Solo Travelling

The Amazing Race Australia is an inspiration. It makes me want to travel, even to places I've been, and I’m sure the 100,000 entrants who applied to be on the show would think so too. But you know what is better than running from country to country, and across continents? Taking part in your own amazing race and doing it on your own. Solo.

No I’m a self confessed loner, I love being on my own and spending time in my own company, but in reality, I don’t even cross the road at work to get coffee let alone crossing a continent.

The first time I traveled on my own was my third time overseas. Third time … I knew what I was doing right? No, I’d not any responsibility with any of those trips and suddenly, here I was at Heathrow airport not knowing how to read the signage to get to the Tube. My plan in London was to couch surf for 6 weeks. Friends would entertain me when they weren’t working and any travel would be weekend trips with them. That lasted a week before I got myself a ‘student’ ID and hit the open road.

In the 6 weeks I was in Europe I went to Santorini, Barcelona, Rome, Paris and Krakow. I explored, missed flights, found romance, got mugged, and was the first person in generations to see my homeland since the war. All experiences I would not have gotten nor traded for 6 weeks of couch surfing.

The confidence you suddenly gain is character building, not being able to rely on anyone strengthens you to the core. You challenge your perceptions and there isn’t anyone to judge your decisions. You begin to see things differently and I think, more clearly.

I traveled before the day or Meetups and Twitter, and a travel network was as foreign to me as saying hello in Polish. But I’ve come to realise, they would enhance my solo traveling, but couldn’t give the gift that I’d receive from my self discovery, exploring and pushing my own boundaries in a new city.

And at home, I still don’t get coffee on my own.

When in Rome

It's a blistering cold Friday night in Sydney, just after midnight, and I'm indulging in a Twitter conversation about Rome. I'm also going though my flickr account and geo-tagging my current images. (geek warning) The photo I have attached became the inspiration for this blog.
I never really noticed the photo before, it's sitting amongst hundreds taken over the course of my 4 visits to Rome in the last 6 years. There is only one other place I've visited as much and that is Santorini. I never stopped and thought about it, let alone said it out loud, but I think Rome would have to be one of my favorite spots on earth. So much so that I'd one day like to live there - even for 6 months.

Rome can be hot, dusty, dirty and noisy, but it is magical, romantic, spiritual, and totally funky all at once. Where else is pizza and gelato acceptable for breakfast? ok you can have that anywhere in Italy, but in Rome, where you have the cobbled streets and sometimes lonely plazas, where accidentally turning the wrong corner can lead you to the Pantheon. Thousands of tourists line to enter the Colosseum and you can still capture the couple standing away from the crowds taking in the magnitude of this once great structure.

Meeting place is always the Spanish Steps, if not just to walk into Gucci and purchase sungalsses because you can. Rome has a train structure, so simple in its complexity that you're never lost, but not always know where you're going.

Here are my top 3 tourist visits for Rome.

• Trevi Fountain: Who doesn't throw a coin in over your shoulder to ensure you're to return to this great city. It's the reason it's item number one.

• Roman Forum: The history around this great site is unbelievable. Entry is free and there is so much to see. Take a free walking tour to get the most of this unique attraction.

• Vatican City: OK technically not Rome, but it isn't just for the Catholics to visit. The art, the excess, opulence, and the tradition that surround the Vatican can not be missed. Mass with the Pope is truly special and if you book early enough, you can have some amazing religious experiences. Look out for the Papal Swiss guards and their uniforms too.

• Shopping: So I snuck one more in. Italian shoes, clothes and they have Sephora. Who can resist shopping in Italy?

Did i mention Gelato?