Traveling Alone - Pros and Cons

Let's have a show of hands, shall we?  How many of you have ever taken a vacation alone.  I don't mean you went with a group but got a room of your own.  I mean you left your home not knowing a single person who was going to the same place you were going for the next week.  You hadn't made on line friends prior to the trip.  You had no connections with anyone else doing this vacation whatsoever.  I mean THAT alone.

If you haven't done it, I would suggest to you that you just might want to give it a try.  I listen to a sports talk radio station regularly.  One of the guys on that station used to talk a lot about taking vacations alone.  His wife owns her own business and could never get away or maybe wasn't really too interested in going to Europe with him so he would just go alone.  This guy went to Auschwitz alone.  He talked all about his trip when he returned on the radio.  His only regret about that trip apparently turned out to be when he ate a Snickers bar (or maybe it was a Milky Way, I can't remember) while there.  He told the story on the air years ago and still gets grief over doing something as self indulgent as having eaten a candy bar in a location where more than a million Jews were exterminated.  It's actually a very funny story and every time it comes up on the radio, I laugh out loud.  But you have to wonder if he had been with his wife, if she would have given him the evil eye and kept him from being so insensitive.  Of course, that probably wouldn't have made for such great radio.

I traveled totally alone for pleasure once.  I still think it was one of the best vacations I've ever taken.  It was a cruise that sailed out of Miami during Freedom of the Seas inaugural season.  It was a pretty terrific cruise. There are pros and cons to traveling alone.  Why don't we discuss them.....

Pros

• You can do whatever you want!  Whatever you do during this trip is totally up to you.  Want to spend two days of your trip to Europe exploring the beaches of Normandy but can't find anyone else who is interested in this particular adventure?  If you travel alone, you don't have to worry about that.  Just go!
• When you go to your room at night, the bathroom, the big ol' bed and the mini bar are all yours!  No sharing.  You can take a 2 hour shower if you like.
• If you are on a cruise and you never want to leave your own balcony except to go on excursions in various ports, you can do exactly that.  Room service will bring every meal to you at no additional charge, so open your e-reader, download as many books as you can afford and read to your hearts content.
• You don't need to synchronize your watch and schedule time in the bathroom with anyone.  
• You don't have to meet anyone anywhere at any time!  
• You won't know a single person on this trip so you can finally let your hair down.  Don't worry about it, you'll never see any of these people again.  Just have fun.
• It's a terrific opportunity to meet new people.  If you are going on a cruise, this is particularly easy since you will be seated at a table with other people each night at dinner assuming you choose a dinner seating and don't do "My Time" dining.  If you don't like the people you are seated with, it's no big deal.  Just discretely ask the maitre d' to seat you at a different table the next night.  
• The only mood swings you need to worry about during this trip are your own.  
• Peace and Quiet!

Cons 

• You'll pay more.  Most cruise lines charge a single supplemental fee that is usually equivalent to about 80% of a second person.  A couple of cruise lines have dropped those supplemental fees on certain types of rooms.  But beware, many times the reason they are doing this is that they wouldn't be able to fit another person in that room anyway.  Think about that.  If you have ever been on a cruise before you know that the cruise lines can squeeze 4 people into 150 square feet of space for 7 nights.  Imagine 7 nights in a space that they feel they couldn't squeeze two people into....  Yikes!
• If you are going on a land trip, you don't have a second person to split the price of a room with.  For couples this might not seem like a big deal if one of you is considering going somewhere alone.  You always pay for an entire hotel room when you travel, so you might still feel you are getting ahead when you only have to pay for meals for one and airfare for one.  But for singles this is a huge deal.  As a single when I travel with a buddy, I pay for half of a hotel room.  It can make for a super cheap 2 star room or a somewhat affordable 4 or 5 star.
• Other things that cost more if you are a single and accustomed to splitting the price of travel are taxis, car rentals, parking and gas.  You have to figure all of this into your travel budget.  
• When you get back to the room at night and want to trash someone you saw at dinner, nobody will join in (other than the voices in your head).

So as you can see most of the cons are monetary.  Maybe you see all of this differently and some of the "alone time" pros I listed actually sound more like cons to you.  If so, traveling alone is probably not for you.  But for me, the cons seem pretty minimal when compared to the pros.  If you crave "me time" consider traveling alone sometime.  It might be a terrific opportunity for you!

Hey Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike.... Guess what day it is Mike!  Make it a great hump day and go Senator Cruz keep making the voices of Americans heard!