Corinne CrawfordI leave for Malta and Thessaloniki today—solo.
This trip was supposed to look very different. It was meant to be shared with my favorite travel companion, the friend who knows my pace and when I need a coffee versus a nap and with whom I’ve shared so many truly epic trips with. I was really looking forward to adding another chapter to that collection of memories. Unfortunately, she had to cancel because of major health issues with her husband. First and foremost, I’m wishing him strength, healing, and better days ahead. Travel plans shrink into perspective when real life asks for attention.
Still, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t bummed.
The tickets were non-refundable, the calendar already cleared, and so here I go—alone, on an itinerary I probably wouldn’t have designed for myself if I had known I was going alone. I do feel gratitude that I can go at all. But also a bit of reluctance because this wasn’t the trip I imagined. And I actually love solo travel and have done it a lot. I’m comfortable navigating new places on my own, following my own rhythm, and seeing where the days take me.
Malta is familiar, but it feels like unfinished business. I’ve been before, but I was sick in bed for much of that trip. Going back with Jodi felt like a chance to finally do it right. This time it will be quieter, more inward. Maybe that’s not a bad thing, even if it wasn’t the plan.
The trip was also supposed to include Sardinia, but I let that part go. We had planned exploration to villages and beaches in a rental car. But without a co-pilot, doing that alone didn’t appeal and I didn’t want to half-experience a place that deserves more. So instead, I rerouted north. I looked for a place that had a direct flight from Malta, and then a direct flight to Frankfort to pick up my connection back home. I tried to find a place that wasn’t so super expensive and that had a similar climate to Malta so that my carry on could fit all the outfits I would need for one climate only.
Thessaloniki it is.
Thessaloniki will be new. I’ve been to Greece several times but never the north, and that brings a real sense of anticipation. I’m looking forward to the scenery, the layers of history, and—let’s be honest—the food. There’s something comforting about returning to a country you love while still discovering a completely new side of it.
I know I am going to enjoy it and have great memories, but there will be that sense of disappointment I suppose, not to mention the hit to the pocket book with the accommodations, but I am going to try to acknowledge the disappointment without letting it harden into regret. I believe that solo travel, even when unplanned, has its own gifts and joys—space to think, freedom to wander, and moments of connection that arrive precisely because you’re alone.
Here I go!