One of the more difficult parts of solo travel, for me, comes when I find myself in a proper city. Being constantly surrounded by people tends to make me both more self conscious and more acutely aware of being alone. Nothing is as simple as it would be were I with another person. Want to go out to eat? It can take me hours sometimes to settle on a place with just the right level of patronage, so I can blend in to a bit of a crowd without being overwhelmed by it. The same strategy applies to bars, but the selection process becomes even more meticulous once alcohol becomes a factor. I also tend to drink beer instead of my usual whisky so as to be sure I possess the mental faculties to find my way home at the end of the evening. My stomach has been less than thrilled with this particular strategy of late. Needless to say it helps a lot to have a little bit of company when getting acclimated to city life. Thankfully, I managed to secure a couch surf in Trondheim, and it was one I was particularly looking forward to as, from her profile, I had a very good feeling that my host and I might have a fair bit in common.
As it turned out I was very right! Some of the best parts of the couchsurfing experience for me, in addition to having the advice of a local to guide my exploration of a new city, are the conversations that happen between host and guest, which oftentimes reinforce the notion that there is so much to the human experience, even across societal and cultural borders that is universal. Topics that might be swept under the rug, or just plain ignored on your own home turf are suddenly fair game in a new setting, and they're infused with a new sense of curiosity and a different perspective. As two single, childless women in our 30's, my host and I had plenty of mutual experience to bond over as she took me on an introductory walking tour around town, and later to one of her favorite bars, situated in a neighborhood called Bakklandet which, were I to relocate to Trondheim and in possession of an unlimited supply of cash, would be my neighborhood of choice in which to live.
I also did a good bit of wandering aimlessly through town on my own while she was at work, which is one of my favorite ways to get a feel for a new city. It was, as has come to be the Norwegian standard, a beautiful place, and a unique moment in its own right, different from the others that have come before.
Trondheim also marked the beginning of a week and a half long stretch of hopping from city to city, giving the tent a break, and breaking out the "fancy wardrobe" (read: clothes WITHOUT holes in them...) Which brings us back to the mountaintop above Bergen. I've been on my own here, having been unable to find a couch surf host who was not away on vacation, and as a result seem to have gotten a little overly contemplative, which was not my intent in starting this blog (it seems a bit arrogant to assume that the general public should be interested in the inner workings of my mind moreso than, say, the time I misunderstood the Norwegian guy who was trying to chat me up at the bar and asked him if he was asking me if I was a hooker...he was not. More on this later.) Sometimes, though, you just need to take a step back -or a cable car up a mountain- and let the bigger picture come into view. And what a pretty picture it is...
No comments:
Post a Comment