dTour

There is Solitude in Loneliness:

I can’t believe the month has gone as fast as it did. It has truly been such an incredible experience living in a place I knew very little about, and not knowing a single soul. I feel like I have gone through waves of emotions… as you do when you have no one around to distract you. (Unless you want to). That reminds me of my friend I met here:

For a few days I was hanging out with an Argentinian guy who doesn’t speak any english….. at all. Which, in a sense, is exactly what I needed. Before I got here I had it in my head that I would be able to learn some Spanish and maybe take a course. Well, for some strange reason I haven’t felt the desire to spend my days sitting in a classroom! So it’s been great hanging out with him. Cafes, restaurants, walking around the zoo, going to amazing clubs. Thank god for Google Translate. Seriously… 

So much fun! But I cherish my time alone! I look forward to it! hah I know that sounds strange, but for me that was one of the big draws for doing this. No phone ringing, no schedule to follow, no routine, no plan, no events. There were many days I had no clue what I was going to do, but I would get dressed and then walk out the door and once on the street I would decide whether to turn right or left. I wanted to feel lonely. I have this amazing book called The Tao of Travel (thanks dad) and in it, one of my favourite bits, says how traveling with your friend, boyfriend, wife, whoever is like those ornaments with two birds in a glass dome! Together you are too much of a self-contained world for the rest of the world to be able to penetrate! -Isn’t that true?  You’re not vulnerable. It makes it hard to meet people and have your own unique personal experiences. 

I know lots of people who couldn’t handle it. Going to a bar or club alone, sitting having coffee or dinner alone, getting lost alone, on a park bench alone and, yes, many times (including the other day at the Japanese Garden I sat and people watched looking over at that red bridge for about an hour) I thought ‘hmm this is amazing, it would be nice to have someone to share it with!’ Be it a red bridge, a beautiful building, a plaza, a painting, a street… etc… But I remind myself that it’s part of the experience I was looking for. I take comfort thinking, perhaps, that if I were traveling with someone else, that person would have found the red bridge boring and would have wanted to move after 5 minutes! haha

Now if you are reading this and have traveled with me I want to express that this is simply what I am getting out of THIS particular adventure… that’s all… I feel like I’ve grown. I’ve enjoyed and lived in the moment and will continue to do so.