Life with the Limeys: The Facts of Travelling Alone

Recently, I embarked on the awesome, yet terrifying adventure of travelling alone. I have had many friends who have tried it before- some hated it, some like it and some love it more than travelling with friends. For this October half term at work, I decided I was going to test this out and go to Lisbon alone!
Why Lisbon? Its pretty close to the UK so in-between my busy work schedule, I could get away for a few days. Also, its warm. The weather is 25 everyday and sunny. It is never 25 and sunny in England.

Thoughts before travelling: Before I left on this adventure I had 100 opposing thoughts going through my head. At first, I was travelling alone because I didn't really have any other option. Then I got excited about it and saw it as a new experience. By the time that wore off, I was freaking out over little details such as am I prepared to eat dinner at a restaurant on my own? ( I apologize to the one person who heard this fear being stated probably 100 times) Am I prepared to spend days by myself?
Will I be safe? There is an obvious risk as a female traveller alone, as there is a risk doing any sort of travelling. However, I was really prepared in this trip. I found a female dorm hostel that was 9.5/10 rated for all attributes. I made sure I had transportation figured out to and from the airport so I did not need to stop with a suitcase (clear sign of tourism) and ask for help. I brought all forms of technology communication to stay in touch with the world. I bought my Lisbon travel guide and was ready to go.

Luckily, a few teacher friends in the UK were also making their way around Portugal, so I knew that for at least one night I would have some friends to hang out with and make sure I was 100% okay.

Now that the worries are over and the trip is done, I've created my list of perks and erks of travelling alone.

Perks:
1) Freedom. I did what I wanted and when I wanted too. (I'm 13- I do what I want!: said every child on every day time television talk show such as Maury and Jerry Springer). I didn't need to take into consideration any one elses' wants, wishes and needs or compromise my own immediate impulses. If I woke up at 6:45 and wanted to get going I could, if I wanted to sleep in until 10am I could.
2) Cheap. When travelling alone, I am more inclined to stay in a hostel (hoping to meet fellow travellers) and this reduces costs greatly. I am less inclined to sit down and have two big meals a day or stop every other hour and have a drink.
3) Personal satisfaction over the tiniest of tasks. Eg. Mastering the tram/metro system in the first hour is a huge accomplishment when I'm travelling alone. Eg. Getting lost and then finding your way when you can't read a map if your life depended on it is a major accomplishment. Eg. Eating alone and not crying in the process- huge accomplishment. Eg. Showering daily- in reality you probably won't see anyone in Lisbon ever again so you could technically just go your vacation without showering.
4) Independence and self confidence. This sounds corny, but travelling alone really shows you how independent you are and boosts your confidence (except in situations like the eating alone noted below). Realizing that you can travel alone and master new cities and countries that don't speak your language or you've never been to before really boosts confidence in your independence.

Erks:
1) Freedom. How is this an erk? Well- if you are me, and you are left to your own freedom- you just go. My first full day in Lisbon, I had seen everything including a neighbouring community because I just kept going.
2) Eating alone. Even though it was a huge success, it still sucks. It is even worse, when the waiter pulls your table away from the one attached to it while you are sitting at it and announces really loudly that its because you are alone.
3) Drinking. Not that I'm a raging alcoholic on a normal vacation; but who doesn't like a drink or two while on vacation. Problem- when travelling alone and you sit down at a cafe and order a glass of wine, you begin to feel like an alcoholic.
4) Boredom due to anti social behaviour. This is the case for me, not for everyone. I am in no way anti social, but I'm definitely not a get in your face and cling to new people person either. I am extremely fortunate that I was able to meet up with some friends for two nights so I could engage in social situations and behaviours. However, once they left, I realized that travelling alone can be lonely at times--especially at night. During the day you can be go-go-go; however, at night which is normally a more social time, it becomes very apparent that you are travelling alone and have no friends so you sit in your hostel common room drafting a blog hoping someone will come in to talk to you.

Overall, I had an amazing trip even with some erks of travelling alone. Lisbon is beautiful and the transportation system is so cheap and convenient that I was able to do day trips to Cascais (a beach town) and Sintra (a fairy tale town).