Hello, and welcome to the traveling introvert. Today I'd love to talk about safe havens for eating and drinking as an introvert. A lot of the time, you might want to go out and enjoy a good meal or have a nice cocktail. And it has to be said not all restaurants and bars are created equal in that kind of realm. I know a lot of people have complained that they want to go to a restaurant, enjoy a meal by themselves and get treated like second class citizens because of it. Either they get put in a corner somewhere or they don't get the table that they requested. Or they basically get ignored by staff or on the opposite end of the scale. They get hustled and moved on quickly by staff because they want to turn over the table. And because there's any one of you instead of two of us at the table they They want you to hurry up your meal, whereas you might just want to sit and enjoy and savor the food that you are paying for. So, as an introvert, and trying to find spaces where you where it's okay for you to go and eat by yourself, because that's the other problem, the social norm makes it awkward for you to go and eat by yourself. There was a time when I booked a train in California to go on a wine run. And I was going by myself. And they were very much like, Oh, well, we might see you at somebody else on the train right now. I want to enjoy this beautiful view, by myself at a table by myself. I do not want to have to interact in awkward conversation with somebody I do not know. I'm paying money to go on this trip. And it became a bit of a to do and luckily it was low season so it wasn't that bad. But still, I was made to feel that I was in the wrong for wanting to enjoy my ride. So areas or places That are comfortable for people to sit and go and eat alone or have a drink alone. Many people have said coffee shops most of the time coffee shops you can go in, order your food or drink sit in the corner read a normal bother you and it will be fine and it doesn't feel awkward. But to go to a restaurant and sit down necessarily fine dining, but sit down restaurant, the menu and and you may feel awkward if you're by yourself. One place however, that seems to inadvertently cater to introverts or somebody who wants to just go and dine by themselves and not be bothered. His hotel bars, hotel bars and restaurants. And this is fascinating. And it seems to be because people are transit within a hotel and it was looking to make friends that kind of tired. They've been traveling or their business and they're at a meeting and they're coming in to have a drink and chill and wine down. Eat and leave Eat and go over paperwork or read a book or what have you. But very rarely Will someone came up to you and try and hassle you along or want to talk to you. So airport, no airports also. bars, hotel bars and restaurants seemed to be a really good place for you to go. If you're an introvert and you just want to enjoy a nice meal without getting harassed or feeling uncomfortable because you are by yourself in a hotel you almost expected to be by yourself or you know with somebody else but that's fine. There's no it is normal or abnormal. And so that is a great thing. Dear listeners, I would love to know if there any other spaces that you have found that have been welcoming to you coming in sitting and reading a book, or doing a crossword or just coming in and enjoying a meal by yourself without you feeling that they didn't want you there or they wanted to move you along. I would love to hear from you. I'm trying to think also airports, know when, but it was a funny place like airport lounges. If you sit at the bar people will talk to you, if you just sit away from the bar people will not talk to you. So there's that that halfway point of like, okay, I might want some conversation, or I'm gonna go sit in the corner and do my thing. So that's very, very interesting. And the Uber, the Uber, right, but that's a whole other conversation probably. But I know that Uber we're trying to roll out something and I think there's in certain cities where if you don't want your driver to talk to you, you can you have that option. You have that control, because Uber drivers are not taught customer service the way sort of restaurant is might be. So that's another interesting topic of like, how do you shut down your Uber driver in a nice way that hey, I don't want to talk. It's not you. It's I just you know what to sit here and recharge. Thank you for listening. This is Janice from the careerintrovert.com helping you build your brand and shine as an introvert. If you have any questions, please email me at Janice at the career introvert dot com and have a great rest of your week.