Table for one, please

Being alone is a wonderful and terrifying thing all at the same time. Especially when traveling.

I prefer to travel alone, I get to do what I want to do, I meet people easier, I don't have to explain myself. It's exhilerating when I'm standing in the middle of the Zocalo, swarmed by thousands of Mexicans, yelling in unison at the pinche ref that just made a bad call. It's great when I sit down at a top end restaurant filled with Mexican execs and order myself a margarita....along with an appetizer, entree (large), and dessert. And its perhaps the best when I'm just walking around the streets of Mexico City with an empowered sense of aimless purpose, listening to Irma Thomas...which is exactly what my afternoon consisted of. There's nothing better.

And yet, here I am signed into Skype as I write, hoping that someone will sign in and want to chat. Sometimes it's easy to forget that being alone is a blessing. I think it's human nature to look outward for happiness, at least it's my go-to source of instant bliss (i.e. dogs, men, Jack Daniels...). It's a lot easier than looking inward. Since I arrived, I've been on a semi-violent emotional roller coaster, vascillating erratically between absolute contentment and something a lot less than contentment that I can't really assign a word to. As much as I've looked forward to this trip in the past few months, during the past week (despite all its Mexican glories), an annoying little thought keeps creeping into my head. Really? Is this really only day #2??? Part of it is just the inevitable adjustment period, transitioning from a sweet pad in Lakeview to an austere Mexico City hostel. But the other part of it is me forgetting to embrace my solitude. Not to worry, Irma and I worked it out over a few city blocks. Won't happen again.

So, the evening of Day 5 (aka Friday night) hearby consists of me, Frank Sinatra, and a newly downloaded copy of Eat, Pray, Love. Kindle for PC is a wonderful thing. That's right, I'm also embracing my dorkiness.

As is evident, I tend to get a bit pensive while traveling. You'll come to tolerate, if not love, my philosophical rants.


*This post wouldn't be complete without a picture of my dog, Erica, taken during our last Skype session. She obviously wasn't all that into it.