By When conducting a job interview, I tend to ask strange and unexpected questions. I remember one time I asked a job candidate what their worst enemy would say about them and it threw everyone in the room off their game. I remember my coworker doing a slow burn look of confusion towards me.
I was dead serious. I wanted to know. I’ve also asked candidates if they would ever go to a movie by themselves. Those answers are always very interesting because most of the time there is the same confusion followed by a stammered answer. Sure, I’m asking for my own amusement but it also says a lot about a person.
I spent over a decade through my twenties and into my thirties traveling by myself for work. When I could, I would bring friends along but most of the time I was solo. I realized very quickly that if I didn’t want to die of boredom in my hotel room, I had to get out and do stuff and get over the feelings of weirdness of being alone.
Turns out the only person that found it weird was me and I got over that real quick.
Soon enough I was exploring zoos and aquariums alone, eating out at restaurants, and going to the movies and theme parks- all alone! With each hurdle, it became easier and easier to go at it alone. (There’s probably some part of psychology that says this isn’t the accomplishment that I think it is and as a result I’ll die alone– but let’s focus on the positive here people.)
The point is. I just got back from my 5th (yes 5th!) solo cruise. I remember back in September 2022 when I went on my first solo and thought it was going to be weird as hell but it turns out that I absolutely love it. The only slightly awkward time was at dinner when my server kept confirming that I was dining alone and expecting no one else to join me.
Yeah, bro. I’m gonna eat my meal and read my book and silently judge the family next to me because clearly the father is a serial killer and their “daughter” is a figment of their imagination who doesn’t actually exist and their son is a vampire.
Let me just say that the people-watching on this trip was just perfection and it was the most unhinged group of people anyone could have asked to travel with.
My favorite place on a Royal Caribbean ship is the Schooner Bar where, most nights, a piano player is there playing songs and taking requests. This is usually where I end up meeting people to chat with because they end up using the seats around me.
My favorite moment was on night 3 when this (hopefully) drunk guy was standing uncomfortably close to the piano and was attempting to conduct the crowd? I’m not entirely sure but we all had a ton of questions… which I obviously asked once the evening had ended.
Turns out he was a crazy person and no one knew who he was, including the piano player.
Funny part- we never saw him again. I assume he was a collective hallucination brought on by the drink package.
The internet will be proud of me for giving the LGBT mixer another chance. Truth be told, when I went on my January cruise in 2023 I did go to the mixer but ended up getting accosted by a bachelorette party and escaped to the safety of the Schooner Bar.
I figured I’d give it a go since the show I wanted to go to wasn’t until later in the evening so I hunkered down at the bar and waited for all the mixing. At one point, a couple I had seen earlier in the day came and stood next to me at the bar to order their drinks. I figured they were there for the mixer so I shifted my seat so they could sit at the bar next to me.
And then they got their drinks and left.
So that was totally fun.
OFF TO THE SCHOONER BAR FOR ME!
The moral of the story is that, if you find yourself on a Royal Caribbean ship and need somewhere to go. Schooner Bar is always the answer.
So that’s the quick rundown of the nonsense that ensued. Sure there is more but I have to keep you in suspense… for no real reason.
K. Bye!
Somewhere With Regret 