What an Airport Full of Solo Travelers Got Me Thinking

A short postcard from a workstation in Rome, on my way to Paris.

Hey you, it's me. How are you?

I'm sitting at a workstation in the Rome airport, watching a river of solo travelers walk by. Phones in hand. Doom scrolling, most of them. And it got me thinking.

Would I ever travel solo?

I think I could. But I love sharing the memory with someone I love, and I love meeting new people along the way. Then again, I've been told that when you walk the Camino, you grow your own little Camino family as you go. Maybe that's its own kind of solo.

So I did what I quietly always do. I pulled out my phone and Googled the benefits of solo travel. Here is what stuck with me.

It builds confidence. Every time you navigate an airport, book a hair blowout with someone in a language you don't speak, solve the problem that pops up, or finally find your hotel, you prove something to yourself. "I can handle this." And that follows you home.

Confidence has been my quiet, long work. But here is what surprised me this morning. I arrived unbothered. Shoulders rolled back. Relaxed. The safety script I've been building for years was already playing on its own:

I am allowed to take up space in this world.

The other thing they say is that your nervous system settles. No one else's expectations to manage. You start to trust your own voice. I know I have.

Marley and I travel so well together. And honestly, if I feel this relaxed with her beside me, I can only imagine the kind of freedom I'd find doing it on my own someday.

I've traveled alone before, but someone was always waiting on the other side. The closest I've come to the real thing was last January, the Cayman Islands. I went not knowing a soul and met twenty-one people I'll never forget. I walked away with a friend who's walking the Camino with me next month, a connection that led me to my publisher, and something I didn't arrive with: the belief that I am enough.

So maybe 2027 is the year I try a solo day trip. We'll see.

Anyway. That's just my random thought of the day, drifting through an airport.

I'm waiting on your note~

Do you ever get those out-of-nowhere thoughts drifting through an airport? And if you did travel solo, where would you go first? Tell me.

Write Jenn a Note ↓

I love you.

Just stay sweet out there, until my next postcard, from Paris.

~ Jenn

Where Would You Go First?

If you traveled solo, where does your heart pull you?

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