Tag: Travel

Return to Solo Dining

It’s been a minute since I went to dinner by myself (that wasn’t a hotel bar/restaurant) and I recently plunged back in to the solo dining experience in the coolest way.

On a road trip back to see my family and meet my new nephew, I decided I wanted to actually sit down somewhere and eat a real meal. Usually I grab some Jesus chicken through the drive thru and keep on rolling. However, this night I wanted real food and in a cool place if I could find it.

When this option was presented to me, I was all in. I was driving home for the 4th, and a restaurant from 1776 was available? Yes please!

This beautiful place is in downtown Wytheville, VA and was one of the most quaint, happily situated buildings I’ve seen in some time. The parking lot was full – even at 7:30, and some locals even walked in from nearby neighborhoods.

As I climbed to the porch and walked in the door (that you had to push a little hard to open), I was grinning in happiness. It was all old beams and stone and wooden floors that creaked….and a giant bear with Ben Franklin glasses was there to greet me! Night made – and I was barely inside.

They led me to a corner booth in a room that may have been the original living room. It was a mix of stone and wood and the coolest lighting. The booth was cozy and creaky and just fabulous. Not the roomiest, but it worked.

The menu, surprisingly enough, was not colonial and bland. It was southern gourmet and had some surprising options. I settled on their special – pork chop stuffed with apples and spices and stuffing with garlic green beans and a baked potato. Everything was so tasty and different and I throughly enjoyed it. The idea of a sit down meal? This checked all my boxes.

The solo dining experience was intimidating and yes, a little scary. There were a few other people in the room and most of them noticed me but went about their own business. You tend to think that everyone is staring at you when you dine alone and I finally realized it was all in my head. No one really stared awkwardly or pointed or said anything rude. The couple closest to me were actually on their phones the whole time. Me? I looked around and took it in and had one of the best meals in a place that was just magical to me. There were so many historical elements to it and just imagining who may have dined there 250 years ago (and all the years since) – it was such a fun experience.

And you know what? That first step made it easier to do again. I’m on a business trip this week and tonight, took myself to a Japanese restaurant that looked to have a fabulous menu. This time I brought a book with me to see how I liked that experience. The girl at the hostess station smiled at me when I said “Table for one” and told me there were a few other people who asked for that tonight. “Are you doing a solo date?” Yep. “Good for you. You’re going to love this place”.

She was right, I did. I had a fantastic meal and enjoyed every second of it.

There were two young couples at the table next to me and they didn’t stare but shared some looks when I left. But guess what? I’ll never see them again and my experience was for me and I loved it. Now I’ve been through that and survived, so the confidence to do this again just grew stronger.

So if you find yourself in a situation where you want to try a new place or even have an hour or so to yourself, just go. Alone. Even if you hesitate or take a pause, it’s ok. In that moment, ask yourself if your curiosity is greater than your fear, and just walk in. I have a feeling you’ll be glad you did.

For me, it was taking that first step in a small town in Virginia into an historical setting where I gained a new experience and regained my confidence to dine solo. Here’s to more hidden gem experiences in unexpected places!

Rock on.

People In The Air

So I have a question for you -Do you normally talk to your neighbors on airplanes or pretty much just sit down with your headphones on and pretend to go right to sleep? Personally, I usually go with the latter. But, sometimes you meet quality people when you least expect it.

Two weeks ago I was on a midday flight from Denver to JFK to meet up with the group I was vacationing with for our flight to Morocco. Due to the time difference, I had to get out of Denver earlier in the day to be in New York for our 8pm group flight. I was technically working that day so I went in early, worked for a few hours and was still clearing up some last minute items while waiting to board the plane.

When I got to my aisle seat, I had my noise-cancelling headphones on, my laptop accessible and I opened it up and continued to work as soon as we reached altitude.

As many of us do nowadays, I glanced at the two people next to me, smiled and went about my business in my own little bubble. I worked for about an hour and then bought lunch when the flight attendants came around. The older lady in the window seat got my attention and let me know the bag from the sandwich I just purchased was leaking. We swapped it out and thus, she saved me from a soggy lunch.

After I finished, I was reaching for my laptop again when the older gentleman next to me taps me and says “Before you get all set up again, I need to see a man about a horse”. I laughed and got up so he could go to the restroom. When he returned, I pulled my laptop out and started back in on my never-ending email.

A few minutes go by and he starts talking to me. So I took my headphones off and found he was commenting on Outlook and how it looked like “some other guy’s program I was sitting next to”. I showed him a few things and he thought it was terrible people had to deal with “that many emails”. That’s when I realized he had a heavy New York accent and that they must’ve been visiting Colorado. My natural curiosity set in and I asked them about their trip.

Turns out this couple has been married for 50 years, raised three kids and put them through college and now travel to see all the things they missed out on. They are in their early 70s and I was surprised as hell to find out how adventurous they are. She even went zip lining in Costa Rica a few years ago!

They were telling me how they toured around Colorado and how they tried a different ethnic restaurant every night. Their favorite was a Thai restaurant were they apparently made friends with the owner. The lady who would buy restaurants, make them profitable, sell them and then go see the world with the proceeds until it was time to do it all over again. The man was fascinated with her as she had a younger boyfriend and said “Man, she was a tiger!” with a big look in his eyes. Cracked me up.

As we talked, I found out he was Ted and she was Bobbi and that Ted had been in the fashion business and the insurance business and that Bobbi had worked at the New York Public Library in the Children’s section for over 40 years. They told me of life in the Bronx, of raising their kids and how she now wants to move to Manhattan and he hates the city. Typical, right?

Ted gave me a tip to use a car service instead of Uber when I came back (I needed to get from a hotel by JFK to LaGuardia at 4am yesterday and it ended out working perfectly). He wanted to hear about my trip when I came back and asked for my email address. I gave him one of my business cards and Bobbi was going to put in her bag. Ted took it right away and says “No, this is going in my wallet!” He was a riot.

All of this to say, I’m so glad he started talking to me – I would’ve missed out on meeting some great people. Don’t get me wrong – there are times I get on a plane and I don’t even want to look at people, let alone talk to them. But with so many people ignoring each other lately, it becomes easier and easier to just ignore them back. After all, they’re strangers.

Ted was true to his word and emailed me the next day. I sent him a reply yesterday when I got back to work and he sent me one right back. He has questions about my trip and what it was like to be in Morocco and he finished it with “it seems to be a good place to sell fence-post diggers”. And – you guessed it – I cracked up again!