MC: She also talks so much about her high highs and low lows, and I think that that also opened the door for us to be very honest with each other about what it was like to travel at all, let alone travel alone.
LA: Well, then I have to ask, what is it about solo travel that strikes such a chord with you?
MC: Oh my gosh.
LA: Because you do it a lot. You’ve taken yourself to some great places and not to attribute it all to this podcast, but I feel like after we started doing it was when your solo trips really ramped up.
MC: Yeah, I’m a very extroverted Type A person and for me, I love to be the planner for a group trip. I love to make the Google map to book everything, to have my little flag and tour guide people around, but there’s a lot of pressure put on by my own self.
LA: I was going to say, as your dear friend, I’m going to say self-imposed.
MC: Sometimes-
LA: Self-imposed.
MC: … [Inaudible 00:12:34] always to feel like, okay, I have assembled the right group dynamic, I have chosen the right restaurants, I have picked the right Airbnb. I just want to make sure everyone’s having a good time. And when I travel on my own, it’s like all of that noise just goes away because I’m in complete control. And yes, I can bebop to my heart’s content, but I can also just sit my butt down and not do anything and not feel guilty at all for doing that. Which is not to say I necessarily feel that when I travel with a group, but I may be just more aware of it. And when I’m traveling on my own, I’m in complete control. I am the person who decides whether or not something is good enough for me, and I feel a lot of power and confidence comes from me doing that. I also as an extrovert, love to meet new people and putting myself out there by myself where I can’t rely on my friends or travel companions is always a good challenge for me. And I feel like every time I do it, I think, oh, I should do this more.
LA: When are some moments that you feel like you really cracked that?
MC: I feel like a couple of years ago I was feeling really lost, which sounds very dramatic, but I think I had just lost a little bit of self-confidence and I wasn’t really sure what I was doing with my career or with living in New York, I just didn’t know what I was doing. And so I said, okay, we need to just get out of here. I had cabin fever and I just needed to get out.
And so I booked a trip to Copenhagen and I was there for a week, and I remember just biking every morning. My hotel would have a bike ready for me and I would just bike around Copenhagen, picking up pastries along the way. And I think one of my greatest strengths is my sense of direction. And so being able to not have to look at my phone, she’s in control, she knows where she’s going. She’s just biking away, wind in her hair, fall Copenhagen weather, looking absolutely stunning. Going to, yes, the popular sites, but also sitting at a bar with a book, eating at Michelin Star restaurants just eavesdropping on the people around me. I just felt myself coming back into my power and myself. It was like I was charging up. And I think that’s really the power that solo travel has for me. It feels like I can just become reacquainted with myself in a way that I can’t when I’m around other people.
