going on holiday alone?

[Anonymous]

I'm getting fed up having nobody to go on holiday with so would like to go off somewhere abroad by myself. I really want to see the world but SA is stopping me from going anywhere.

The thing is, because I have SA and all, I'm really anxious about lots of things. I don't like the idea of having to book into airports and hotels alone and worse still, eating out alone in the hotel or restaurants when I get there.

Has anyone here with SA taken a vacation by themselves and if so, how did it go? Do you have any hints and tips about how to operate when on vacation alone. I don't want to stand out like some obvious lone-traveller looking all nervous all the time.

I feel I need to make a first trip and hopefully things will get easier after that. But so many doubts about that first trip with no previous experience.

Thanks.

 

[AlsoRan]

The only place i'd holiday alone to is Hell when it's frozen over. Good on you tho for doing it. I hope it works out well for you.

 

[applesewer]

Yea, I did…once…and it turned out to be one of the worst experiences of my whole life! If not THE worst! (Sorry! Don’t mean to put you off!!)

I was the same as you…I hated that I was missing out on opportunities due to SA. I wanted to go to this Radiohead gig…the big one they did in Oxford in 2001…but I didn’t have anyone to go with and it all fizzled out and I ended up listening to the webcast at home on my computer. But as I was listening I was so angry at myself for chickening out and missing the gig that I decided to just find out where and when the next gig is and just book it. So I did…it was in Northern Ireland, (I’m in south England), so I had to book flights and accommodation. I remember absolutely cacking it for about a week before the trip, but I was still determined to go. (Btw this was about a week after 9/11…which didn’t help!). Anyway, I got there and it just all went wrong. The youth hostel had never heard of me when I got there and so the SINGLE room that I’d booked had gone and all they had left was shared rooms with about 10 beds! But I just really needed that single room. I can’t explain it. It was like that was my “safe place”. And with that gone I just felt totally exposed and lost and I just cracked up. It probably sounds really stupid…no one ever seems to understand when I tell them this, but I just couldn’t take it.

But it worked out in the end. I phoned the airline company and booked an earlier flight home, which was about 6am the next morning, so I managed to see the gig (yay!) and get a taxi to the airport and I kipped there for the night.

So yeah…but even though it was scary, something mega happened to me on that trip. I remember feeling this immense calm and peacefulness in the airport. I learnt so much and took loads away from it so in many ways, although it was one of the scariest things I’ve ever done it was also one of the most important.

 

[Anonymous]

worrywort, thanks for your reply

i must admit i have serious misgivings about just going ahead and doing it - i can completely understand how you would be devastated when you didn't get your single room - i could NEVER share a bedroom with 10 strangers, i have insonmia problems as well so am disturbed by the slightest noise, let alone the distress of the SA

whilst sitting in the comfort of my home, for all that i might try to convince myself that if went on holiday, that i could go out to the local restaurants alone, i know the reality of actually being there would be excrutiating (it would probably be really hard enough for someone without SA) - i think i would have to have a total cure for SA and then some more super-confidence boosters before i could do that comfortably

so if i did book a holiday, i think i could only see myself booking some self-catering accommodation, which would be potentially hugely more expensive as a single person, but i would need that refuge of isolation where i could shut out the world at the end of each day, rather than having to endure the public nature of a hotel

hey, maybe there are some special holidays for SA people only - just being with other non-threathening people would be much better than being totally alone and standing out like a sore thumb, the very thing i want to avoid

 

[applesewer]

Hi guest.

Maybe you could start off small. Just take a day trip somewhere or just a weekend thing not too far from home. Because I think you’re right to not want SA to stop you doing what you wanna do. If travelling’s what you wanna do then I think you should go for it. And if it turns out to be harder than you thought (as in my case), well that just means it’ll be more rewarding in the end.

 

[JWH]

I can't even go to the cinema alone!

 

[GettingThere]

I have taken trips by myself and although there were the almost inevitable "moments" I had a pretty good time and overall I thought that it was way worth it. Important is the type of holiday that you chose. A trip to the country or a small town is nice. I prfer tenting in a spacious park.
There is comfort in the knowledge that the people you will encounter will probably never see you again. I have used this as a platform to deal with it.