If you’ve been on social media for the past year you’ve probably seen the over-romanticized idea of the “solo date”. The idea of a “solo date” is not new, you and I probably know it by another name: “being alone”.

I think the whole movement is about empowering people to be comfortable doing things by themselves, without fear of being judged. So today I’m going to tell you about my solo¹ date.

As usual, I woke up at my house, where I live with my parents. I got ready and took the 10:50 a.m. bus to Porto.

After arriving in Porto I felt a bit lost, I knew what I wanted to do in Porto, but didn’t quite think of the “in-betweens”. I started by doing some window shopping and ended up acquiring my very first Scrub Daddy (let’s see if it lives up to the hype). I also did some research into possible Christmas presents.

After that was done, the first obstacle came up. Where to go to lunch? After considering many options I ended up eating a burger in a nearby place. The burger wasn’t very good on account of the amount of mustard.

After lunch I moved downtown to accomplish my first goal: do the Advent of Code in a coffee shop. I thought of the perfect place… a few months back me and my girlfriend discovered a clothes shop that has a coffee shop on the top floor. The store was open (yay!), but no barista in sight (nay!). Still, I got to see some cool clothes and find a new cool brand.

I moved to plan B, another coffee shop I knew where I could work on the window sill. This one was open (and had baristas), so I got to work. I ended up doing a mix of doing the Advent of Code, calling my girlfriend, and surfing the web for the clothes I saw in the shop. All this while drinking a cappuccino.

I then left and walked about the city. I almost stopped to sketch/draw because I saw the perfect subject. A man playing a song box surrounded by birds (chickens, doves, …). However, I had no dry place to sit and I spent too much time thinking about if I should first give some money to the man before sketching him (I had no money though…). Anyway, chance lost.

I went to another coffee shop where I finished the first part of the AoC while drinking a cup of milk with honey. Just the right amount of coziness for a rainy day.

I took the 17:30 bus back, thus concluding my 7-hour solo date. Well, solo only if you don’t consider the time I spent talking with my girlfriend on the phone. But I digress.

The problem with these artsy-things is that I feel bad drinking it.