Skip waiting for someone to be free and make a day of your own. Because waiting for someone to join you is a surprisingly good way to miss out on your own city.
You want to see that exhibition? Go. There is a new restaurant you've been meaning to try? Book the table. A film you actually want to watch is playing at 3 pm on a Tuesday? Even better. The annoying part of being an adult is that everyone else's calendars seem to be permanently full, but that doesn't mean your plans have to be.
A solo day works best when it doesn't feel like a punishment for having nobody available. So don't begin with errands. Begin with something you actually want to do.
Start with coffee somewhere you like and, ideally, sit outside or by a window. Bring a book if you want one, but don't feel obliged to look occupied. You can just simply watch the city do its thing. People arrive late for meetings, delivery bikes weave through traffic, someone at the next table is having a very serious phone conversation. You notice much more when you aren't busy talking.
Then go somewhere you have been putting off. A gallery, a museum, a bookshop, an old neighbourhood you always pass but never walk through. The great thing about doing these things alone is that nobody is waiting for you to finish looking at something. You can spend twenty minutes staring at one painting or leave after seven minutes because it wasn't very interesting. Both are perfectly acceptable.
Lunch is where solo outings tend to make people nervous. Don't overthink it. Sit at the counter if the restaurant has one. Take a table by the window. Order what you want. There is no need to pretend you're waiting for someone. And if eating alone in a busy restaurant still feels strange, start with a café, bakery or somewhere casual and work your way up. There is actually something useful about these little stretches of being alone. Research on solitude suggests that choosing to spend time by yourself, rather than having it imposed on you, can give the brain a break from constantly responding to other people. It can also create space for reflection, creativity and simply paying attention to what you are doing.
Give yourself one slightly unnecessary stop too. Buy the magazine you usually leave behind. Go into the shop that looks too expensive. Have the dessert. Sit in a park for half an hour. Take the long way home. A day spent alone shouldn't become another opportunity to be productive.
And don't fill every minute. One of the nicest things about being out alone is that you can change your mind. If the weather is good, stay outside. If you're tired, go home. If you suddenly feel like watching another film, find a showtime. Nobody has to be consulted.
There may be a few moments when you feel conspicuously alone. That happens. You might see a group laughing over lunch or a couple sharing a dessert and briefly wonder whether you should have invited someone after all. Let the feeling pass. Being alone for an afternoon is not the same thing as being lonely.
By evening, you may have walked farther than expected, eaten something you hadn't planned on and discovered a corner of the city you'd somehow never noticed. Or you may simply have had a coffee, watched a film and gone home. That counts too.
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