Solo Traveler?

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I'm spending a month in Peru this spring. After talking about it on Facebook, my old high school best friend (let's call her Liz) decided she wanted to come along for a week or so. For a variety of reasons, I'm not sure it's such a good idea.

Pro: 

I really like and respect Liz a lot, and we were best friends 10 years ago.

We studied Spanish together for 5 years - having someone along who loves language as much as I do and will embrace my full-immersion approach to communicating with the locals might be good to have along.

It might be nice to have some companionship on a long solo trip in a strange country where I basically don't speak the language.

This vacation is going to involve multiple 12+ hour bus rides. It might be nice to have a friend along to pass the time.

We have a lot in common in terms of interests - we're both major nerds who love history, languages, culture, archaeology, museums, and all the other stuff people go to Peru to get involved with.

She really wants to come.

She's a great photographer.

Con: 

I took a long weekend road trip with Liz last year, and it wasn't really that fun. She's not my ideal traveling companion.

We've grown apart over the years, and there are some simmering resentments between us about the life choices we've made. Which might not make for great 18 hour bus ride conversation.

Liz has never traveled to a developing country before and might have a different idea of what style of travel is appropriate. e.g. wanting to take the fancy AC bus instead of the chicken bus, wanting to stay in a nice hotel instead of a backpacker hostel, etc.

I kind of wanted to take this trip alone.

Liz isn't very adventurous. It takes very, very little to entertain her, and thus she often doesn't seek out really fascinating experiences. She doesn't ask much of the world, and thus doesn't generally get very much in return.

Liz isn't as physically fit as I am. I'm concerned I'll miss out on opportunities to do things like hiking through the Andes, or taking a day trip on a mountain bike, because she's not up to it. She also gets motion sickness, which is not compatible with several key aspects of travel in the Andes.

I was hoping to spend a lot of this trip working on my travel writing. I'm not sure that's compatible with having a travel companion, or with the kind of trip Liz would want to take.

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