The quiet of going alone

Some of my favourite hours travelling have been the ones with no plan and no company — an early morning in a city that isn't awake yet, walking wherever a street happens to bend. I get lost, a little. I don't mind.

I plan trips carefully, maybe too carefully. I like knowing which train, which exit, roughly when. But I've learned to leave gaps on purpose, because the parts I remember most are almost never the ones I scheduled. They're the wrong turn, the small shop, the bench I sat on longer than I meant to.

Going alone isn't about being lonely. It's about hearing your own footsteps for a while.

I'm not saying everyone should travel this way. I just keep coming back to it, and I wanted to write it down before I talked myself into a busier itinerary.