Monthly Archives: June 2015

Traveling Solo

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My best advice for your first “solo” trip is to select a place you’re familiar with.  For me, that was Nantucket Island in Massachusetts.  I had spent many Augusts vacationing on Nantucket, as a child.  It held memories and enchantment at the same time.  So this was a natural and easy first choice.  I knew that I would feel at ease on the island, while traveling alone.

“In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count, it’s the life in your years.”                               Abraham Lincoln            

I decided to take the “slow” ferry over from Hyannis.  The longer crossing set a relaxed pace from the start.  You’re never really alone, there are so many people everywhere you go.  But the experience of traveling on your own is truly unique.  You have the opportunity to observe more and stretch your imagination.  You are free to make your own plans and go where you want to  go, without consulting others.

You may even find that going on a vacation alone gives you more opportunity to meet other people!  At the very least, you will find that you have more time to explore your surroundings. You’re free to chose exactly what you’d like to do.  Chose a place you know you like first.  There will be plenty of chances to find new destinations, once you’ve experienced your first “A Table For One” vacation.

Copyright 2015 Marion O’Grady

Start Easy

 

Great Walk…at The Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir in New York City.

Jacqueline Onassis Reservoir, NYC

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir, Central Park, New York City

“The most important thing is to enjoy your life – to be happy – it’s all that matters”                      Audrey Hepburn

My advice is to start small, but do it “big”.  For example, plan a walk at a particular time and in a particular place that is new and different.  Not for exercise, not for distance.  Simply for your own enjoyment.  This is the easiest way to begin, I think.  The purpose of your first planned walk should just be to enjoy yourself.  Try to go without any devices.  Notice everything around you.  Sounds, sights, the air.  Try to memorize all of the scenery and just let your thoughts wander wherever they want to go.  Relax and allow yourself to breathe easy.  This will be the start of your many upcoming “A Table For One” events!  Enjoy every minute of it.  You’re celebrating you!

Copyright 2015 Marion O’Grady

It Began at Antoine’s in New Orleans

I remember clearly the first time I decided to eat dinner alone.  I was traveling alone on business.  At the time, I was in the Travel category at The New York Times.  This particular assignment became a very important one for me personally.  It was a truly challenging one. And it gave me tremendous opportunity to explore and begin the many experiences that are now core to “A Table For One”.

“May you live all the days of your life”  Jonathan Swift

Generally speaking, I had been inclined to stay put at the hotels I stayed in, if I didn’t have a client dinner.  I would sometimes order room service as an easy “out” for not pushing myself to go to a restaurant alone.  But this particular trip, I was in New Orleans for the first time.  And it was not going to be possible to ignore the unique and spectacular culinary delights of this city. New Orleans’ jazz isn’t just music, it’s also food!

My mother always spoke of the famous restaurants in New Orleans with reverence.  She insisted that I take the opportunity to enjoy the best ones on my trip.  In particular, she insisted that I go to Antoine’s for dinner and Brennan’s for brunch, where she recalled some of the best meals she had long ago.

And so I forced myself to venture past the hotel boundaries and into the French Quarter for the first fine dining experience I had ever had on my own.  It was unforgettable for many reasons. First of all, I had a very hard time forcing the words “A Table For One please”, out of my mouth. It sounded thunderously awful and as though it might draw the unwanted attention of the entire restaurant to me.  I fidgeted endlessly in what seemed to be an unending moment of silence.  Everything went blank.

And then, the maitre d’ repeated with a question mark “A Table For One?”  I said yes, please. And that was it.  He reached for a menu with great flourish, swooped up a wine list and asked me to follow him.  We headed into the dining room and he pointed to a beautiful table with a fabulous view of the room, but also discreetly located out of the way.  I could see everything without feeling awkwardly obvious as a solo diner.  Wonderful.

Not only was it a wonderful meal, the experience gave me incredible confidence to do it again and again and again.  In other cities, wherever I went on personal or business trips.  It impressed me that this experience took place in a restaurant that was so well known.  And at the time, I made a note to self that this was the best way to approach “A Table For One”.   Don’t miss an opportunity, just because you’re alone.  Find the right spot and go for it.  You will never look back.

Copyright 2015 Marion O’Grady