Going solo - pas de deux?

I left Hakodate by walking down one street, the street of my hotel, the fish markets and the train station are all one. The first man to wave a crab goodbye was the first to say hello. I dodged the men holding crabs behind their back deep in conversation. A man signalled to me as if to say, “you can fit a crab in that pack too”. It was a nice moment to part on but it left me feeling nostalgic.

Why do I feel the urge to write about these moments as soon as they happen? True I am a journalist and writer by breed and by trade, but why the urge to capture everything in immediately? Because I have realised that an experience is not half as valuable if you can’t share it with someone, if you can’t express it with people. I guess that’s why I try through blog, calls and letters to let some of you know what it’s like here. How it looks, how it feels, how it smells, how I feel, and maybe to a lesser extent how I smell!

But it made me wonder something. For someone who likes to share the moment so much, why am I so averse to travelling with someone? Would I enjoy these moments more if someone close to me was by my side? Would I still have poignant moments if someone was there? Would I miss some of the detail because I have a constant companion by my side.

There are obviously pluses and minuses to travelling alone and to travelling with someone. It’s impossible to travel the same place twice, once alone and once with someone and get a feel for whether one experience is better than the other and even if you could do that, is it possible to compare such things.

Lets just say that I am finally getting to the stage where I might be open to the idea of travelling with someone and seeing what that experience has to offer. It will be a new challenge if nothing else.