Do you have a problem eating alone in public (excluding business travel)?
Does the thought of cutting into a steak or solo-sipping wine alone in your hometown make you insecure? What about vacation traveling to a city where no one knows you? Would you be more comfortable eating alone in public where no one knew who you were?
A couple weeks ago I returned from a solo vacation trip to London, England.
My girlfriends rather loved the idea of me going alone. A lot of positive feedback was received from friends. I especially liked friends who said, “hmm, I never really thought about doing that. Now, that’s a thought…”
The only negative feedback was that a couple friends said: “I wouldn’t like eating alone. You’re going to eat alone? Or, room service?”
The answer was: Both.
I only ordered room service if I was too tired to venture out, which was three times.
Because the “eating alone” dilemma came up with friends more than once, it got me thinking.
When I began planning a solo trip to London, eating alone didn’t enter my mind a single time. There are so many people in London that imagining being alone was/is virtually impossible. Room service meals would indeed be alone, and welcome.
But, my eating-alone enthusiasm is contained to London and other United Kingdom cities that I’m obsessed with (all of them). Making a reservation for “1” as I did around London, does not float my boat in Atlanta. Eating alone makes me uncomfortable too, at least in my hometown it does (save for behind the driver’s wheel).
Like London, Atlanta has many nice restaurants. But you won’t find me making a reservation for “1” and being happy as a clam chatting up the wait staff [alone] in ATL. I will choose inside my house every time while on home turf.
Savanna and I passed by Felinni’s Pizza on Howell Mill Road in Atlanta last weekend. The sun was shining, spring was in the air, a beautiful day. We saw a man eating pizza and a salad outside on the terrace, alone. Savanna said, “that’s sad.” I said, “he’s probably from out of town, enjoying time away alone, doesn’t know a soul, loving life…eating!”
To each his own.
Thank you for reading!
Love, Shelley
"Words are the only things that last forever" ~ Winston Churchill
