Dude, Back Off!
I'm really super excited for the trip, though I of course have some concerns. The first, and I suppose the most important, is of traveling alone. I will be spending the 4 days in London entirely by myself.
I don't mind the actual traveling part by myself - i.e flights, transfers, and so on. That I'm used to. I am a little worried about securtiy issues: taking the Tube at night by myself and going to pubs by myself. I'm not about to miss out on the London pub scene just because I'm traveling alone.
See, last night is a prime example: my friend and I went out to a bar for a night of retro music dancing. We really enjoyed it last time, and also enjoyed it this time around - mostly. Towards the end of the night these two Turkish guys started dancing with us. It was going fine for a while, until the guy I was dancing with started getting too Mr. Grabby Hands.
I told him I had a boyfriend, and this didn't deter him any. I would move his hands when they ventured too far south, and he'd just move them back again. After a few minutes of this, my friend and I escaped to the bathroom - as we're coming out, deciding to go dance in a different area away from these guys, we find them waiting for us outside of the bathroom.
I got a little freaked and tried to speed past them. Mr. Grabby then reaches out and grabs my wrist, pulls me back, and says "hey, where are you going?". My friend can see that this is not going well, so she jokingly tries to pull him away from me while directing us back out into the crowd. Grabby Hands doesn't let go of my wrist and follows us out on to the dance floor, trying to ask me what's wrong.
He clearly wasn't happy with the explanation that I had a boyfriend and wasn't interested in his grabbiness. I literally had to tell him that I didn't like being grabbed, either on the ass or on the wrist, and that he was making me uncomfortable - this is polite as I get, for I feared that a resonant "fuck off!" would push him deeper into scary-mode.
This incident was actually more funny than it was scary, mainly because I had my friend with me and knew I could safely extricate myself from the situation.
When you're a young female traveling alone, these kinds of safety issues become more important. I'm not overly concerned with it, but it's definitely something I will be thinking about to make sure that I'm as careful as possible. A little concern is healthy and beneficial.
The rest of the trip I will be with a group, so I won't have to worry about being on my own. I'm looking forward to meeting new people and hopefully making some friends!
I'll post some pictures when I get back, no doubt a few of me tossing back some German beer and Hungarian vodka!
posted by Joanna @ 4:47 PM
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