Last fall, I seized the opportunity and took an amazing trip to England. Most of my time was spent in London with a day trip to Hastings, checking off a lifelong bucket list item. And, if you ever have a chance to travel alone, you should seize the opportunity as well.
I came home with thousands of photos highlighting my adventures. While I was behind the camera for a majority of the shots, I also wanted proof that I had ventured abroad. So, I did my best to take some selfies and get out in front of the camera to remember my England vacation. There are a few photos every person traveling alone is bound to take.
1. You take some photos of your reflection in the window.
Because when you are starting off your adventures in an airport, you don't want a tired selfie at four o'clock AM. But you still want an artistic shot to start off with.
2. You take a lot of mirror pictures.
In the elevator at Gatwick Airport in celebration of my arrival. In the bedroom of my Airbnb as proof that I survived thus far. In the elevator in the lift going to the underground tube.
3. Sometimes when you ask other tourists to take photos, you get terrible action shots of yourself but amusing selfies of them.
True story: on my first full day in England, I walked from my flat to Big Ben in central London, where I took many photos of the sites along the way. I wanted to get a photo with the Palace of Westminster in the background, so I asked someone nearby to take my picture. They agreed, only to take more selfies of themselves than of me. We shared a few laughs before I decided to continue on and forget about getting someone to take a photo of me.
4. But then sometimes you ask someone to take your photo and they capture the essence of your travels.
Just a girl alone in London taking photos from her perspective.
5. You take a lot of selfies.
Selfies with landmarks. Selfies with coffee. Selfies with castle ruins. The list goes on.
6. You take artistic selfies.
Because why would you want all the photos of yourself to LOOK like selfies?!
7. And you have to figure out how to get away from the selfie game altogether.
Your camera becomes your photographer when you set the self-timer and find a nearby bench or post to prop it on, before running to the spot you want to pose in the 10 seconds before the scene is captured. It might take a couple dozen attempts with other tourists thinking you are weird as they walk by or you feeling like a crazy person as you race to pose before the timer runs out, but the end result can turn into one of your favorite photos from your trip (example being the photo below that I took in Hastings with my camera in the other photo).
