What Five Weeks Alone in NYC Taught Me About Solo Travel
A couple years (and one pandemic) later, I felt the mad freedom realization again. So in January 2022, I packed my computers (yes, plural), my huge work monitor, my courage, and my California wardrobe, and moved into a Manhattan apartment for five weeks. I could see the Empire State building down the street each time I exited my apartment door!
Coming from California I had never experienced living for any amount of time in truly cold weather. I came to understand that days that were below 32° were genuinely “freezing“. When I would check the temperature for the day and see that the temperature was above 32° I knew that would be a piece of cake! It makes me laugh now, back home in California, if it’s 60° outside, I might consider not going out! It’s crazy what you get used to.
For once I was so happy to have a mask to wear because it kept my nose from freezing off!
But I found my groove. I worked Pacific Time hours, which gave me New York mornings to explore. I met up with an old high school friend. I dined with a cousin’s friend and made more connections through Facebook friends of friends that turned into dinner invitations.
To avoid loneliness, I started doing one daily post to Facebook telling everyone the highlights of the day and showing pictures from anything amusing or interesting for that day. To my shock, Facebook friends who haven’t communicated with me in ages, came out of the woodwork, appreciating my daily posts and saying that they looked forward to it each day! It really made me feel like I had all these friends with me and counting on me on my trip.
I took to scheduling FaceTime dinner dates with my pals back home. With AirPods, I could eat solo at a restaurant but still have a friend “at the table” with me. It was genius. The waiters were confused, but I was content.
