Sober Travel: Teresa Bergen on Planning the Day You Want

For travel writer Teresa Bergen, a satisfying trip includes activities she wants to do, people she wants to meet and the freedom to head back to her hotel.

When planning sober travel, picture how you want to spend an ordinary day away: where you will go, whose company you will enjoy and when you might want time to yourself. Those choices can make the difference between a vacation that looks appealing and one you actually want to take.

Travel writer Teresa Bergen, author of Sober Travel Handbook, offered AddictionHelp.com a concrete example from a recent trip to Cozumel, Mexico. She had divided her stay between a town and an all-inclusive resort. Both gave her somewhere to stay, but they offered very different versions of a day off.^[1][2][3]

Why Bergen Preferred Time in Town on Her Cozumel Trip

Bergen preferred staying in town because she could choose her activities, meet different people and return to her hotel whenever she wanted. Traveling on her own, she spent four nights in San Miguel and four nights at an all-inclusive resort.^[1]

In town, she could wander, try different restaurants and see what local people were doing. She went diving and visited cat cafes. Talking with a variety of people was part of the pleasure, as was having a place to retreat afterward.^[1]

The resort was beautiful, she said, but its emphasis on drinking around the pool and eating at buffets left her bored. She missed having more contact with local people beyond their work serving guests. She also acknowledged that many people enjoy that kind of resort stay.^[1]

Her contrast is about the vacation she wanted. The freedom to move between exploring, conversation and quiet time mattered more to her than having everything in one place.^[1]

“So, you have to think a little about what you want to do all day before you make your travel decisions,” Bergen told AddictionHelp.com. “One person’s dream vacation won’t appeal to everybody.”^[1]

That is a useful question to bring to a booking page. If an afternoon by the pool sounds restful, it belongs in your plans. If you would spend it wishing you could browse a neighborhood or choose another restaurant, look into how you would actually do those things before booking.

What Makes an Alcohol-Free Venue Feel Welcoming?

For Bergen, a welcoming alcohol-free venue has room for conversation, friendly service and activities she can choose to join. The details are ordinary but specific: music quiet enough to hear other people and enough light to read the drinks menu.^[1]

“I appreciate friendly servers, especially if I’m alone,” she told AddictionHelp.com.^[1]

She likes creative nonalcoholic drinks, and she values a server or bartender who will patiently explain unfamiliar ingredients without making her feel foolish for asking. Her interest is in being able to understand the menu and feel comfortable asking a question.^[1]

She also appreciates optional activities, such as trivia or board games. The word optional matters to the kind of visit she describes. A game offers something to do with other people, while leaving room to sit and talk or spend the visit another way.^[1]

These details give a traveler more to ask about than the drinks list. Can you have a conversation? What is happening the night you plan to visit? Can you join an activity on your own, and can you enjoy the space without participating?

For practical help with drink offers and social situations, staying sober in public covers conversation scripts and planning for a way home.

Sober Travel Tips for Picturing an Ordinary Day Before Booking

Start with the day you want, then check whether the trip makes it possible. Drawing on Bergen’s examples, these five questions can help you compare a sober vacation or an evening out:

• Activities: What would you look forward to doing in the morning, afternoon and evening? Name the activity, rather than relying on a description such as “relaxing getaway.”
• Company: Do you want conversation with new people, time with your travel companions or a mixture of company and solitude? Look at how the planned activities would give you those choices.
• Local contact: Do you want to spend time in the surrounding town, visit local businesses or learn about the people who live there? Find out what access the itinerary leaves for that.
• Freedom to change plans: Can you choose a different restaurant, skip an outing or leave an event when you want? Check the arrangements you would depend on, including transportation.
• Room to retreat: Where could you go when you want quiet time, and how would you get there? Include that return trip in your plans.

For example, you might want a morning activity, lunch somewhere you choose and a quiet afternoon before meeting friends for dinner. Before booking, check whether the location and schedule allow those changes of pace. If every transition depends on the whole group, decide whether that is the kind of day you want.

This is a planning exercise, not a scorecard. Your answers can be different from Bergen’s and still be clear enough to guide a choice.

The People Behind Bergen’s Sober Travel Writing

Bergen wants her travel writing to show more of the people behind a destination than a brochure or social media post can convey. She told AddictionHelp.com that she wants to learn about local people and direct some of her spending into their economy. She also wants her writing to acknowledge that travelers bring their own experiences and difficulties with them.^[1]

That interest connects her writing to the choices she described in Cozumel. Meeting people, choosing where to eat and deciding when to be alone were part of the trip itself.^[1]

Before your next sober vacation, write down what you would like one ordinary day to look like. Then compare that day with the place, schedule and company you are considering. A useful travel plan should leave room for the things you want to do and for the moment you decide you have done enough.

People We Spoke With

Teresa Bergen is a freelance travel writer and author of Sober Travel Handbook. She shared her preferences for welcoming alcohol-free venues and her personal experience of choosing activities, company and quiet time while traveling.^[2][3]