I had a lot of fun with some new friends here yesterday, and I realized just how much that colors my opinion of a place.
Independently of just about anything else, the people I meet and the time I spend with them accounts for nearly my entire opinion of a place.
This may apply mostly to cities, vs. going around scenic landscapes. I may have enjoyed Ireland more with a travel companion or if I had met more people, but going alone was still fun.
But I thought about it because for the last few weeks here, for a number of reasons I won’t go into today; I have mostly been alone. And it’s been a little bit sadder as a result.
Everything is still inexpensive, the weather is nice, and people are friendly and there is theoretically plenty to do. But the fact that I wasn’t enjoying my time with others did minimize my enjoyment greatly and, with it, my opinion shifted.
It just makes you think a bit… It’s easy to think that your opinions and judgements of a location are fairly objective but they aren’t at all. Even if you’re in a wonderful place, if you’re there alone or with the wrong people you might hate it.
Likewise, if you’re in a terrible place, you might still have a great time with the right company.
I’ve come to the conclusion that I really need to prioritize frequent social activities when I’m traveling (and probably even when I’m not). Life is a whole lot more fulfilling that way.
This is a simple but important realization.
It’s worth noting, as I have elsewhere, that things turned around and I started spending a lot more time with others and my feelings towards where I was improved dramatically along with it. So this “theory” is basically confirmed!