Like Tracee Ellis Ross, I, Too, Find Great Joy in Solo Travel
Moving through life — and the world — is endlessly rewarding when you’re your own best travel companion.
Before I begin, a quick shoutout to best-selling author Erin Carlson, with whom I’ve been Instagram friends for a while now. If you’re not familiar with her work, she’s written a handful of Hollywood history books, including Queen Meryl and I’ll Have What She’s Having. Subscribe to her Substack newsletter, You’ve Got Mail, for the latest scoop on romantic comedies and other movie news. Erin is always the first to read and engage with my Substack content, and a handful of my subscribers have come through her referrals 🤯. Thank you for the support, Erin!
Now, I realize that as I dive into the perks of traveling alone in this week’s article, I’m fresh off a trip to beautiful Halifax, Nova Scotia, with my best friend Hayley. In fact, it was the first time I’ve ever traveled with a friend. Until now, my adventures have been solo, or shared with my former life partner, exploring islands, mountains, and old towns.
This jaunt to the east coast – which is incredibly lovely, by the way; so calm, so serene – was great because I genuinely enjoyed the person I spent time with.
I also really enjoy my own company. Tracee Ellis Ross feels the same way, which is why she has her own show on Roku, Solo Traveling with Tracee Ellis Ross.
SIDEBAR: There are way too many streaming platforms to keep up with! Shudder, Hulu, Hayu, Roku, Paramount+, Disney+, Apple TV…. To paraphrase Dwight Shrute in hyperbolic fashion: we need a new digital plague. Brands are starting to realize the upkeep is getting out of hand. Just last week, Hulu announced it’s integrating with Disney+. What’s next?!
If you’re willing to fork over a bit more moolah to get Roku and watch Season 1 of Tracee’s show, go for it. Consider it a worthy investment. Canadians, you may need a VPN to bypass the annoying geo-blocking.
Or, and I don’t necessarily recommend this, but you could wait until the second season comes out for an even bigger binge. Yes, S2 is reportedly in the works, proof that the show is resonating with people.
TV scholar Michel Ghanem put it best in an Instagram post about the show: “Tracee makes it all look fun and meditative, even amidst flashes of loneliness.”
For those of us perpetually single in adulthood, Tracee’s show is the validation we need to keep going. To keep dining one. To keep hiking up that mountain alone — with only our thoughts or whatever’s blaring through our AirPods. To keep sitting alone, maybe with a glass of vino.
I always think of that ol’ Sex and the City episode where Carrie was absurdly nervous to dine alone. In true Bradshaw fashion, she made a dramatic production out of it and acted like she was the first woman in history to sit solo on a patio.
I know a lot of women who’ve confessed that they’re “too scared” to sit at a restaurant alone.
WHY?!?!
Men do it all the time.
If Greg can grab a seat and eat his sad bowl of pho without an ounce of shame, surely you can enjoy your sushi and sashimi combo in solitude like the absolute queen you are!
Isn’t it embarrassing that men can just sit, savor a sandwich and beer in public, while we’re paralyzed by what, the imaginary opinions of strangers?! C’mon now.
Tracee does more than eat by herself. On Solo Travelling, she explores Mexico, Morocco and Spain, taking cocktail-making classes, attending olive oil tastings, going shopping, relaxing at a spa, and more.
When I travel — whether it’s sunny Punta Cana, romantic Vienna, or even exotic Jersey City — dining alone is one of my favourite pleasures.
In the Dominican Republic, my days were blissfully simple: catching the sunrise, hitting the gym, reading by the pool, and walking along the shoreline after dinner. I went days without speaking to anyone except for the resort staff (and I tried my best to speak only in Spanish).
I’ve always had a soft spot for solo travel. In an interview with the BBC, Tracee reveals she started traveling solo when she was 24. Me? I started travelling solo at 18. After graduating high school, I didn’t know what to study, so I took two years off to work at a breakfast diner, and then I used all my tip money to backpack through Europe for a month.
I spent days wandering Prague listening to Modest Mouse on my iPod. I bought a ticket to a musical in Budapest. I went to a rave in Berlin. I took an overnight train from Berlin to Milan and slept in one of those tiny bed cabins. Creepy at first, but relatively safe for a single young woman. I accidentally roamed on my cellphone and wound up with a $2,000 phone bill, but we don’t need to get into that right now.
Like Tracee’s experiences, mine have been fun, fulfilling, adventurous, but they’ve been lonely, scary, and uncomfortable, too. I’m glad that Tracee doesn’t shy away from the unglamorous side of solo travel. Life, after all, is full of nuances: messy moments, awkward silences, unexpected challenges.
If you’re reading this, I hope you’re inspired to travel solo sometime soon. You don’t need a passport stamp or a month-long sabbatical to have a fun adventure on your own. A short weekend getaway to a nearby small town can be just as memorable.
One of the best parts about travelling alone is that you are in control of the itinerary. If you want to spend four hours lingering around a coffee shop, you totally can! If you want to suddenly ditch dinner plans to follow a whim, you totally can! That’s the beauty of it all. There’s no one to compromise with.
Solo travel gives you freedom, self-reliance, and a deeper connection to your surroundings because when you’re on your own, you tend to notice things more. You feel things more.
Take a page from Tracee’s playbook. Once you can make yourself laugh in a foreign cafe, you start to feel like the whole world is yours to wander.
Thank you for the shoutout!! And YES to solo travel. I dream of spending a month in Europe.