So I was at Kondesa the other night and, as usual when dining alone, I was actively eavesdropping on the conversations of other tables within earshot. After all, it beats talking to myself, not that I'm a boring conversationalist but it gets old knowing what I'm going to say all the time. Strangers surprise me.
Like in this case. A table with an older couple, Texan accents of course, and a younger guy. Older guy was explaining in his twangy voice how he was some muckety muck with Aggressor Fleet, doing something with hotels in the Philippines. That stuff didn't interest me. What did catch my ear was when they mentioned ScubaBoard. Muckety muck was explaining to younger guy how he only uses ScubaBoard when he has a question. After all, he proclaimed, the regular posters on ScubaBoard are all dorks who travel alone.
Well, that got me thinking. I am a regular contributor to ScubaBoard and here I was traveling alone. Did that make me a dork? I mean, I've done group trips before and I always thought those were the dorky people, too insecure and/or inexperienced to be able to travel alone. After getting a few dive trips under my belt and realizing how easy it was to meet people abroad, especially on liveaboards or at dedicated dive resorts, my travels were always as a buddy pair or as a couple with a female companion of one sort or another. My last few trips have been solo, which I found to be even less dorky and more intrepid because one doesn't even have the crutch of a single fellow traveler. Heck, this last trip I even tried to manage without the crutch of alcohol to make me friendlier. Honestly that may have been taking it too far, I was getting a bit lonely. But did that make me a dork? Hardly! Damn opinionated Texan muckety mucks. If I didn't know better, he might have hurt my feelings.
So I continued with my dinner. A very nice iced tea to drink, accompanied by Kondesa Kakes (lionfish & potato in a light coconut sauce), Peskado Pepita (excellently prepared fish with pepitas two ways, a mole-like sauce below and toasted on top, served with veggies), and Delicia de Elote for my postre, a sweet-corn flan with caramelized corn, cajeta, and some nice fresh fruit. Beautiful setting, so romantic I fell in love with myself all over again. But something was missing.
And I knew what that was. Other people. So as soon as dinner was over, I retreated to my hotel room for some "social networking", chatted with friends on Facebook, browsed ScubaBoard, got the companionship I craved. Hmmm, maybe that does make me a dork
Like in this case. A table with an older couple, Texan accents of course, and a younger guy. Older guy was explaining in his twangy voice how he was some muckety muck with Aggressor Fleet, doing something with hotels in the Philippines. That stuff didn't interest me. What did catch my ear was when they mentioned ScubaBoard. Muckety muck was explaining to younger guy how he only uses ScubaBoard when he has a question. After all, he proclaimed, the regular posters on ScubaBoard are all dorks who travel alone.
Well, that got me thinking. I am a regular contributor to ScubaBoard and here I was traveling alone. Did that make me a dork? I mean, I've done group trips before and I always thought those were the dorky people, too insecure and/or inexperienced to be able to travel alone. After getting a few dive trips under my belt and realizing how easy it was to meet people abroad, especially on liveaboards or at dedicated dive resorts, my travels were always as a buddy pair or as a couple with a female companion of one sort or another. My last few trips have been solo, which I found to be even less dorky and more intrepid because one doesn't even have the crutch of a single fellow traveler. Heck, this last trip I even tried to manage without the crutch of alcohol to make me friendlier. Honestly that may have been taking it too far, I was getting a bit lonely. But did that make me a dork? Hardly! Damn opinionated Texan muckety mucks. If I didn't know better, he might have hurt my feelings.
So I continued with my dinner. A very nice iced tea to drink, accompanied by Kondesa Kakes (lionfish & potato in a light coconut sauce), Peskado Pepita (excellently prepared fish with pepitas two ways, a mole-like sauce below and toasted on top, served with veggies), and Delicia de Elote for my postre, a sweet-corn flan with caramelized corn, cajeta, and some nice fresh fruit. Beautiful setting, so romantic I fell in love with myself all over again. But something was missing.
And I knew what that was. Other people. So as soon as dinner was over, I retreated to my hotel room for some "social networking", chatted with friends on Facebook, browsed ScubaBoard, got the companionship I craved. Hmmm, maybe that does make me a dork
