Episode 57: Table for One - On Solo Travel, Artist Dates and Grand Adventures
Welcome to Episode 57:
Solo travel is make or break in my opinion and not for the faint of heart. However, traveling alone can be a lot of fun too. I love sharing the journey of travel with family and friends, yet I know there can be plenty of wild and beautiful moments when you take the reigns and travel solo.
After a couple of adventures up may sleeve where I leave the kids and the husband at home, here is my take on what is good and bad and deliriously wonderful…. I love the quote from the book Alone Time: Four cities, Four Seasons and the Pleasures of Solitude…. “Alone time is an invitation, a chance to do the things you’ve longed to do” (Rosenbloom). Yes, and why not give into that?
Shownotes:
Alone Time: Four Cities, Four Seasons, and the Pleasures of Solitude by Stephanie Rosenbloom
Susan Van Allen Podcast: #40 - 100 Places in Italy Every Woman Should Go with Susan Van Allen (A Writer in Italy Podcast)
The Artists Way: A Course in Discovering and Recovering your Creative Self by Julia Cameron - The Morning Pages and Artist’s Dates!!
Podcast to Listen to: Wild Podcast with Sarah Wilson, Season 5, Episode 3: How to live the artist’s way…..Recommended if needing some inspiration on finding your muse….
Travel for Stoics: Empowering the Solo Traveler who is Obsessive, Introverted and Compulsive by Eva Rome (a great resource if this is one of your issues or struggles)
Tim Ferris Show #430 Elizabeth Gilbert’s Amazing Creative Toolkit: Saying No, Trusting Intuition, Seeking Awe, Bathing in Grief, and Index Cards
After visiting the Peggy Guggenheim Museum I was more than sated by the art and the adventure of the morning. I wandered along the back streets of the Dorsoduro to find myself at a quiet little restaurant outside of a local hotel where I dined alfresco and caught up on some writing and the catalogue from the Guggenheim collection. Travel Moments - Bliss, although the Negroni was way too strong for me, I do recall that much....
"We often need to be alone to reconnect to life and to ourselves, which then allows us to connect more meaningfully to others" - Sarah Wilson, This One Wild and Precious LifeIn this podcast I mention some places I found that were very nice to travel to if alone in Italy. Cities like Florence, Rome, Milan, Padua, Venice, Verona, Pisa, Siena, Cortona, Assisi, Orvieto are all perfectly lovely to visit with ample public transport and wonderful restaurants and cafes…. And of course historic sites and museums to visit.
I am still yet to visit Brescia, Bergamo, the Northern Lakes and see more of the South of Italy. I love visiting the cities and the bustling hill top towns too. In general I have found Italy to most accomodating in the realm of solo travel and as a woman traveler who certainly needs to come home to the family happy and whole, that is always a priority. I have discovered along the way that these places were full of beauty, safety and serendipitous travel moments.
In the Podcast I mention the lady from Berlin who was 80 years old and traveling solo which certainly was lovely to learn. This is in the Dorsoduro district at the Peggy Guggenheim Museum, Venice.
In the Podcast I mention Venice and my concerns... I did end up lost a few times in Venice, but never enough to cause any drama, always the beauty and possibility around the next corner or over the next bridge kept my spirit happy and free to keep wandering. And the lovely part, just having the time to enjoy photographing the ancient architecture and canal scenes that were endlessly beautiful.
Inside the Grimani Palace. I love a beautiful space and traveling solo you can take your sweet time exploring and delighting in the wealth of possibility in a country like Italy...Music Composed by Richard Johnston
“Serious art is born from serious play” - Julia Cameron
From the Podcast - How to Academy Podcast 2nd November, 2020
Elizabeth Gilbert Meets Julia Cameron - The Path to Higher Creativity
(Listen if you would like to understand more about Artist’s Dates…….)
If you would like to read the whole piece I wrote for the Podcast on Solo Travel, you can find it here with photos, observations and the joy of travel….
Blog Post: Solo Travel…. Artist's Dates and Grand Adventures
I think now perhaps the woman (in pink above) from Berlin was a portrait photographer….ha ha, here is me! On Peggy’s Terrace….. Thank you Italy