'Solo Traveling with Tracee Ellis Ross' proves every assumption about single women traveling
If you don't know if you'll enjoy a solo vacation, test out a solo staycation beforehand
I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been on vacation with family, friends and Girl Scouts and thought, “I need to step away from this group.” If human beings were a recipe, I definitely got an extra cup of “loner.” I even went to a family member’s high school graduation and snuck away to eat at a local vegan restaurant, leaving behind at least 20 people (including the graduate). (In my defense, none of them would’ve wanted to eat plant-based food anyway, and I had no desire to go to the chosen restaurant.)
Since elementary school, I have always enjoyed my own company. It’s not that I don’t like being around loved ones — from slumber nights and birthday parties to family reunions — but I truly have a fun time solo dolo.
ADVERTISEMENT ~ Amazon
As an Amazon affiliate, I earn a percentage from purchases with my referral links. I prioritize featuring intriguing products from small businesses, women-owned businesses and Black-owned businesses. All four of my Substack publications include a MINIMUM of one product sold by a VERIFIED Black-owned business.
When I decided to go to Maui for my 30th birthday on 11/11/11, it wasn’t that I couldn’t find anybody to go with me. I chose to go alone and didn’t tell anybody I was leaving until the same week I was headed out. Same goes for Honolulu Oahu — although in that case I was genuinely tired of crying over my grandfather’s death and needed a pick-me-up and another dose of island brain.
ADVERTISEMENT ~ Amazon
As an Amazon Affiliate, I earn a percentage from each purchase with my referral links.
I still told no one until a couple of days before my flight departed. My love for solo travel didn’t mean my group trip to New York, Toronto and Ontario wasn’t fun. I also enjoyed hanging out with my mother (who is my favorite travel partner because she’s good travel vibes 24/7) in Washington D.C. during the Obama presidency.
Why Tracee Ellis Ross’s travel show wasn’t what I expected
When I decided to watch ROKU’s “Solo Traveling with Tracee Ellis Ross,” I assumed it was going to be the same good vibes. She was going to be happily strolling around, enjoying the sites and the food, ditching tourists, and jumping into oceans for a good swim.
ADVERTISEMENT ~ Amazon
As an Amazon Affiliate, I earn a percentage from each purchase with my referral links.
Instead, I saw a grown woman complaining about being single, clearly sad about not having kids, constantly reminding us she was solo traveling (as if we’d forget the five-minute-before reminder), sobbing via phone about food poisoning to her mother and brother, gossiping with the camera man while taking out her braids and eating French fries simultaneously (yuck!), constantly finding random strangers at dinner tables and inviting herself to sit at their tables, and staying a little too long to quiz store owners.
All I could think was, “Dear gawd, no, no, no!” This is what social butterflies think Black women solo travelers act like, and we’re not all like this. And Tracee Ellis Ross’s trip to Mexico proved why.