Eating Alone At Restaurants Is Terrifying (+ Tips!)
What am I doing here? Why did I think this was a good idea? What am I trying to prove? Am I even hungry?
Those were some of the thoughts racing through my head as I went out for dinner by myself for the first time. I wasn’t ready for the judgement, the stares, the pity.
But (spoiler alert) these were all assumptions I made up in my head, as I came to realize later.
Eating alone at restaurants is one thing that many — even experienced — travelers struggle with. You try to gather up the courage to go to a local restaurant that serves traditional food, but somehow you end up hunting for snacks at the Aldi around the corner.
Not gonna lie, my first solo dinner was dreadful. It was a rainy evening in 2016 and I found myself in a village on the countryside in Kerry, Ireland. Up until then, I had always cooked for myself in Airbnb’s or ordered take out. But I had gone on this spontaneous Irish hiking trip without any cooking equipment. There was no supermarket in this village, no Subway sandwiches, no takeaway. No safe options.
There was one fancy hotel in this village that had a restaurant.
I had no choice but to go there. Solo.
Since this was the only restaurant in the village — and probably the surrounding…
