to go and do something, but it should never become a crutch. Since I’m an only child, you would think that I am perfectly used to doing everything alone, but this isn’t exactly true. I did things with my parents, my friends, family; certainly not going on an international trip by myself. The main thing is that when you are by yourself, making mistakes that are small seem a lot bigger when you’re alone. For me, if I’m with a friend, I can pretty easily laugh things off, but it can be a lot harder when I’m alone. Something I’ve found that helps me just go out and do things alone is to start with manageable small things, like going on a walk in the park or going to a coffee shop for an overpriced drink. Every time you avoid these little discomforts, you’re only reinforcing the belief that you can’t handle it. Don’t think about it too hard.
Truly, people do not care about you and are not thinking about you as much as you think. A plus one is nice to have, but it shouldn’t become a crutch – there’s nothing stopping you from going and doing something you would normally do with a friend, just by yourself. For me, this mostly applied to the anxiety of eating alone at a restaurant. You don’t have to awkwardly pretend that you’ve just been stood up by a date when you eat alone. Order a drink, read something, or just people-watch. The restaurant is getting your money anyway, so there’s no reason for them to be upset with you for existing. Taking up space is not a crime, so don’t be afraid to do so.
Or, think of solo travel as a matter of convenience – you don’t have to spend any time negotiating your itinerary with anyone. If you see something you’d like to do, you can just do it without someone in your ear saying “I’m hungry”, “let’s go back to the hotel”, “I don’t really want to do that, but okay”.
Two, be a responsible and considerate tourist, no matter where you go.
In London, it’s actually quite hard to feel like a tourist sometimes, unless you are in a hotspot like Borough Market or Big Ben or Buckingham Palace. The city is just so big and dense that you get lost in the sea of people. Also, as an American, speaking English makes the city easy to navigate. Besides, I live here now! So I’m not exactly a tourist anymore.
But in Switzerland and Spain, tourism is a lot more obvious. I’m going to take a second to hate on my fellow Americans. I find that social media tourism has become incredibly common nowadays with people my age. It is more typical now to find restaurants and attractions on TikTok, or even worse, use AI to give you an itinerary (note: I actually despise AI. It makes you a secondhand thinker once you start abusing it, not to mention the environmental impact it has). I grew up with my parents using Rick Steves books to get a sense of what to do, and I largely did the same to plan this trip. I went to the library after class the week before I left, and picked up two travel guides for Switzerland and Spain, respectively. In the library, I just sat and took some notes on them. I quite liked the physical act of searching for what to do in these other countries, giving me the sense of being a 1700s explorer (colonizer) planning out a route on some poorly-drawn map. The walking tours and restaurant recommendations I found were delightful. On social media, people are often paid to promote certain spots, and they are usually overpriced because they sit on main streets or pricey areas. What I found, both in the books and just wandering around, were spots that are a little quieter, or busy with locals (meaning: they are the real deal). Why only subject yourself to predesigned spectacles? Travelling, to me, should be seeing the sights, yes, but also seeing how people live in another country. It gives you perspective on how you live your own life in comparison.
Anyway, English sounds like an alien tongue to me after French in Geneva, German in Zurich, and Spanish in Barcelona. I had gotten so used to speaking Spanish in Spain (my mom is Bolivian, so I am proud to be fluent) that I looked at the poor British Airways flight attendant like she was an alien when she said “Hello, welcome aboard!”
Thank you again for reading!
Alexandra
DU Abroad 