Dead Sea, Jordan
One of the biggest arguments against solo travel is witnessing the beautiful sunset or amazing ruins and wishing you had someone to share it with.
That happens.
But only occasionally and it is usually overpowered by a sense of pride. I often try to explain that I am usually not alone but with people I have met on the road.
Yet today I realized there is something about the luxury of a hotel that doesn’t sit well with me.
I feel lonely.
Instead of a full hostel dorm room I sleep alone, occupying only one-third of the space on a giant bed. I can feel the emptiness. Hostel common areas are usually filled with groups of singles but here the jacuzzi is home to couples.
Sickeningly happy couples. Blech.
The Mövenpick Resort & Spa Dead Sea is gorgeous but I’m not feeling it. This morning I was in a funk and begrudging walked down to the Dead Sea, wallowing in my singleness and hating the happy couples.
But then walking down the stairs the view onto Israel opened up and all those feelings of loneliness disappeared.
I jumped in the water, amazed at my buoyancy then covered myself with the famous Dead Sea mud and baked in the sun. Sure I don’t have someone to share it with but right now that is okay, I am just happy to have experienced this.
But I also think it’s a good sign.
I am ready to move on and share travel with someone else. If that doesn’t happen right away I am okay with my travel partner being the 10 second auto timer on my camera.
The flip-side of the coin is that travelling as a couple it is easy to get cabin fever. It takes a lot of time to adjust to spending all day, every day with your husband!
I love those photos! It is lovely having someone on the beach to share those sunsets with.
Some places are just more prone to be visited by couples. I realized that a couple of years ago when I was planning a scuba diving trip to Seychelles and noticed that all the pictures the hotels had to offer were of happy couples in jacuzzis!
Both travel options (single & couple) have their pros and cons… and what I learned is that is really has to click with the other person so that the trip doesn’t turn into a reason for a billion discussions.
Well, they say that there’s a place and time for everything… I hope you’ll find a like-minded person soon!!!
How does it feel to be in the dead see, are you like really floating without having to keep still?
(and I’m just wondering, if I can ask,( or is it against the travelblog policy), how do you get invited by a tourist board to travel in their country?)
Of course not, you know I am an open book!
I had been interacting with the Jordan Tourism Board on Twitter and mentioned that I wanted to go to Jordan someday. They were familiar with my blog and invited me to go. In some ways I think South America is in a similar position, many people are unnecessarily afraid to go. I try to write about my own experiences so that people understand that even a solo female can travel to countries and be safe.
As for the Dead Sea, I had to take A LOT of photos. You really do float but it’s hard to stay in one place and I kept rolling over.
Must be fun floating and rolling over, I can understand why it would be nice to share it with someone haha
I hope more tourist boards invite you, so you can share your experience with us!! How cool is it that people from all over the world read your blog!
Well I hope so too! I definitely have heart for Latin based countries and Jordan made me realize that I’d love to see more of the Middle East so who knows what the future will bring…
It’s fun to travel alone once in a while. But on the whole, I prefer traveling with someone. For precisely the reasons you cite. Enjoyed reading this.
You are in a relationship with plenty of people! Without you we wouldn’t get to experience it through your writing…
If you were in a more of conventional relationship you would be ‘stuck’ in TO.
So true and I really do hate being stuck anywhere.
Ayngelina-
aha! You are ready and open to a new adventure, … one of the heart.
Let’s hope so…
I know exactly what you mean! After 4 yrs traveling solo, I’m ready for a travel partner in crime … but not rushing into anything. 🙂
Glad you ended up having a fun time. Last pic of you is really cute!
Thanks, floating in the Dead Sea is surprisingly tough!
I totally see where you are coming from here- I’ve felt it myself in the past. I really do believe when you are ready and open to meeting someone the universe helps nudge it along.
But I also believe it’s so important to be comfortable with just yourself, so I’m glad you feel that too!
Well after 17 months of being alone I have realized that these feelings come and go and not to get too worried about them.
I will happily come and share that pool view with you! I realize that’s not really the kind of travel partner you’re looking for, but I figured I’d throw it out there 🙂
Ha even a friend is nice at times!
Ah, the 10 second auto-timer. Always there when you need a friend.
My camera’s auto-timer and I have shared many great experiences together. 😀
Yes a much better option than asking the lifeguard.
Floating alone is better than sinking with another!
And, at least, we know she can float alone by her picture…..
Believe me I’d rather be alone and lonely, than with someone else and still feel lonely. I have been there before and it is not a good place.
I am wondering if I will have the reverse experience when I hit the road again. Guess it’s all part of the ups and downs of solo travel.
Well it’s certainly not boring is it 🙂
I felt the same way while traveling through andalucia. I stayed in hotels rather than hostels to ease my parents worry but never again while traveling alone! It was so much harder to meet people…not to mention it was also way more expensive
Hostels are so mainstream now that it’s just regular people who want to meet people. Hotels are lovely, but I need to be around people.
Sometimes I feel like you and I are so in sync. It was so interesting to me that only when we actually met did we find out that we both ended super serious long term relationships before starting to travel. I think you and I have been through similar stages of post serious relationship travelling, and this sentiment you have described here is one I’m coming to as well.
Well considering how your life is going hopefully there will be someone special appearing in mine.
For what it’s worth, there are those of us in happy relationships that really admire your courage and independence to travel alone. I feel proud of myself for having lunch in a restaurant by myself. What you are doing is really an inspiration. Not that you can cuddle with it, but it should keep you warm at night nonetheless. 🙂
Thanks Jen. Sometimes I really do prefer being alone but lately I have been surrounded by happy couples.
Sucks when the loneliness hits… it doesn’t happen to me too much, but when it does – WHAM. Like a suckerpunch. Glad yours has passed =)
That is EXACTLY what it is like – fortunately it left as suddenly as it hit.
I love this post, Ayngelina, and I know this feeling exactly. My loneliness hit me when I was traveling in the south of France by myself–I was in France, one of the most romantic countries on Earth, ALONE. But by the end of that adventure, I was so buoyed up by my sense of self, and I came to that same realization you found here–I was ready. If it happened, great, if not, I was going to be okay. That, maybe, is what solo travel is all about–getting to that realization 🙂
Yeah there are highs and lows. Sometimes I absolutely love being alone and then days like this, not so much.
oh man, i think you summed up luxury hotels perfectly here. everyone seems intent on ignoring everyone else. i think a luxury hostel would be a great business idea!
If only we had the money to build one…
You know what the funny thing is? There are probably alot of couples that travel that look at you and think “Man, I wish I could be single and free like her sometimes and just be able to do what I want when I want without having to check with another person”. I know that you had a moment where you felt your singleness was a con. But couples have just as many moments where they feel travelling with someone is a con. So the next time you are looking at others wishing what they had, know that there are a ton of people wishing what you have too 😛
Yes I guess we always want the thing we do not have.
I always wanted to go there. Awesome!
I saw a solo female hitchhiker on the Great Ocean Road last week.
I thought of immediately thought of your hitchhiking post!
Ha thanks! I have heard quite a few people hitchhike in Jordan and it is supposed to be really easy and safe.
I’ve traveled alone and I’ve traveled with “significant other” and I’ve traveled with friends. 90% of the time I’m happiest traveling alone. Half of a vacation to Greece turned into an exercise in endurance when a person with whom I’d traveled before turned out to have morphed into a whiney, ugly-American traveler. Putting her on a plane home to the UK was the best day of that vacation, followed by the remaining 10 days!
Occasionally I’m lonely. But that’s inspiration to strike up a conversation with someone new. Admittedly hard to do in your giant bed alone in a hotel room. A perfect opportunity to catch up on sleep 🙂
Every once in a while I run into those couples who clearly should not be traveling together and I feel comfort on being alone.
I see couples like that all the time.
Fortunately for me there was no weird “couple” dynamic between my friend and I. From a casual traveler here in Colorado she’d become a whiney, prissy, discontented individual. A trend that became clearer and clearer over subsequent years until we stopped being friends.
Oh well. Everybody changes, and there are always new interesting people to meet.
I remember when I went to this luxury resort alone. My gift certificate for overnight stay is about to expire and i really wanted to experience how it feels like to be in that resort. I went there on a special holiday here in the Philippines and viola, clingy couples around! Not that I hated it, but i felt a bit awkward when I was eating inside the nice restaurant alone. Glad my journal save me then.
But oh well. I am still thankful i managed to go there by myself. It’s all in the mind anyway 😀
My journal has been my dinner companion on more meals than I can count.
Oh goodness! I know exactly what you mean. There were plenty of times on the road when I would wish I had someone to share moments with. We have to plan a meet-up, I’ll totally replace your auto-timer. 🙂 x
Jordan? Is your European leg over and are you exploring the ME? I bet a clean, nice looking place to sleep in is much appreciated every now and then!
Ack. My computer hasn’t been loading the comment I keep making on here, so going to try it again!
I totally understand where you are coming from. There are plenty of times during my travels when I just want to share the moment I am having with someone, and there is no one there. While, for the most part, hostels are great for meeting people, those times when you are by yourself and wish you weren’t are the hardest.
We need to meet up sometime soon. I’ll totally replace your auto-timer. 🙂
I actually feel loneliest at airports and train stations when I need to go to the loo but it’s just too difficult to negotiate with all my luggage! So much easier to be with someone else, then…
It’s funny how different times in our lives bring different emotions & experiences. I am at a point right now when I would LOVE to be somewhere by myself! However, I traveled alone years ago and know the feeling of being ready for a special someone. 🙂
Glad you were able to come out of your mood and enjoy the day and your timer for a wonderful story.
I experienced that in Costa Rica a few weeks ago. I went alone and I treated myself to a pretty decent hotel, but there were couples everywhere. I got lots of questions from the staff who seemed concerned that I was a young woman alone. Oy vey! It did feel nice to treat myself, though.
We’re always the odd people out being married at hostels.
I’m sure it would be annoying to be the odd (wo)man out.
I find that traveling solo and w/my spouse both have advantages and disadvantages over the other. Come to think of it after reading this, i think it may be the reason I like returning to places I’ve been. If it’s been somewhere I’ve been by myself, I want to bring someone (hubs or daughters) back. And if it’s somewhere I’ve been with them, I want to return and visit on my own. Both always turn out to be very different experiences…
Well it’s nice that you have the opportunity to have it both ways 🙂 I guess someday I will too.
I know how you feel, hun. You seem some incredible sights and end up wishing you could share it with someone but then you have to remember for every experience you have alone, that’s one more story to tell to the person who goes with you next time. 🙂