Wake up relatively early
Have a leisurely breakfast and coffee with a book
Go on a walking tour
Grab lunch when I start to feel hungry again
Explore a few sites that stood out to me from the tour
Stop for a coffee and some people watching and write in my travel journal
Wander the neighborhood I am in
Find somewhere that looks interesting or is Lonely Planet recommended for dinner
Head back to the hostel
Shower, repack, read, and go to bed
For many backpackers, it seems to me that their ideal day looks something more like this:
Sleep late
Stumble downstairs for the tail end of the free breakfast
Bum around the hostel for a couple hours
Motivated by hunger, seek out lunch
Hang out outside the hostel for a bit
Take a late afternoon nap
Have dinner
Get rip-roaring drunk
Loudly return to shared room at 1am
Is one inherently right or wrong? No. Am I perfectly content to spend my entire trip not really meeting or getting to know anyone? Totallly. But the culture of hostels sometimes makes me feel like I am doing something wrong by not wanting to party and hang out with my fellow backpackers around the clock. (Don't get me wrong, I love hostels, and you can expect a post on why at some point.)
But here's the thing - I travel solo because I want to set my own agenda. If little ol' introverted Grace doesn't need extended human interaction, she shouldn't feel pressured to seek it out. There are parties everywhere in the world, I don't feel the need to go out in every city I visit - especially as a woman on my own where it can quite frankly be dangerous to get a little too sloshed. I came for culture, for history, for what is unique about each place, and I will discover that in my own way. If I met someone in a hostel interested in a similar experience? Well, that's a horse of a different colour.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to a cool Starbucks I saw yesterday before jumping on a walking tour of the Alfama district - time to kick off another great day in Lisbon :)
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