[nicbou]

Every year, I go on a long winter solo trip. Some trips were incredible, and others felt exactly like what you describe.

The main reason is that I'm leaving a rich home life and quickly miss my people and the things we do together. Every other night a new place and a new hotel room, and a meal alone in a crowd. It feels weird to leave home specifically to get so uncomfortable. The opportunity cost grows, because my roots grow deeper every year.

I'm currently on one of these trips. The last ones felt exactly like what you described, so for this one, I went back to the drawing board.

This time, I dotted the solo journey with people I know. I meet with friends in different places every 7-10 days.

I also slowed waaaay down. This is a motorcycle trip, but I only average 100 km per day. I now have time to linger in cafés. I can read, sketch, or just work for a few hours. I can take the slow, twisty roads across national parks and avoid highways completely. The ride is shorter so I arrive refreshed.

It worked. This is one of the best trip I've taken in years. Above all, it's the first motorcycle trip I consider successful since 2019.

[em-bee]

for me traveling was always a means to get to specific places, or rather to meet specific people. when i was younger i traveled on a bike without a goal or with the goal to find interesting people in the places i went to, and sometimes the destination of the next day was defined by the people i met. being on a bike meant that i was slower and had less freedom to make detours, but i did manage to spend two weeks biking around in luxembourg, which is a rather small country that i could have crossed in a day.

as i got older i focused on places where i already had contacts or where i could find someone through couchsurfing websites ahead of time. i never considered going to places where i could not make these contacts. the goal was to stay in those places and learn about the life of the people. the scenery on the way in between was just a bonus.

[nicbou]

This is a sensible approach. For me it's mainly a way to get away from the dreadful Berlin winters, to ride a motorcycle, and to see some beautiful landscapes.

It's not the best way to travel, but it's the best way to be away from Berlin for a longer period, since my friends rarely have the same amount of flexibility with regards to work.