To many people, the idea of traveling alone can be horrifying. Granted, plenty of things can go wrong while traveling solo (getting kidnapped, winding up in a foreign prison, having your organs harvested, being sold into slavery), but plenty can also go wrong if you’re traveling in a group, or if you’re not traveling at all. So suck it up.
1. Complete Freedom
When traveling solo you have only one person to answer to: you. If you don’t like the place you’re staying, then pack up and leave. Don’t want to sleep in? Don’t. Want to check out that gentlemen’s club? Go ahead. Trying to see if those Brazilians want to go out tonight? Go for it. Solo travel frees you up to make decisions based on what you want to do – however spontaneous, reckless, last-minute, or warned-against they may be. You will quickly find that solo travel let’s you make your adventure whatever you want it to be, without having to compromise and negotiate along the way.
2. Meet More People
One of the first things you will realized when traveling solo is that you are not alone. Many of your fellow travelers will also be on the road solo, and you’re not being with a group will make you both more approachable and relatable. It will quickly become apparent that people do not go traveling so that they can keep to themselves and not meet others; the self-selecting group that is travelers are inherently outgoing and friendly people (at least for the most part). And you are one of them.
3. You Can’t Go Wrong
If something doesn’t go according to plan, then great – that’s the new plan! You don’t have anyone hanging around to play the blame game with so it’s easy to go with the flow as you adjust for, and learn from any “mistakes” made along the way. It will quickly become apparent that you have only yourself to please (and to hold responsible). Blaze your own path attaching and detaching from groups of your fellow travelers at will; without anyone else to take into consideration you can be sure that every decision made was the one you wanted to make.
4. Revised Comfort Zones
It is easy to take sanctuary in your friends when traveling in a group, but solo travel will force you to try to experience new things to get the most out of your trip. If you’re an introvert who finds it hard to talk to strangers, now you only have strangers to talk to. Don’t feel comfortable using public transportation alone? Now you have no choice. Solo travel will also help you forget about those silly and imaginary feelings of embarrassment and awkwardness while providing a stage for you to challenge yourself on a personal level everyday.
5. Discover the Real You
Maybe you thought that you were some fearless travel Rambo, but now that you find only your own gut to rely on instead of the collective decision-making of your friends, things as simple as getting into that sketchy taxi or staying the night at that incredibly kind but somehow creepy Polish man’s house may present insurmountable mental hurdles. Turns out you weren’t as foolhardy as you thought. Solo travel allows you to recognize and develop parts of yourself that may have been formerly overlooked (like your inability to approach a group instead of being a part of said group to begin with).
6. Flexibility in Travel
Large groups are immobile. In order to accomplish anything, plans must be run through dozens of iterations and everyone must consent to go along with the next move. Traveling solo frees you up to make that split second decision to grab that last bus to your next destination a day early, to grab that last seat on the flight, or to slip into that restricted area without anyone noticing. The freedom that only having to worry about one person provides you is incredible, and you may find yourself hesitant to resume group travel after your initial taste of solo travel.
7. It’s More Fun
When I tell people worried about traveling alone for the first time that they are about to have one of the best trips of their lives, they tend to discount my saying so as some optimistic promise of comfort. However, what they don’t realize is that I am right. They will always return to tell me how much they loved traveling on their own, and how it was nothing like they had imagined. I promise you that solo travel will change the way you look at traveling and your fellow travelers, and most of all, that it’s more fun than you thought.
Traveling alone makes you a better observer of people and places around you, which in turn has the power to make you more compassionate and a better person overall. Being an outsider, however slight or extreme, automatically changes the way you interact with others, and these changes are positive when it comes to travel.
Today I always travel alone. Finally I had to, since all my friends put travelling on the shelf for “things-done-in-the-past”. It’s a completely different experience – travelling alone, compared to travelling with friends or spouse or whatever, but I’m hooked, and I can’t see myself travelling any other way. Anymore. Great post, btw. 🙂
I typically travel alone, and when I do travel with others, I tend to
get impatient with the indecision and “cat-herding” that goes with
trying to get a group of people going in one direction. I’ve also had
the privilege to meet some very interesting people. Whenever I travel, I
try to set aside a little “alone” time.
I see your points, but I hate eating in restaurants alone, so not sure if I want to travel solo more for entertainment. I do it enough for work as it is!
Traveling alone was probably one of the greatest things I have ever done for myself. Okay, so I wasn’t completely alone but I consider it alone because I embarked on a three month journey aboard a ship that I knew nobody on. We stopped in nine countries and as the trip went on I began to know people and would go out and explore the countries with them. But in the meantime, I spent quite a bit of time alone. I was nervous going into it and now I am looking to do it again this summer.
My husband and I travel everywhere together, though when I was younger, I traveled solo and lived and worked in Yellowstone National Park. Those were indeed good years. I met so may people because I had nobody else to cling to!
I couldn’t agree more! Love, love, love to travel on my own. I have never felt more free in my entire life than when I set off for a year long trip with no friends, a bit of luggage (lost it all immediately) and a bit of small change to keep me going. I bounced around the world on my own, making plans as I went and loved every minute of it. Best time of my life!
Great post – thank you.
I have never traveled alone and really don’t think I would enjoy it. I have been married for 48 years so I like to travel with my husband. We both like the same thing and it boils down to give and take
Wow, you’re brave. There is no way I could travel alone. I am a chicken.