The differences

So my husband and I took some road trips to Utah, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and well as trips to Hawaii.

On a trip to Colorado I really began to realized the size of this country.  You can get in a car in the south of England at breakfast and go to bed in the northern most part of the country on the same day.

Driving through California, Utah and Colorado was a trip, literally and figuratively.  First it looks like the moon and it goes on FOREVER!  I couldn't believe we not only hadn't seen water (sea/ocean) but that we weren't going to either.  Not unless we drove for three more days.

I love traveling with my husband but I started to notice something was different from when I travelled alone but I couldn't put my finger on it.  Then I flew up to San Francisco on my own, rented a car and drove down to Monterey to visit one of my best friends who was over from the UK working.  I stopped in Carmel for lunch and to spend some time writing as I was working on a book.  It was then I realized what was missing...people.

When you travel with a companion no one talks to you.  I don't entirely know what it is.  Partly people don't want to interrupt and partly because couples often have that invisible couple forcefield around them. When you travel alone people chat to you, ask you questions, strike up a conversation on some obscure topic.  I don't know whether its because of my English accent but people will tell me the strangest things.  I've even had someone say to me, "I've never told anyone that before."  People ask if they can sit at your table and end up telling you all sorts of things.

None of this happened once I stopped traveling on my own and I missed it.  It's a very entertaining part of travel for me and something that make for a unique experience.