Bits & Bobs: Grab a Magazine
Bits & Bobs are my strategies for keeping solo travel as wrench-free as possible.
Grabbed a magazine and a vin blanc at CDG
Solo travel requires, by definition, spending a lot of time alone, especially in situations and settings when you’re the only one alone. Whether at a café table, a dinner table, an airport lounge, a train car, or on a beach, it can feel self-conscious to not have another person to interrupt the silence with. Especially for novice solo travelers, when alone, an urge to do something bubbles up. Anything. If you’re doing something, you won’t look lame. If you’re occupied, no one will ask questions. (We can talk about why there’s no need for shame in being alone another time.)
Moved to France, grabbed a magazine
Given that we all walk around with mini computers in our pockets, the obvious urge is to pull out the trusty cell phone and scroll. Text someone. Check the weather. Play a game. I’ve seen a person feign a call while sitting at a bar alone. You could do all of that. Or, you could grab a magazine.
Grab a magazine!
Grabbed a magazine at the beach in the Var
Boarding a plane, une personne? Grab a magazine!
Out to lunch, une personne? Grab a magazine!
Having an Aperol, une personne? Grab a magazine!
On a ferry, une personne? Grab a magazine!
Sitting a beach lounger, une personne? Grab a magazine!
There are few solo situations that grabbing a magazine can’t improve.
Grabbed a magazine and a huge Aperol in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat
Grabbing a magazine is superior to reading a book in many of these situations, especially if you can’t concentrate on plot when there’s ambient noise and possibly kids jumping in waves. Grabbing a magazine is versatile. You can simply look at the pictures. You can read the short front-of-book columns or the letter from the editor. You can memorize the masthead, peruse the contributors list, evaluate the handbag ads. If you can concentrate, you can read the long form articles, maybe even learning something new. Grabbing a magazine is easy. It’s adaptable. It’s accommodating. There’s a magazine for everyone!
Grabbed a magazine at EWR
My personal favorites are Harper’s Bazaar, Architectural Digest, and French and Italian Vogue (but all international editions inclusive). I also love grabbing a local magazine, where gems of recommendations can be found. While abroad, it’s effective foreign language reading comprehension practice. At best, you learn some new words. At worst, you scan the words with an understanding expression. The person sitting next to you will think you speak French, which is a better outcome than them judging you for feigning a phone call just to look occupied.
Grabbed three magazines for a three hour train
Grabbing a magazine is generally affordable and supports a form of art I hope never dies. (Working in publishing makes you a patron of the print media arts for life.) Depending on the length of your solo activity, you can grab more than one magazine. For a long-haul flight, I can be found grabbing at least three magazines, clutching them to the gate like a schoolgirl holding textbooks.
Grabbed a magazine to catch some rays
Grabbing a magazine has prompted interactions that would not have happened had I just scrolled on my phone instead. On occasion, other solo people have asked if they can share the magazines I grabbed. Bien sûr! Other times, the cover star has sparked conversation. Recently, after grabbing a Harper’s Bazaar before boarding a ferry, I came across an article written by Derek Blasberg about a fashion show watch party that I had attended in Paris months earlier. I was in awe that an event I almost didn’t go to was being covered in Harper’s Bazaar, and that I was reading about it in print. I was there!
Grabbing a local magazine in Lisbon
I will always prefer print media to digital, and perhaps grabbing a magazine only works for the similarly-minded. Still, I challenge you, next time you’re alone, to grab a magazine.
