Wondering about going travelling on your own, but not too sure? Solo travel can be a liberating experience…
There are many reasons why I love solo traveling. So many that I needed to write a whole book about How To Travel Solo to express them all, and hopefully giving you enough to try traveling on your own at least once.
It would take a very long post to express my love for solo traveling. I have collected instead just the top reasons why I love exploring the world on my own, hoping to entice you to try it (you may have noticed how enthusiastic I am about this form of traveling? 😄)
Solo travel forces you outside of your comfort zone…
Any fear you may have is challenged 100% more when solo travelling. Scared of meeting new people? You’ll find it easy to start conversations with strangers after just a few days solo travel. Scared of being alone? No matter how much you plan your trip around social activities, you’ll soon embrace your ‘you time’. Scared of having to take care of yourself on your own? Traveling solo means you have to find those legs and look after number one.
And all of these are good things. Everybody needs to grow in their lives and doing scary things, no matter how trite is the concept. It is absolutely vital to make us grow as human beings. Solo travel will expose you to a great deal of difficulties or fears that you may have been able to hide or avoid with the help of your family, friends and your home environment. None of that is present when you are traveling alone; your comfort zone is left back at home and you are in the open, facing your fears and insecurities. This is an awesome recipe to improve as a person and one of the biggest reasons why I love solo traveling.
You never know what to expect
Lots of different emotions happen when travelling solo. One moment you’re excited and feel powerful, the next a stranger asks you a question in a language you don’t speak and you feel useless. But then you manage to order your food in a foreign country and feel in control, only the next moment to feel bad again because you’re eating out alone and getting bored.
It’s a rollercoaster. Bad and good emotions mix up and it’s impossible to plan perfectly your day without bumping into some issues or unexpected situations that will have an influence on your emotions and make you reconsider your plans. You’re open to the outside world without any filters provided by friends or partners, and that’s what make you more susceptible to changes.
This is both a blessing, as positive emotions can be enhanced, and a damnation, as you will need to face the worst moments without any help. I love the constant change that travelling solo brings to a trip but admit that it may not be for everybody; not yet for anybody, at least.
You are free to do whatever you want
Not only you can avoid eating sushi because your partner wants or going to a, for you, boring museum if you don’t want. But you are also free in the sense that there’s nobody from home that knows you. You are traveling incognito, with yourself only to be the narrator of what happened during your trip. There is no-one to judge or check your decisions.
You’re truly free to do that hobby that you never had time to do at home, or try that weird experience that no friend of yours is interested in. You can do whatever you want in the ultimate sense of the phrase. Once in a while it’s an absolutely uplifting feeling.
You focus on what to do, not what to buy
That’s a tricky one and may not be true for you. Yet I discovered than when travelling solo I focus more on what I can do. For me this meant buying experiences, like museums or walking tours or cooking classes, instead of buying the millionth t-shirt or adding to that collection of fridge magnets.
For me at least, material things take a back seat in favour of doing things. And that’s something that I love, and would love if it reflected also when I’m at home. I guess this change has to do with having to carry everything you buy yourself and taking care of it all on your own. It just increases your worries, but trying new experiences doesn’t burden you with any of those problems. It may seem negligible but after a couple of souvenirs you start wondering if you truly need a third one. And in our consumeristic world, I feel that this is a positive attitude to have.
There’s no negotiating or compromising with travel partners
I put this later in this list but it’s actually the first reason why I love solo travel: there’s nobody else’s opinion you need to listen or respect, nobody’s plans to compromise for yours, nobody’s lifestyle to adapt to. It’s you and you only.
You want to go explore at 2am because you’re hungry? Fine, nobody will be asking you where you’re going. Want to take half a day relaxing only, no sightseeing at all? Cool, who is going to judge you? Do you need to wake up at 5am to take the first train to some far away destinations? Only you can make it, there’s nobody else to blame for delays.
It’s an awesomely liberating feeling being the only judge and master of your time and actions. It increases the sense of responsibility in you, makes you more mature and aware of your strengths and shortcomings.
Best of it all, nobody has to know what you actually did during the trip 🙂
Awareness
Once we drop the mundane worries of our lives, the constant attention our mobile phones require, and the social demands of home, there’s a lot of time and brainpower free to be more aware of what’s around us. I notice more things when I travel solo. I am more attentive and can focus better on the experiences I’m living, exactly because there’s nobody else that I need to worry or care about.
A sunset can be more vivid alone. A church architecture can show you more particulars when you have the calm and time to actually admire them. Food is more interesting when you travel solo because there’s nobody else that is chatting with you while you are eating.
It’s like an enhancement of the senses. The awareness I feel when traveling solo is like a blissful state, and one of the best reasons why I love solo travel.
Your self-confidence will improve
Pretty obviously, once you manage to have a trip on your own, you understand how to overcome adversity. With an increased awareness of your surroundings, you can live new and hopefully exciting experiences and navigate yourself around a foreign country. Your self-confidence can only be bolstered by your traveling on your own.
Any difficulty that you may face, when faced alone may seem harder, but once overcome it gives an incredibly strong boost to your confidence. It makes you feel at times like you’re at the top of your world, perfectly in control and powerful. Regardless of how long this feeling lasts, your self-confidence will be permanently improved after traveling solo.
If you have to take one single reason why I love solo traveling from this list, make it this: it’s remarkably important for your self-confidence.
If you’d love to travel solo but not sure if you’re ready for it, you can pick up Gianluca’s book: How To Travel Solo: Be Informed. Be Safe. Be Curious over at Amazon.
You can also read more by Gianluca, over at Papersounds, where he chats about travel, life and music. You can also read his Mauritius review right here…
