I highly recommend it. I've traveled before with friends and girlfriends (and both), and each method has its particular benefits. With a traveling companion, you always have someone to hang out with and someone to watch your back; shared responsibility can certainly ease the stress that comes from being in unfamiliar places amongst unfamiliar cultures. This is the first time I've had to bear that alone.

However, the people who gain the least of the unique benefits of backpacking, hosteling, etc, are invariably the couples or large groups. Especially romantic couples. I've seen many pass through the hostel over just the last four days and none of them have really mixed with the rest of us. And how could you make such a sacrifice?


We played "President's Asshole" (a bad translation), a card game popular with these beautiful French hostelers, with everyone drinking and the languages changing from English to French to Spanish ... and I looked across the room to see a couple chatting quietly and playing solitaire alone.

I get a feeling of complete independence... I'm in a place where nobody knows me, where I have the final say over what I do and when. It becomes a vacation from compromises. For example, yesterday afternoon I ran into Karin at the reception desk:


...and ended up having a fantastic night out with her without trying to work her into my group's plans. The only Swede I've met here is also a viking during the summer!