Shying away from bad company

I was always told, via cliché, and you know TV and stuff, that misery loves company. While this idea never made sense to me, being a person who enjoys a fair amount of alone time, the more I travel, the more I realize this is a truth for many people. While I would rather be by my lonesome with a good book, music, or anything under the sun, some people would rather be with people they don’t like, than alone. Truth be told, while traveling, you are going to meet people you don’t necessarily like. If you are the type of person who would rather stray away from bad company than sit and be miserable, there is nothing wrong with leaving.

While there are better ways and worse ways to end travel partnerships, the best practices all depend on the type of partnership you have. If you have just met quickly in passing, or maybe sat next to one another as the only westerners on public transportation, saying goodbye shouldn't be all that hard. To be honest, saying you have somewhere else to be, or even just saying you want to be alone works fine. Though you may not get the nicest reaction, doing what you need to do is an important lesson learned on the road.

Though straying away from randoms is easy, it is much harder to go separate ways with someone you have been traveling with for awhile.  It is hard to leave someone you are intimate with, but it seems to be even harder to leave gracefully from someone you have traveled with for a while, but found you are going in separate directions.

Though it may seem easier to leave in a fight, or in a fit, the truth is the best way to leave is with honesty, dignity and a thoughtful goodbye. Being honest about why you want to leave, where you are going and needing your space, is the best way to leave things with someone you have shared a lot with, but need to move on from. There is no reason to burn bridges or leave in a negative manor.

Enjoy your travel and remember, this is your trip. You have worked hard to get to the point you are at, and you deserve to spend your time abroad the way you want to.

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