My 2011 Trip to Vermont and Montreal

4 Days solo

After my divorce in 2010, I resolved to vacation solo.

I had actually vacationed solo once earlier. On the first day of my first solo trip, I met Christine (the Danish woman who became my wife) in a train station in France, and travelled the rest of that trip with her. So it wasn’t really a solo trip. But, that’s another story.

I hadn’t vacationed solo since that time, nearly 20 years earlier, although by this time, I had travelled solo extensively on business. Christine managed our vacation destinations and I was happy to leave that to her. She had stronger opinions about where to go and what to do, and I was happy to tag along.

While I was excited to travel solo, I was also nervous. In Denmark, we get 5 to 6 weeks of vacation. In the US, I got 2 weeks of vacation and barely used it. Where would I go? What would I do? I did not want to waste all those weeks.

My first instinct was to find a book to give me advice. When I searched, though, I found that all the “how to travel solo” advice was geared towards women. And the basic advice was, “Don’t be afraid! Men travel solo, YOU can too!”

Apparently, men (other than me) do not fear travelling solo. So I would need to figure this out on my own.

I decided photography was the answer. I would go to beautiful places and take pictures. Done!

I sort of cheated on my first trip.

I needed to go to Boston on business, so I decided to extend that trip to drive up through Vermont to Montreal, since I had visited neither before. After all, this was the basic pattern I took on my first solo trip, where I went to Switzerland and Paris on business, then took three weeks of “solo” train travel in France, Italy, then back to Switzerland.

I was surprised how nervous I was, in the taxi from my business hotel to the rental car agency. Reflecting, I realized that my fear was that I would not enjoy myself. Because if I didn’t enjoy myself, perhaps I had not found an answer to the vacation question after all.

To be honest, it wasn’t the greatest trip. I still needed to learn how to travel solo. I needed to learn how to take breaks. Stop for meals and not just walk from morning to dusk, searching for impressive photo opportunities.

Looking through those pictures reminds me of those less-than-satisfied feelings. I am not all that impressed with the pictures I took, either of the people or the place, though I can see how that trip helped set the stage for later, better trips.