Solo Travel as a Reward - Where To Go?

June 9, 2023 10:37 AM

I'm giving myself the gift of travel once I finish my Master's program. One week of going somewhere that (probably) isn't in the US where I can work remotely and vacation at the same time. But of course, I have additional criteria...

I'm unsure of where to go not only because I am bad at making decisions for things that benefit me, but because I'm visibly queer (transmasculine; I come off as very butch) and also very fat. No mobility issues, and I'm.... reasonably? fit? I can handle walking/hiking/swimming no problem, but weight limits for things like zip lines, etc. might come into play. I also take Ritalin and need to be able to bring it with me.

So, if YOU were a party-averse foodie on a working vacation with a modest budget (say 2-3k USD, with the bulk being spent on flights and lodging) and the caveats above, where would you end up going? I'm probably avoiding summers and the month of December, but any other time of the year is fair game.

posted by daikaisho to Travel & Transportation (16 answers total)

What kind of activities are you most interested in? (E.g., culture vulture, nightlife, sitting on a beach, communing with nature....?)
posted by praemunire at 10:41 AM on June 9, 2023

Where are you coming from? Knowing that helps with thinking about where you can fly to easily.
posted by madcaptenor at 10:44 AM on June 9, 2023

Response by poster: Ah, sorry! Definitely relevant info.

Traveling from: Portland, OR

Interested in: good food, minor sightseeing, people watching, wandering around looking at interesting things, grocery stores/markets? I suspect I'd be staying at a place with a kitchen wherever I'd go and trying to cook something with local ingredients. I'm sorry to be so vague, but I'm the kind of person who just likes to do things on a whim once I'm at a place, whether that's going to the beach, catching a show of some kind, touring a museum, pretending I'm a local for a day, or anything else that might be interesting.

Non-English Languages: Around A1-A2 level Spanish, but I can improve or learn another language as needed to get around.
posted by daikaisho at 10:51 AM on June 9, 2023

Best answer: Would Vancouver be enough of a change? From Portland you could get there relatively inexpensively (you could take the Cascades from Eugene!) and so save your budget for housing and fun stuff. Lots of good Chinese food and sushi, some interesting museums, tons of easily accessible nature...
posted by praemunire at 11:21 AM on June 9, 2023 [9 favorites]

Best answer: Mexico City
posted by greta simone at 11:34 AM on June 9, 2023 [10 favorites]

That time between Thanksgiving and Christmas, especially early December, can be a good time to travel because it's a lull time between big travel holidays; late January is also good, before spring break and after winter holidays.

With that in mind, take a look at Honolulu. Still the US, with direct flights (and often flight sales) from Portland, urban culture. Lodging can be expensive, but you can stay right in the city and do city and nature things.

(Also, forgive me if this is terribly unhelpful, but a week is not a lot of time, and I want to encourage you, if possible, to go ahead and take the vacation and not try to make it about working, too. If you fly far and are trying to work, you really end up with very little time in the place.)
posted by bluedaisy at 11:42 AM on June 9, 2023 [4 favorites]

^ Except around the weekend of the Honolulu marathon which is specifically scheduled for that dead zone between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 12:07 PM on June 9, 2023

Response by poster: Heh. Good point, bluedaisy. I'm open to two weeks - the one week criteria was mostly about controlling costs.
posted by daikaisho at 12:11 PM on June 9, 2023

(BTW, I'm wrong, the Cascades do go through Portland...I thought it was weird that the stop wasn't popping up on the route...)
posted by praemunire at 12:34 PM on June 9, 2023

Best answer: Please listen to Native Hawai'ians and don't go to Hawai'i.

Seconding Mexico City. There's plenty to do, the food is fantastic, and it's not too long a flight.
posted by Tamanna at 1:21 PM on June 9, 2023 [3 favorites]

Dublin is fantastic. Super chill, good food and culture.
posted by matildaben at 1:32 PM on June 9, 2023

Best answer: Mexico City is cool. I went when I was young, and have been really wanting to go back for the last decade or so.

Personally, if I could spent a week anywhere, just wandering around and doing random stuff, I'd probably go to Paris. I went there once for a few days, and fell in love with it immediately.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 2:06 PM on June 9, 2023

Best answer: I just got back from Mexico City and there is wonderful food and a lot of queers (I am also visibly queer and had no problems), and the budget is right; you could easily do 2 weeks on that budget.
posted by jeweled accumulation at 3:23 PM on June 9, 2023

If this was my trip, I'd rent a camper van in Puerto Rico and do a slow, leisurely road trip around the island, stopping wherever made sense that day. You should be able to do two weeks pretty easily on your budget.
posted by mjcon at 6:06 PM on June 9, 2023

Best answer: I would just go to Lisbon. It's a real city, so it's not just a tourism economy and a sub-economy (which is not my favourite travel vibe in most destinations.) It's very European, so it feels like you've really travelled somewhere. It's inexpensive, filled with interesting things and places, and has great food, too. If you feel like you'd like a change of pace, there are plenty of seaside towns and villages you can get to by train. Zero issue with connectivity etc. I have no idea about outdoor activities because I don't do them!
posted by DarlingBri at 12:39 PM on June 10, 2023

Response by poster: I'm still open to destinations, but I've gone ahead and picked some best answers. I had already been considering Lisbon and Mexico (wasn't sure which city) and y'all are confirming that I was looking at the right places! Vancouver is an option too, but that might be a family trip. Same as Dublin; I know I'd disappoint the spouse if I went without him.

Thank you all!
posted by daikaisho at 11:39 AM on June 13, 2023