No matter how often I do it, walking in to a restaurant and asking for a table for one never gets any easier.

I’ve got no problem traveling by myself. I’ve done it often enough now to not be bothered by it. In fact I quite often enjoy and prefer it. Sometimes its simply necessary if you want to do something if you can’t find anyone else to join you (i.e. two months perfecting a Caribbean tan).

It does have it’s pros and cons. The most obvious pro is that being by yourself means you can go off and do whatever the hell you like, rather then having to go along with the group consensus. This often works out perfectly for my penchant for taking photos, but it’s also a boon if you’re keen to do more strenuous activities others wouldn’t be as keen for.

The major benefit however, is that it both gives you the opportunity to and actually forces you make an effort to be sociable and meet new people, whether they be locals or other travelers. If you don’t have a travel partner to easily chat with, you’ll soon make that extra effort to be outgoing and spark up a conversation with any random stranger who doesn’t look like they want to rip you off (even then I’ve been willing to entertain some scamsters when I’ve been particularly bored or lonely). For those hardcore travel nuts this does naturally mean you’ll get more ‘genuine local experiences’ purely because often enough the only random strangers around will be locals.

One of the flip sides to all this is the Groundhog Day effect. Inevitably when you’re meeting people for the first time you have the same conversation repeated over again. After a while it does get quite tiring running through the same small talk - I’m an Aussie, from Melbourne, I’ve come from…, I’m heading to…, I know my accent is a bit mixed but I’ve been living in London for a while…, etc.

Of course, regardless of how outgoing you try to be, sometimes you just can’t find someone to talk to. If you’re away from a tourist area in a country where you don’t speak the language (read: any non-English speaking country for me) locals to talk to can be few and far between, nor are there always fellow tourists to “bump in to” (read: stalk).

I’ve drunk many a beer sitting at a bar by myself just waiting for someone to sit next to me. In fact, I’ve become so used to it that even when not traveling I’m not adverse to the odd solo beverage as it can be a good chance to think about things and clear your mind.

However, I’ll never feel completely comfortable walking in to a restaurant and asking for that table for one. It doesn’t matter how many times you do it, nor what language you do it in, you know that holding up that solo finger to the waiter leaves him in no doubt that you’re not just awaiting for someone and that quite simply you’re a loser with no friends to dine with.