Should I go to Paris solo?

Post date: 2018-07-19 11:17:15
Views: 34
I've never been to Europe (or anywhere besides the US and Canada). Will I regret going alone the first time?

Many things have transpired in the last year of my life, including being able to afford to travel to Europe. There was recently a great sale on flights from the US to Paris so I snatched up a pair of tickets for myself and my boyfriend (long term, committed relationship).

Unfortunately things did not work out with his vacation accrual at work so he canceled his tickets before the deadline for a refund. At his good-natured urging I kept mine. He said that since I have more vacation time than him now, I shouldn't feel bad about using it on solo vacations if that's what I want to do. I do want to go to Paris! But not only does he speak better French than me (I... do not really speak it), I feel quite sad about going without him, even though if I were single I'd definitely go and it's very cheap. I want us to share our first time in France together! But maybe I'm missing some factor here that makes it less sentimental than I think it is?

We travel well together and while we have some different interests (he's a let's-see-cathedrals dude, I'm a flaneuse) we also have a lot of overlap (food, cultural events/monuments, military history). There are things I'd love to do in Paris— shopping!— that I would feel guilty wasting his time with. But I could always go solo AFTER our first trip to satisfy my acquisitive side.

I don't know, am I a fool to cancel and wait until we can both go? We do occasionally vacation solo but always to somewhere we've both already been. Another factor is that starting soon I will be traveling internationally for work, and since he doesn't have much vacation, I will be seeing other places around the world on my own for the first time. Maybe I could save Paris and make it special, since we both have a particular interest in going?

I can see the flip side— if I go solo I will be able to help plan any future trips we take together, so they might be better. If one of us had already gone before we started dating it would not really be an issue. I'm not really hesitant because it will be sad for him, I'm sad for ME, because I want to share the experience almost as much as I want to go. Have you been in a similar situation? Any advice?
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