Since I started this blog, I’ve never had an idea of what my niche is. Indeed, the very idea of pigeon-holing myself felt opposed to the way travel has opened up the world to me. But one morning it hit me: Let travel sketching be my niche.
It’s still hard to say what exactly made our day so cool. Maybe it was that “everything is its own reward,” and I couldn’t help thinking about all the little moments that had led us to North Beach, and where all of our paths would lead us after.
![Live boldly: On [not] doing that thing you most want to do.](https://www.candaceroserardon.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/IMG_2775.jpg "Live boldly: On [not] doing that thing you most want to do.")
Two weeks ago I found myself strapped to my desk, horrified that I’d waited until the last minute for something so important. Everything, it seemed, kept getting in my way – and yet the biggest thing determined to stop me was myself.
I came to Sacramento to revel in silence; to be in a place where I know no one and no one knows me. I came to process, to think or not think, whatever my mood; to speak or not speak. I came for that thing called solitude.
What can you do while traveling so that once you return – once you’re back in the thick of work routines and responsibilities – you can still remember the piquant flavors and the thousand other little details not found in a guidebook?
As grateful as I am for experiences like walking the Camino across Spain, there have been other trips I’m not quite so proud of – trips on which I didn’t work hard enough to engage with where I was.
Words and photos only tell so much – I love that this video captures sounds, too: the crunch of our boots on the path, the ever-present din of cowbells, and the cheers and claps that often erupt in front of the cathedral in Santiago.
If you travel alone, you’ve got no one else to bounce ideas off of, to debate having an early dinner versus a late one, or to perhaps even tell you it’s okay to take an afternoon nap. Here are a few tips on what to do when you travel solo.