Solo Travel - Parte Uno

I'm sitting here writing this in Cozumel. Alone. Well not actually alone, there are plenty of people on this island, tourists from all over the world, locals who live in paradise, tourists who never left and became locals who live in paradise. But functionally alone. Alone as in I didn't come to this island with anyone else. Alone as in when I wake up in the morning I make every single decision about how I will spend my day. I have no pre arranged schedule to follow, no people to spend the day with, no job to go back to.

And even though I lived alone for the last year, it is a weird feeling.

I have so many choices I don't know which one to make. Do I go on the party boat with the Canadian girls here on vacation? Do I go scuba diving with the New Zealand girl who has been traveling alone for 8 months already? Do I wander down the beach with the Australian girl who has been studying in Canada for a semester? Or do I do none of the above and make my own plan?

I'm staying in a hostel. It's four blocks north of the ferry landing, past shops filled with Tequila of every flavor you can imagine and cheap souvenirs that no one needs. The hostel is basically one long cement hallway lined with bunks set into the walls on one side and private rooms on the other. There is nearly no difference in size between the two options, the only thing that sets it apart is one includes a door with a lock and the other a curtain to be pulled down while you sleep.

I've been here for three days and already the diversity of the people I've met is so cool. Who is here? Where are they from? What brought all of these people from all corners of the world to this one hostel on this particular day? There are two guys from Argentina here for 5 days to vacation. There are two vegan guys who live on boats most of the time, saving the world's whales and dolphins. There is an older woman from the US who has been traveling around since the 60's to paint. There are two Polish girls on their honeymoon, two Belgians traveling after completing their masters degrees in sociology, and the other two girls traveling alone; one from New Zealand and one from Australia.

People do this... Get up and go around the world. They don't have plans. They book hostels one night at a time. They move on when they want to move on. They enjoy it while they are here and then they start a new adventure.

I am going to Chile next month and I have plans for 30 days. Not every day will include an adventure. Some days may be wandering around cities or relaxing at wineries. But they are planned. 30 reservations. 30 places to stay. I'm a planner. The people who travel don't plan. They just go.

Or maybe they started just like me, planning, and they learned to let it go?

The amount of choices we have in this world is vast and amazing. The reason I wanted to stay in hostels on my trip is exactly for this. To meet people who choose to free themselves from rules that aren't really rules. To see how other people structure their lives. Not all are nomads wandering around, there is a range; people on holiday for a few weeks (or a few months if you get European vacation time), people taking a break between studying and finding a job, people who went on one and are still wandering around the world 8 months later, and people who have been on the road 12 years with no plans to do anything else.

I was nervous, to go on my first trip alone. But as I stepped off of the ferry and onto the island my sense of expectation melted away. I felt truly relaxed for the first time in years. I sat down in a cafe, made friends with the waiter (who was originally from Mexico City, has been living in Montreal for 20 years and came to Cozumel for the winter and is planning a year long trip wandering South America with his 18 year old daughter), and drank dos cervezas as I watched the sun set. Why? Because at that moment it was exactly what I wanted to do.

P.S. I also went scuba diving, dancing with friends I met at the hostel, laid on the beach watching the clouds move across the sky, swam in the ocean, almost attended a 1 year old's birthday party, journaled while eating lunch alone in random restaurants, got caught in a rainstorm, and sat at a beachside cabana watching Pelicans feed in tide pools. What I did not do was regret booking this trip on a whim.