Solo holidays are the most freeing of all
Iam on holiday in Denmark on my own. Initially, I was here to visit a friend, but a few days after I arrived, she had a work crisis and called the whole thing off. Rather than grieve, I rejoiced.
Being on your own can be lonely, but it’s also incredibly freeing. There’s nothing like the feeling of following your own nose, 24 hours a day.
Whenever I go away with someone – partner or friend – there is usually disagreement over itinerary. I want to do more than them, and have extremely specific preferences.
I’m afraid I’m one of those people who likes to try as many “best of ” recommendations as possible.
On my own, there’s nobody to plead with when I decide I want to cycle – on a whim – the long, 25-mile route back to the city from a nature reserve with a swimming bath on the Baltic as I did yesterday. I can swim in three different spots a day
– no questions asked. Today, for instance, I did lengths in a harbour pool, and then zipped over the bridge to another dock I’d liked the look of for another entirely needless dip. I can go to two bakeries, one after the other, eating four rich pastries in the morning and then nothing for the rest of the day. I can choose where I eat, and when.
There are lots of beautiful young couples cavorting here in Denmark. There are lots of handsome fathers, smiling mothers and adorable children. I may look like a spinster peering in from outside, asking for tables for one, but do I feel like one? No: I feel like I’m having the best possible time.