Lone tree in fog
Six people asked me in the last 24 hours, “Are you going to Marquette alone?”
Varying expressions and tones accompanied this question. Disbelief, dismay, amazement, astonishment and approval.
I love to be alone. I feel like a bird flying free. Unimpeded, unrestricted, wings aloft, ready to turn left or right without explanation, without consultation.
Of course, I love traveling with my husband and children and friends, too. But so often freedom beckons to travel solo, independent. To sleep over in motels and dine in restaurants at a table for one.
“Perhaps many people aren’t so comfortable with themselves,” mused a friend.
Perhaps. I think there’s no greater gift than to want to spend time alone with oneself.
Lake Superior Spirit 
Typed on the top of the Powder Keg Sessions writing prompts for last night’s session:
“Silence is a source of great strength.” Lao Tzu
Sending you love and honoring how you fill your own well.xoxoxo S
I love travelling alone. It gives me time to just be.
Alone but not lonely…that is one of my many mantras! Partners die or leave; children grow up and you turn them loose to fly; the house grows still but not silent; the memories whisper from every crack and corner.
Books to read; music to hear; jobs left to finish….I guess I have made my case for being alone.
Ah, yes, what quiet wonderful gift …. to be alone with self!
and to be not even with a meow-er!!!!!
Fountainpen
Amen
Marquette Wisconsin? That’s sort of a half-way point hmmmmm you’ve got me thinking….
I spend a lot of time alone. I work in my flower beds, garden, maybe read a book, try a new recipe..read a book..and I think that many times it is just easier than trying to figure out what to say to other people. I don’t offend others or say anything politically incorrect when I am alone. BUT, I hate to get on the interstates or go to the city (Cincinnati ie) alone. And when I do things with other people, and spend time with them, I enjoy that as well. But I am at the stage of my life that if I do not enjoy another person’s company, I dang sure am not going to spend time being miserable and wishing that I was “home alone”..
I cherish your understanding and love of being alone. Isn’t it the greatest adventure ever? I’d hop back in a well-running vehicle in a hot second and do some more solo cross country trips right now! Ha! There is nothing finer that traveling at one’s own pace, exploring at one’s own pace — being, at one’s own pace. Salutes, grins, and hugs, my friend! (LOVE the photo).
I love to be alone, too. Can’t beat the peace and quiet 😉 Although I’ve never gone far enough alone where I had to spend the night in a hotel.
I prefer being alone over hanging around people who are full of drama. I love peace and quiet. Now that both young adults are doing their own dance in the world the wife and I are enjoying NO DRAMA. LOL Can you tell I HATE drama? There is nothing wrong with having some you time. 🙂
Alone time is essential for me. I am most content following my own star.
I spend so much time alone now that I look forward to traveling so I can be with other people, but I do understand the need for alone time because it is a precious gift, one I didn’t always have so available to me. Your lone tree in the fog is beautiful. 🙂
I understand alone and love it sometimes too
I live in Virginia and a few years ago drove to Iowa by way of Texas. Alone. HAD A BLAST!
Kathy – Enjoy the amazing gift of time alone with one’s self.
Three years of traveling alone left me happy for the company of others on trips.
Home alone is occasionally nice though.
You are a kindred spirit, indeed! Solitude is essential for refueling.
Love my alone time. There is not enough of it, and honestly with Katie the dog, none really. Still I remember a time when I went to Paris alone, lived alone, drove cross country alone. Now I sneak away for a few hours of alone and it is glorious!
Silence follows us everywhere… especially when we are alone. Seeing opens to infinity.
I cannot remember a time when I travelled alone, except for 1 trip to my daughter, 2 hrs. away. I do have daydreams of travelling somewhere, but that is all they are for now. It sounds lovely.
I love traveling alone! You can see and experience so much more than when you are surrounded by others whom you know, drawing your attention away from that which is before your eyes.
One of my blogs focuses primarily on solo travel: http://solowomenathomeandabroad.blogspot.com/
An early entry in that blog was a take-off on solo travel experiences: http://solowomenathomeandabroad.blogspot.com/2011/01/presence-of-place.html
I think it’s great that you’re so comfortable alone. I’m not sure how I’d fare dining at a table for one, but I don’t think you’re strange for enjoying it! There’s something about being alone that leaves you free to explore what’s in front of you as well as what’s inside of you.
I know that a lot of people worry about what someone else might do to you if you’re alone, or heaven forbid, if you leave yourself unprotected. To which I say (in my head) that life is about more than preparing for the worst case scenario. If you only ever experience life in avoidance of bad things that *could* happen, you’re absolutely going to miss many good things that you shouldn’t. Happy travels, my friend!
Nice photo. I LOVE being alone too. And hiking alone most times. Things will change when my husband retires in less than a year. He’s gone a lot for work (up to 120 hour shifts–5 days). Enjoy your time alone.
I have the desire for this too. I’m thinking of doing it for one night this summer.
Alone. I’m also going alone somewhere next month, I shall disclose then… 😉
I agree – solitude is not tantamount to loneliness. xo
Good for you. It’s nice to be alone and be confortable with that time. More people should try going it solo. I’m a loner by nature and enjoy pursuits that are interesting to me- alone!
When you travel alone, you can stop when you want, go when you want, linger as long as you want … I totally “get” travelling alone. More specifically, I do NOT “get” folk who wonder why you’d do that …
Sybil, Yes, I love not being hurried by someone else who is trying to “get somewhere” and “see something.”
I love these alone travel times too Kathy and have experienced similar reactions over the years. For me it’s a meditation of sorts, a moving retreat. Very special and fortunately understood ( most of the time) by family and close friends.