paris on your own

I was meant to be going to Paris with my boyfriend tomorrow but he has realised that he has lost his passport and cannot get another one at such short notice.

So I%26#39;m trying to decide whether to go on my own or not.

I went this time last year on my own and it was fine mainly because I did a lot of the touristy stuff. But this time round I am a lot more self conscious because I want to do things that are different but I don%26#39;t want to stand out too much. I am very shy so much so I found it difficult to eat out on my own in crowded restaurants.

Any tips?

|||

Hi,

If I were you I would definitely go. I know it can seem daunting, but if you overcame your shyness to go on your own before I%26#39;m sure you can do it again. Doing things a bit different from the usual tourist things may not necessarily make you stand out - lots of Parisien women do things on their own which are, of course, not the tourist things. Is there anything in particular you wanted to do and are worried about?

As regards eating out, I am also shy but wouldn%26#39;t be worried about eating on my own in a Paris restaurant, you see so many others doing it. You may feel self conscious but that is just your feeling - no-one else will be thinking anything about it, you certainly won%26#39;t get any funny looks or comments (well, you may get a chat up line or two!). If you really can%26#39;t face it then at lunchtime you could get a sandwich and eat in the park if the weather is nice, or go to one of the big dept store restaurants or cafes (e.g., the rooftop cafe at Printemps), you see lots of women there on their own taking a break from shopping. Evenings you could stock up on bread, cheese, etc and just eat in your room - although it would seem a pity not to see a bit of Paris at night. Where are you staying - maybe people could give you some recommendations that would be OK for you.

I don%26#39;t really travel much on my own myself but there are lots of women on this forum who do and when this has been dicussed in the past everyone has said single women should have no fears about going to Paris alone, whatever they want to do when there.

Hope this is helpful,

Alison

|||

Hi --

Go --

I think shy people don%26#39;t realize that other people have their own lives to lead, and don%26#39;t much care about what other folks are doing -

If you%26#39;re worried about eating alone, update your travel journal, do your post cards, read your guidebook pages - do whatever it takes to keep your attention focused on yourself and your trip - and you won%26#39;t have time to imagine that other people are fascinated by you. If those folks actually met you, they could well be fascinated by you - I don%26#39;t mean to imply that you are not attractive and fascinating - it%26#39;s just that people are more interested in people they know than they are in total strangers.

So, unless you drink yourself blind, dance on the bar, or do something else absolutely outrageous, you%26#39;ll be anonymous but well fed and enjoying Paris, which is the object of the exercise.

Bon voyage.

|||

thank you both for your kind words

however thankfully my boyfriend has found his passport. For some reason a friend who was staying with about six months ago and then moved out had it!

|||

Lucky for you! Paris is so nice with the one you love most.

|||

Hi,

Sure you would have been fine on your own but it%26#39;s much better you are going together - have a good time

Alison

|||

-:- Message from TripAdvisor staff -:-

This topic was inactive for 6 months and has been closed to new posts. We hope you'll join the conversation by posting to an open topic or starting a new one.

To review the TripAdvisor Forums Posting Guidelines, please follow this link: http://www.tripadvisor.com/pages/forums_posting_guidelines.html

We remove posts that do not follow our posting guidelines, and we reserve the right to remove any post for any reason.

Removed on: 4:18 am, September 21, 2009