Bought a ticket to London
This week I decided to book a flight to London and visit for 2 weeks. I just searched several areas that I have always wanted to go and the ticket to London was the cheapest, so I booked it. I'll be heading there in September, and alone. I've tried traveling with friends before. Both times were a disaster. I might fill you in on those times later, but essentially we enjoy different forms of travel. They are more they resort, tourist trap type travelers and I am more the type that likes to see the way the locals live and to venture away from the tourist spots (while seeing some... of course. But that's not the center or the focus of my trip).
I've also tried planning trips with past boyfriends. Disasters as well (I should write about one if i havent already.) It's almost comical how poorly it went. He decided that he wanted to plan everything. He was adamant about having control over every detail and I think he thought it was romantic to not let me look at a single detail... I enjoy being organized and planning, whereas he is the opposite. But I didn't want to be controlling or domineering and I thought it might dishearten him if I asked to help plan and takeaway from his romantic idea.
Anyways, he was from the UK and I am from the US. We were doing a trip to the Grand Canyon then to Las Vegas (and whatever destinations he found inbetween). The entire time I had no idea what activities or where we were going other than Las Vegas, so I mainly packed clothes for Vegas, when the trip ended up being mainly driving in the car and brief little hikes. It was a 2 week trip (and 3 of those days were spent in Vegas)... he had us driving 6 hours to do 2 hour activities, then driving 6 hours back to get to the hotel he booked. I wonder if he didnt realize how long it can take to travel from one place to another if you don't map it out first. All activities in one day should be done in close vicinity to each other then plan activities close together in the next area... but we ended up zig-zagging and recovering ground that we had already been on several times due to poor planning.
It was December, we drove to the Grand Canyon and he apparently hadn't checked the weather reports before planning his trip and route so a blizzard occurred and we couldn't leave the area for several days... also there was too much snow and fog to see anything. So while standing next to the fence to look down at the canyon it was just an expanse of opaque fog (which I might have just made sound more impressive than it was). One we were finally able to leave, I found out that he had booked a cabin way out next to nothing. We had been dating for 6 months now and I have repeatedly told him that I don't enjoy staying in cabins for various reasons... I am from a small town so I am maxed out on camping and camping and wilderness (which I've told him). Because I grew up able to do all of that stuff for free and on a regular basis, it didnt make sense to me to spend 1000s of dollars to do what was already available in my hometown. I even told him that I would take him there one day so that we could do that outside of this vacation because that is not my idea of a vacation...
Well, regarding the stays that he did pick, he had been extra cheap (without quality... there's a way to book cheap with quality, but he just overlooked that bit) and this ended up being a makeshift tinyhouse cabin (not a cute one) that should not have been legal to list on Airbnb... especially not in the dead of winter. The was no heating unit. They had one space heater that you could plug into a wall, but there was a warning label on the space heater that it could cause a fire if left on for long periods of time. So I told him I wasn't staying there. We had no service and just packed and drove into the night until I picked up enough service to book a hotel nearby. ...it was the first good sleep we had the entire trip. There was sooo much more that happened on that trip, but my hands are getting tired and I've completely steered away from the focus of what this post was supposed to be about.
Basically, I've found that I enjoy the freedom of traveling by myself. No wreckless spending due to someone else's poor planning or expensive or overly cheap tastes. I can see all of the sights that I want without compromise. And I tend to meet more people when I travel alone.
I've also tried planning trips with past boyfriends. Disasters as well (I should write about one if i havent already.) It's almost comical how poorly it went. He decided that he wanted to plan everything. He was adamant about having control over every detail and I think he thought it was romantic to not let me look at a single detail... I enjoy being organized and planning, whereas he is the opposite. But I didn't want to be controlling or domineering and I thought it might dishearten him if I asked to help plan and takeaway from his romantic idea.
Anyways, he was from the UK and I am from the US. We were doing a trip to the Grand Canyon then to Las Vegas (and whatever destinations he found inbetween). The entire time I had no idea what activities or where we were going other than Las Vegas, so I mainly packed clothes for Vegas, when the trip ended up being mainly driving in the car and brief little hikes. It was a 2 week trip (and 3 of those days were spent in Vegas)... he had us driving 6 hours to do 2 hour activities, then driving 6 hours back to get to the hotel he booked. I wonder if he didnt realize how long it can take to travel from one place to another if you don't map it out first. All activities in one day should be done in close vicinity to each other then plan activities close together in the next area... but we ended up zig-zagging and recovering ground that we had already been on several times due to poor planning.
It was December, we drove to the Grand Canyon and he apparently hadn't checked the weather reports before planning his trip and route so a blizzard occurred and we couldn't leave the area for several days... also there was too much snow and fog to see anything. So while standing next to the fence to look down at the canyon it was just an expanse of opaque fog (which I might have just made sound more impressive than it was). One we were finally able to leave, I found out that he had booked a cabin way out next to nothing. We had been dating for 6 months now and I have repeatedly told him that I don't enjoy staying in cabins for various reasons... I am from a small town so I am maxed out on camping and camping and wilderness (which I've told him). Because I grew up able to do all of that stuff for free and on a regular basis, it didnt make sense to me to spend 1000s of dollars to do what was already available in my hometown. I even told him that I would take him there one day so that we could do that outside of this vacation because that is not my idea of a vacation...
Well, regarding the stays that he did pick, he had been extra cheap (without quality... there's a way to book cheap with quality, but he just overlooked that bit) and this ended up being a makeshift tinyhouse cabin (not a cute one) that should not have been legal to list on Airbnb... especially not in the dead of winter. The was no heating unit. They had one space heater that you could plug into a wall, but there was a warning label on the space heater that it could cause a fire if left on for long periods of time. So I told him I wasn't staying there. We had no service and just packed and drove into the night until I picked up enough service to book a hotel nearby. ...it was the first good sleep we had the entire trip. There was sooo much more that happened on that trip, but my hands are getting tired and I've completely steered away from the focus of what this post was supposed to be about.
Basically, I've found that I enjoy the freedom of traveling by myself. No wreckless spending due to someone else's poor planning or expensive or overly cheap tastes. I can see all of the sights that I want without compromise. And I tend to meet more people when I travel alone.
31-35, F
