Mar

The Sociable Solo Traveler

by Joyce McGreevy on March 22, 2016

A volunteer greeter and visitors in Brisbane, Australia, reflect the art of solo travel at its most sociable. Image © Brisbane Marketing

Did you know that you have friends in Australia? Thanks to volunteers like the Brisbane Greeters, visitors can count on a warm welcome in cities around the world.
© Brisbane Marketing

The Singular Art of Solo Travel Connections

“But don’t you hate being all alone?” That question—intoned with tragicomic emphasis—is one that solo travelers hear a lot. In fact, when it comes to the art of travel, soloists have plenty of company.

According to a recent study, solo travel has more than doubled among first-time travelers since 2013. Half are Millennials, while Boomers who’d rather pack and roam than pine at home make up another 18 percent. That’s a two-percentage point increase from 2013, and it’s expected to soar like a hypersonic jet over the next several years.

In "Triste," Raffaele Faccioli's art of travel portrays a sad and lonely traveler, reflecting some people's sad view of solo travelers.

Vintage art of travel can reflect a sad stereotype of the solo traveler.

From “Me Time” to “We Time”

One obvious benefit of traveling solo is the freedom. It’s you who decides whether to spend all day at the British Museum, memorizing every pot and placard, or to laze about reading Keats at Hampstead Heath.

Straight up tired of the Leaning Tower of Pisa? Had an eyeful of the Eiffel? There’s no one to shame you for detouring to a comic-book convention or following your nose to the nearest patisserie for, um, research purposes.

But there’s another, surprising benefit to solo travel—it offers excellent opportunities for socializing. You just have to know where to look.

Places to Go, People to See

Consider the popularity of London Cultureseekers with solo travelers.

Three times a week, individuals ranging in age from 20 to 80 chip in a few quid to visit museums, art galleries, stately homes, and more. There are plays, concerts, history talks, and guided walks, often to venues as little known to non-locals as they are marvelous to explore.

London's British Museum with antiquities reflects the art of solo travel and exploration. Image © Joyce McGreevy

The British Museum is inviting whether you prefer
to mingle or to go single .
© Joyce McGreevy

Members hail from around the world and on any given day most are meeting for the first time, thanks to organizer Robert Coleman. He’s the chap with the clipboard who greets you at the day’s designated gathering spot.

Newcomers typically start off by staying as close to Robert as timorous baby goslings to a gander. Soon they realize it’s safe to wade in and make introductions.

“The group is very friendly,” says Robert. “After events, we always head to a local pub or cafe to chat.”

An Essex man who moved to London, he went searching for a group that shared his passion for the city. When he couldn’t find one, he started his own. That was ten years ago. Today, membership of London Cultureseekers tops 21,000.

Robert Coleman and other London Cultureseekers meet Charles Spencer, the <br/> 9th Earl Spencer, at Althorp, a moment that captures the art of solo travel surprise and sociability. Image © Robert Coleman/ London Cultureseekers

Solo travel can be royally sociable. At Althorp, Robert Coleman (3rd from left) and friends
meet the 9th Earl Spencer (center), brother of the late Princess Diana.
© Robert Coleman/ London Cultureseekers

Global Meet and Greets

Oh, I see: solo travel can be a way to engage more fully with others. Suppose, however, you’ve landed in a city where you don’t know a soul?

Solo travelers from Switzerland, Spain, Germany, and Slovakia meet in Vienna, Austria through a volunteer greeter network that reflects the art of solo travel today. Image @ Vienna Greeters

Take walks, make friends. In Vienna, Austria, volunteer greeter Ulli (in red) welcomes
visitors from Switzerland, Spain, Germany, and Slovakia.
©Vienna Greeters

Say hello to a local. From Adelaide to Zagreb, more than 100 cities now offer official greeter programs. These are free public services that match visitors with city-savvy residents.

For instance, Chicago Greeter has 200 volunteers and can customize a visit for you based on your language, choice of neighborhood, and interest. The key to this and other global city groups is to book several days in advance.

Volunteers for Chicago Greeter help a newcomer get oriented, a reflection of the art of solo travel hospitality. Image © Chicago Greeter

Connect with community worldwide. In Chicago, greeters help newcomers navigate
public transportation for 25 neighborhoods, each with its own character, culture, and history.
© Chicago Greeter

Food for Thought, in Thoughtful Company

Now let’s talk solo sustenance. Taking cooking classes and joining dining groups are other ways to make friends across cultures.

Worried that gastronomical sprees mean astronomical fees? Inexpensive alternatives abound. Some classes and groups, like many posted on MeetUp, are volunteer run. Search by city and country, for everything from Copenhagen Vegans to the Singapore Supper Society.

At other international organizations, like Culinary Backstreets, costs are moderate. The focus is on “holding back globalized sameness” and giving travelers a sense of authentic culture and traditions.

Students at Cookistan, a culinary school in Istanbul, Turkey, celebrate the art of solo travel by sharing a meal they have prepared together. Image © Cookistan

There’s always room at the table for a sociable solo traveler, such as in Cookistan,
a Turkish culinary school for locals and visitors.
© Cookistan

Take Istanbul, where guides are required by law to complete a rigorous training process of several years. There, Ayşin Ekinci—guide, chef, and owner of Cookistan—offers classes that are budget-friendly and richly rewarding.

Starting with a history lesson on foot, Ayşin introduces you to traditional food producers in Kurtuluş, a Greek, Turkish, Kurdish, Jewish neighborhood. Then it’s back to Ayşin’s home, where you’re guided through the cooking of local dishes. Meanwhile, you’re getting acquainted with locals and visitors.

From Solo to Global: The Ultimate Travel Connection

It’s been said that we travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us. Likewise, those who travel the world alone soon discover that none of us need feel alone in the world. In the art of travel—including solo travel—each of us can contribute to making a more inclusive global portrait.

A volunteer Brisbane Greeter and U.S. visitors to the Brisbane Museum, Australia, reflect the art of solo travel at its most sociable. Image © Brisbane Marketing

A volunteer greeter welcomes U.S. visitors to the Museum of Brisbane, Australia.
©Brisbane Marketing

Wherever you’re going, find a volunteer greeter to welcome you here.

Learn more about London Cultureseekers, Culinary Backstreets, and Cookistan.

The 18th century portrait of a lone traveler is by Raffaele Faccioli (1845-1916) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

Discuss solo travel ideas and destinations by joining the Solo Travel Society here.

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

Joyce McGreevy 4 Comments

Art of Travel/Worldwide Sites

Feb

The Art of Urban and Rural Exploration

by Eva Boynton on February 2, 2016

A winding staircase in an abandoned building shows how the art of urban exploration makes you see things differently (image © Christian Richter).

The spiraling perspective of an abandoned staircase begs the question:
Who walked up these stairs?
© Christian Richter

See Things Differently, See Beauty in Decay

While perusing the library of my travel photos, I found a surprising result. Faces and landscapes were few and far between. Crumbling brick, rusted door knobs, cracked walls, paint discoloration, and patterns of flaking exteriors took center stage. Why?

Because I see things differently. Not only do deserted buildings and decaying walls provide powerful settings for photography, but they are themselves, a form of art.

I see beauty in decay, stories and legend in the abandoned, rejuvenation in the old, and endurance for the decrepit. I was an urban explorer before I knew urban exploration, or urbex, existed. I love to document the dilapidated and decrepit. Take a look. See its beauty. See things differently.

Exterior wall with stained blue patterns, showing how the art of urban exploration makes you see things differently. (image © Eva Boynton)

With dark and emphatic strokes, Nature paints eyebrows around window eyes.
© Eva Boynton

Art Lessons

Found among the debris of disregarded buildings is the great professor of color theory. The mix of colors, patterns, and shapes that form from wear and tear provide art lessons of the natural kind. They inform the palette of painters and delight the eye of those who appreciate art.

A wall's paint discolored by urban decay, showing how urban exploration can make you see things differently. (image © Eva Boynton)

The dynamic palette of urban decay
© Eva Boynton

Urban exploration develops an eye for the aesthetics of decay. Through the camera lens, photographers learn to frame exquisite landscapes of colors, textures, and patterns. They snap their pictures and document the eroding walls and deteriorating doors.

An eroding wall exposing brick and blues, pinks and yellows, demonstrating how urban exploration makes you see things differently. (image © Eva Boynton).

Flaking paint and exposed brick create the color tones in this wallscape.
© Eva Boynton

For the photographer, the lessons in art go beyond color studies to recognizing a remarkable backdrop. They teach skills in perspective—when to go in close on the details and when to pull back to think about the entire composition.

A portrait of a woman standing in front of a decaying wall, showing how the art of urban exploration makes you see things differently. (image © Eva Boynton).

An effective juxtaposition—decaying walls and a young woman looking forward to a long life
© Eva Boynton

Nature’s Paintbrush

Nature paints with living colors of moss, ivy, and oxidation. Environmental factors take effect over time, exposing the raw layers of what lies beneath. Humidity causes discoloration and stained patterns, while rain flakes the walls. These are the unlikely mediums of nature’s paintbrush that create the aesthetics relished by urban and rural explorers alike.

Green moss growing on a Mayan wall in Quintana Roo, Mexico, is an artwork of decay that makes you see things differently. (image © Eva Boynton)

Coming in close on a wall in the Mayan jungle of Quintana Roo, Mexico,
reveals a mix of moss and paint.
© Eva Boynton

Nature alters architecture, interacting with what humans have built. She animates a dormant surface, producing wonderfully erratic and random displays of color, texture and pattern. These spectacular shows of decay are of the moment and are the prize of urban and rural explorers.

A wall and door with dynamic colors, showing the effect of decay gives an opportunity to see things differently. (image © Eva Boynton).

Cracks and crackles of ocean indigo and rusty reds on this Mexican wall
frame a new door that is itself already starting to decay.
© Eva Boynton

Once Nature starts to take over, every moment counts. The process is a constant evolution, one in which change comes from both decomposition and the sprouting of new plant life. Standing in front of a scene of urban decay is like watching a live performance—a year, a month, or even a day later, the mutations create a new look.

A deserted hotel room in Europe with plants growing over the bed, illustrating how photographers engaged in urban exploration make you see things differently. (image © Christian Richter).

Urban and rural exploration teaches how to see beauty in the most unlikely of subjects. Decaying walls and buildings and beds, however, are more than an artistic opportunity or nature’s playground. They also tell powerful stories.

Stories in the Abandoned

Explorers of all types need imagination and courage for their journeys. Urban exploration is no different. Although rotten floors and unstable ceilings can be a challenging setting, abandoned buildings produce unique photographic stories.

Students once studied in these very desks. Photographers Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre safeguard the memory with a camera.

A deserted classroom in Europe, captured by a photographer doing urban exploration, makes you see things differently. (image © Christian Richter).

Photos of Detroit’s deserted theaters and dust-caked hotels preserve a story of time passing—a story of people coming and going, of an empire rising and fading away.

An abandoned room of a hotel apartment in Detroit, captured by a photographer engaged in urban exploration who wants you to see things differently. (image © Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre)

The Lee Plaza hotel, completed in Detroit in 1929, was a
production of the “construction frenzy” era.
©Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre

Like the rings of a tree, you can count the layers of dust or paint to imagine the history that the walls have witnessed over the years. Perhaps a family celebrated their success here by checking into this 1920s luxury suite. Maybe they invited a pianist to serenade them as they ate a decadent meal. Were they part of the social segregation that caused the abandonment of many buildings in the city?

Abandoned buildings are a mausoleum of sorts, where stories of the past are buried. When photographs from urban explorers preserve these relics, they turn the rotting past into a monument of the present.

An abandoned library in Europe, captured by a photographer engaged in urban exploration who wants you to see things differently. (image © Christian Richter)

The ruins become the roots of a present-day place, the survivors, heritage sites in their own right. They evoke eerie, nostalgic emotions, and they house awe-inspiring stories of heroic destruction.

Oh, I See Decay Differently

Rust may be a sign of disuse and chipped paint a sign of failure to “keep up appearances,” but the art of decay revealed in my urban and rural exploration makes me see things differently. With fresh and creative eyes, I see beauty and inspiration in the old, lost, disregarded, and abandoned. What do you see?

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

Thank you Christian Richter and Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre for sharing your beautiful photography.

Eva Boynton 6 Comments

The World's Art & Design/Worldwide Sites

Dec

The Seasonal Sparkle of Cultural Differences

by Meredith Mullins on December 21, 2015

Holiday Traditions Around the World

The streets are strung with lights. The store windows are full of color, sparkle, and animated figures made to mesmerize the young and the young at heart. There are scents of evergreens, mulled wine, and cinnamon in the air.

Whether you’re celebrating Christmas, Hanukkah, or Epiphany. Whether you’re commemorating Père Noêl, Santa Claus, Saint Nicholas, the Three Wisemen, Sinterklaas, Befana, or the miracle of light. ‘Tis the season to be festive.

Meredith Mullins 2 Comments

Cultural Heritage & Traditions/Worldwide Sites

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