Travelling solo, tips on why you should travel alone

The best form of travel is Travelling solo, and I swear by it.

When travelling solo, other backpackers will approach you more easily and want to talk to you. This helps, because if you travel as a couple or with friends you’ll be building a bubble around yourself that will put people off talking to you.

Travelling solo is fun as you put more effort into meeting new people on your travels and you’ll be constantly making new contacts and creating new friendships.

Travelling solo will give you the chance to fully understand yourself as a person as you have to quickly adapt and learn in your new surroundings to survive. You’ll also be able to decide what you want to do and avoid doing a lot of things you have no interest in. If you want to go to a Manga convention on your visit to Kyoto you can! It’s your life, your journey and it’s your money, so everything is down to you to do whatever you want to do and that’s amazing.

You’ve overslept and missed your train? who cares! No one will know about it but you, just wake up and get the next one.

Freedom of travelling solo

(In Iceland travelling solo, great way of discovering yourself)

I have to admit, it will be lonely at points, but there is nothing stopping you from meeting and making new friends along the way at hostels. Sure, you might have a personality that puts you off from being social or being able to approach people, but forcing yourself into a corner where you have to meet people will help you to build confidence in yourself to do so.

(These are the first group of guys in a backpacker bar I ever walked up to on my first Gap Year in Canada)

I remember the first time walking up to a group of backpackers and introducing myself. It’s a gut wrenching feeling and it’s difficult, but after a few times getting into the swing of it, after a while it will feel normal. This is also a great life skill to be able to do, it will help you in every day life situations to build confidence and to open up conversations with new people.

Isn’t That why long term backpacking is so great?

Self development through exploration? Building yourself to pick up skills you can benefit from in the future?

Spending time with yourself on such big trips can be a real personal builder for your self-development and you learn about yourself very quickly. Travelling by yourself is a great independence builder.

Don’t be afraid to go alone, no one is telling you that you have to go with someone.

Travelling with a friend or group can cause a lot of trouble for your trip and really damage it in a way, as you have to constantly decide together what you want to do next and where you will stay.

You have to be very careful when deciding to travel with someone because you will be spending in some cases a whole year with them; do you really trust that person enough to travel with them? If you’re on your own you cut out a lot of this time wasting and will just naturally go with the flow and you can do what you truly want to do.

It can even stop you from going on the trip in the first place, by Travelling solo its just you, Get up, book that ticket and go, no one will stop you!

Solo vs Travelling with someone else

(two backpackers I met along my solo journey and joined them on a road trip, great way to meet new people!)

Travelling with a best friend or partner can help on a trip such as splitting hotel costs and cooking meals together. It can be more economical to travel with someone.

Sharing incredible experiences and challenges together can really test what you have together and can in some cases really push it to its limits.

This is why it’s so important that when you’re committing to travelling with someone else your 100% committed to that decision.

You will also start to miss your personal space as you will be in each others faces on a day to day basis, make sure you’re prepared for that commitment as for some this could start to become too much.

You can decide to split up some parts of the trip and arrange to meet up in a town/city a little along the route if you start to miss some alone time.

Travel solo for only part of your trip

(It’s ok to travel with someone as long as you can guarantee to stand the test of time, its not easy)

How about doing a mixture; maybe plan on doing a part of your trip with a friend and the rest on your own. For example, travelling around Asia and Australia on your own, but plan on meeting up with your friend in Europe, then at least you get to have a taste of independence and experience some travelling with your friend for part of the trip.

As you can see there is a lot to take in from above, but you must think about it in depth as its a big decision to make, everyone is different but considering different options is up to your personal choice.

If your still in doubt about solo travel, then why not try it at least once and test the water over a weekend trip? At least you tried it?

What do you think about travelling Solo? Would you do it? Have you done it? Would you recommend it? Post below your thoughts in the comment section below: