Usually, when I tag along on Steve’s business travel, we spend most evenings together. His recent trip to Columbus, however, would be a weekend full of work commitments. We’d spend time together the first night, and that was about it. I debated whether to go or not, but after Columbus, he was off to India for a long two weeks without me. So, I decided to challenge myself to have fun for a weekend away on my own. Columbus turned out to be a great place to do that.

First off, thank you to Experience Columbus for supporting parts of my trip itinerary. As always, all of the opinions here are my own.

The plan – What to do in Columbus solo

Travelling solo may come naturally to some people, but I’ve taken some time to warm up to it. Touring neighbourhoods, shopping, and visiting museums usually feel fine solo, so I started my planning there. With just a couple of days in Columbus, I decided to check out two popular neighbourhoods and one art museum.

It’s dining out solo that sucks. It’s become easier every time I do it, but I’m not going to lie, it’s more fun with someone else. Columbus has some fabulous restaurants, so I just resolved to hold my head up and visit one of its best, on a Friday night no less. I avoided dining alone for the entire trip by taking a food tour. This turned out to be a great strategy.

The other thing that gets my cortisol pumping when it comes to solo travel is navigating an unfamiliar city. Fortunately, Google Maps’ turn-by-turn instructions and its integration with public transit have made me much more confident in this area. The big bonus was that we were staying in downtown Columbus and this made getting to area attractions pretty simple. I got a SIM card for my unlocked phone so I was never without a connection, but I could have just as easily downloaded the Columbus map for offline use.

I had two full days to fill on my own. Wow, they were full days, and you know, I had fun!

Home Base – Hilton Doubletree Suites

Steve’s a Hilton Honors member, so we try to leverage this whenever possible. We stayed at the Downtown Hilton Doubletree Suites on Front Street, and it was a terrific location in terms of getting around. Also, who doesn’t love the free, warm cookie at check-in? Well, maybe Steve cause he’s gluten-intolerant. Two for me!

We had a great stay at the Doubletree, and the suite we had on the Honors Members floor had a great set up.  It would have been outstanding had I been working remotely this trip. There was great desk space and tonnes of convenient outlets for charging electronics.

The breakfast buffet offered a good variety of hot and cold choices as well as healthy options.

To counteract the buffet, I had a great workout at the hotel gym my first morning, which is a full fitness centre. There are lots of workout options here – an array of exercise machines, squash court, free weights, medicine balls, resistance bands and a yoga room. Outstanding.

A Night Out with Steve’s Colleagues – 16-Bit Bar + Arcade

After getting settled in our hotel room Thursday afternoon, we headed out to meet up with several of Steve’s colleagues at 16-Bit Bar + Arcade. It’s a perfect spot to indulge in some geeky, nostalgic fun. The room is lined with classic arcade games that are free to play while you’re enjoying an old school cocktail or one of many craft beers on offer. The Molly Ringwald cocktail was delish.

The place doesn’t serve food, but you can order take-out from the two neighbouring restaurants – Dirty Franks Hot Dog Palace and Mikey’s Late Night Slice. We ordered from both and came away fat and happy.

Getting cultured at the Columbus Museum of Art

Friday was a full day starting with a visit to the Columbus Museum of Art (CMOA). The museum recently opened a brand new wing featuring more than 370 works. I like art, but I’m not an art aficionado by any stretch. I sometimes feel a bit disconnected when walking through rooms and rooms of paintings, and they all start looking the same after awhile.

Art galleries can be intimidating. The CMOA is not like that.

The new wing is fresh and bright and features really interesting and provocative works. They include sculpture, glasswork, video, projections, and the coolest area for kids (or kids-at-heart) called the Wonder Room. Here, visitors are immersed in whimsical creations from floor to ceiling and can create art themselves with materials provided. There was a school group there the day I attended, and they were having a ball.

 

 

Lunch at North Market

After a couple of hours at the art museum, I headed to the North Market. According to its website, it is the only remaining true public market in Columbus, dating back to 1876.

The place is a foodie’s dream with everything from organic produce and fresh meats to baked goods, roasted coffee and kitchenwares.

Katzinger’s Deli

After deliberating over too many lunch choices, I finally settled on Katzinger’s Deli, mainly because I saw two large pickle barrels beside the cash – one of my odd food weaknesses.

The sandwich names are entertaining – Big Bob’s Belly Balancer, Lewis’ Titillating Litigating Lunch. I picked Be’s Bustling Birdwich, a substantial turkey Reuben that uses a lovely creamy coleslaw in place of traditional sauerkraut. I had a hard time deciding on the two types of pickles on offer, new or garlicky. The server took pity on me and let me take two. Score! They were both yummy.

Jeni’s Ice Cream

I had a tiny space left for dessert and Jeni’s Ice Cream attracted me by its unique flavours: Bourbon Salted Pecan, Intelligentsia Black Cat Espresso, for example. I settled on a scoop each of the Burnt Almond Caramel and the Corn Spoon Bread. I preferred the former, but both were creamy and different. Jeni’s boasts the use of natural, local ingredients with no fillers or emulsifiers.

Strutting along the Short North

Why stop walking now? What’re another 10 kilometres or so? Weekend getaway travel can be a bit of an endurance sport, but I’m always up for that.

From the North Market, I headed up High Street to take in the Short North Arts District. Densely packed with independent shops, restaurants, and galleries, strolling these several blocks in the sunshine made for a perfect afternoon.

Table for One Please – The Pearl Restaurant

If you talk to anyone in Columbus who is tapped into the restaurant scene, it won’t be long before the name Cameron Mitchell comes up. Some of the best-loved restaurants in Columbus fall under the Cameron Mitchell empire. Some background Internet reading revealed that the serial restaurateur is universally loved by patrons and staff alike. Obviously, I needed to check out one of the spots myself. I chose The Pearl and made a reservation for one. The Pearl was an attractive choice because the menu looked interesting and it was back in the North Short – a quick, free CBUS ride from my hotel. After clocking 22,000 steps my first full day in Columbus, I was ready to give my dogs a rest.

As I said, dining alone is perhaps one of the greatest challenges of solo travel. No matter how you spin it, you’re always left feeling somewhat sad as you spy smiling, social groups of twos and fours as you are seated at your table with one of its place settings removed.

Nevertheless, I was determined to enjoy my experience. As it turned out it was so extremely busy, I’m sure no one noticed I was dining alone. In fact, my only criticism of the night is that even though I had a reservation, I had to wait almost half an hour to be seated. Fortunately, you can sip a drink while sitting in the reception lounge making a wait this long more bearable.

In the end, the meal was quite good, and the service was prompt and courteous. As I dined on escarole salad, oysters on the half shell, and the braised short rib with root vegetables, I focused on savouring the flavours while eavesdropping on a spirited political conversation the diners sitting next to me were having. I got a first-hand perspective on what two African American men think about Donald Trump and the failure of the Democratic presidential nominees to truly represent their interests. So interesting.

Waiting for the CBUS to return to my hotel, I met a lovely couple who had recently moved downtown from a suburb. Their comments led to another person on the bus weighing in on the pros and cons of living downtown, which reminded me of the similar back-and-forth I hear in my hometown about the same subject.

These are experiences you are more likely to have while travelling solo (and via public transit).

Dining with others – Columbus Food Adventures

As much as I’ve made peace with dining alone, doing so for most of a tag-along trip would be hard to take. If your business travelling partner is work-occupied during meal times, here’s an alternative solution – the food tour.

Columbus Food Adventures offers an amazing 11 itineraries for every foodie’s taste from its Alt Eats Ethnic tour to its Meat Lover’s tour. I chose to spend a brilliantly sunny Saturday morning on the Breakfast Tour led by Columbus food blogger, Nick Dekker.

I am a fan of breakfast (all three daily meals actually), but I don’t often go out for breakfast. So, eating a morning meal from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. was a real treat.

I was the only tourist in the group of about 10, which was great because I got to hear lots about Columbus. It was also cool that someone commented on loving my Canadian accent, which always tickles me. What accent?

So, we visited five restaurants including a bustling campus diner, a historic Columbus donut shop, a couple of “ethnic” spots and a trendy new open-concept eatery. Let me tell you pacing is important on this tour. I knew this—logically, I knew this. But, some kind of damn burst inside me after trying my third Buckeye Donut sample. By our last stop, I was fairly certain I wouldn’t eat anything until my return home to Winnipeg the following day.

 

 

Walking it off in the German Village

Eating the equivalent of your weight in breakfast foods can suck the lifeforce out of you. Despite my best intentions to thoroughly explore the much-praised German Village neighbourhood, I lasted only about an hour. In that short amount of time, though, I can see why many in Columbus aspire to live here. There are cobblestone streets, historical brick homes, interesting shops and restaurants and a laid back vibe as one strolls around (although it could have been my food coma that gave me that impression).

In any event, I came back in the evening to check out Notes, a lounge in the basement of a newer Columbus restaurant called Copious. I chose Notes because it featured an early jazz show and offered casual food (yeah, I did eat again). I took in the Dennis Hodges Trio and enjoyed jazz treatments of ‘80s classics by the likes of Tears for Fears and Lionel Ritchie. Seriously. They were fun.

Last Day – Running the Scioto Greenway Trail

Another reason the Hilton Doubletree on Front Street was a good hotel choice is that the Scioto Greenway Trail along the river is a two-minute walk away. Anytime you can go for an hour-long run without the hassle of traffic it’s a thing of beauty.  Running or not, this waterfront development is lovely.

Rating Columbus as a tag-along destination

Many people tagging along on their spouses business travel chose to do so on the big impact destinations such as New York City, London, Singapore and the like. I’ve done those cities, and they are epic. But never discount the under-the-radar destinations.

On the whole, Columbus is a perfect tag-along trip city:

Safe: Columbus is big enough to have the density on downtown streets that gives you a sense of safety, but It’s not overwhelmingly crowded. I walked and took the bus day and evening and felt quite at ease doing so.

Easy: Columbus is very walkable. Stay downtown, and you will be within easy reach of all the main attractions. The free CBUS running every 10 minutes is a major bonus.

Welcoming: I find locals in cities teeming with tourists either indifferent or dismissive towards them. I found the locals in Columbus extremely friendly, helpful, and interested in my presence.

Fun: There is a lot to do in Columbus! Obviously, my two-day trip could only squeeze in so much. From its art scene, professional sports, and fabulous restaurant choices, a tag-along traveller won’t get bored.

If you enjoyed this post, why not subscribe to Tag Along Travel? Twice a month, you’ll receive an email with links to recent posts.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin