Ten reasons to travel alone
I love travelling. Period. However, I’ve always been rather hesitant about travelling alone. It’s probably got to do with the fact that I’ve never liked eating alone. So, when I embarked on my solo five-month round-the-world trip last year, I was terribly excited but I was also a bit doubtful if I would enjoy it. I’ve travelled alone before but never for such a lengthy amount of time.
I can tell you this now: within the first week, those doubts had evaporated into thin air! I had the best time of my life: I learned a slew of new things about myself, about our world and its people and about being a more open-minded, balanced and positive individual. Since that trip, I’ve become a solo traveller ‘convert’. Based on my own experiences, I can highly recommend travelling alone. To help convince the ‘doubtful’, I’ve compiled a short list below of reasons why one should travel alone.
- You get to do your own thing at your own leisure
- You’ll have more time (and less distractions) to reflect on your life (past, present and future)
- It’s a great confidence builder
- You’ll meet a lot more people
- You’ll learn to depend more on yourself
- It teaches you to become a better planner (if you weren’t one already)
- You’ll be more susceptible to new ideas and/or perspectives
- You’ll learn to better appreciate your own talents and skills
- You’ll learn to become a better decision-maker
- You might learn something new about yourself or discover a talent you never thought you had!
The list above is by no means exhaustive. If you would like to read more about travelling alone, please check out ‘Ten things to do when you travel alone’ on this blog or ‘Fear of Going Solo’ on the Kaleidoscopic Wandering blog. If you’ve travelled alone or if you’re thinking about it, I would be very interested to know your thoughts on this subject. Please share them by leaving a comment.
I like a lot to travel alone, but I’m in no way good at planning, administrating the money and punctual (a big reason why I travel alone). But for it’s not a negative thing, it adds adventure to my trips!
Absolutely true. I like mixing it up – going on my own solo trips but also planning trips with friends and/or family, and the occasional group tour.
Thanks for your comment Kirsten.
Cheers,
Keith
I definitely agree that traveling alone has many perks and is almost always a good idea!! It’s my preferred method of travel. Certainly on an RTW especially.
That being said – I do think there is value is traveling with one or more persons depending on the location and type of trip. Just for instance, going alone to a romantic destination can be less enjoyable than when you go with someone you are romantically involved with (since you can’t always depend on meeting someone, though that can be fun if it does happen). Also, I’ve had some very fun “girl weekends” in the past with my friends from high school & college and those weekends turned out to be some of the best memories I’ve ever made even if they were sometimes less spontaneous than a solo trip would have been.
Hi Maud,
Thank you for your comment. I wish you all the best and lots of fun with your trip to Aussieland. You’ll love it and you’re right, the people you meet will inspire you in many ways. Keep an open mind and experience the trip as it is (and improvise along the way). It’ll be brilliant!
Best regards,
Keith
inspiring words there…hav been tinking about it this last two years and finally booked my tickets today. im heading to oz for a year, flying into sydney and hav no plans from there…the word is my oyster. i will be travelling alone whic is absolutely terrifying but im determined. itl def build my confidence and the thing im lookin forward to most is all the cool people il meet along the way….
You’re absolutely right! The only way to find out is to give it a go. Good luck!
Best regards,
Keith
Hi Keith,
I’ve been reading your blog for a few months now and chanced upon this old post of urs… travelling alone has been a debate i haven’t been able to win yet.
nice idea to list the benefits. guess, no way to conquer the fear but to do just do it for the first time!
I travel solo whenever I can – and do share your philosophy. I’m not unsociable at all, and often team up with other travelers along the way for a stretch, but the freedom of not quite knowing where I’m going next or what I’ll be doing or whom I’ll be meeting is for me a burst of energy.
Great article velvet! Thanks.
Hi Alex,
Thank you for your comment. I like both modes too but I’m quite picky about who I travel with… for pretty obvious reasons!
Cheers,
Keith
Great article; your ten reasons are dead on. I’ve come to appreciate solo travel — both the challenges and the rewards — doing some solo trips on my own here in India. In the end though, while I appreciate both modes, I tend to fall back to traveling with friends. If nothing else, they’re good for games of hearts to pass the time on long train trips! Feel free to follow along on my travels: http://twitter.com/budizzle
Thanks Gwen! I never quite liked eating alone… until I went on a five month solo trip last year. You could call me a solo ‘convert’!
I wrote an article for the Solo Traveler blog about eating alone.
Cheers,
Keith
Hi Keith – I too love to travel solo, although I don’t get to do it too often. I enjoy the solitude, even when I’m feeling lonely. I like not having to share a bathroom with anyone else. And I like to dine alone. I don’t bring a book or other materials to distract me. I just enjoy watching others, thinking about life and deciding what’s next as I work my way through a meal.
It is quite funny to see how other people react to a woman traveling alone; doubly so for the dining experience. Many can’t tolerate it and insist on inviting me to join them. I’ll often do that (dining with others), although I always insist on travel solo when I start off that way.
Gwen McCauley
http://www.ouicoach.com
http://www.twitter.com/gwenmccauley
My best travel buddy is my boyfriend, for sure, he’s always willing to slow down a little bit the walking if I’m tired or need to stop for a nice lunch or dinner. But maybe traveling alone to USA will be great, I’ve always wanted to do this.
I love your post, Keith! Terima kasih!
Thanks Wil! Great thing about travelling alone: you have the choice to either do something on your own or with your new-found mates.
Cheers,
Keith
Hi Laura,
Thanks for the beautiful compliment. It’s inspiring to know that someone finds my site inspiring!
Best regards,
Keith
Whenever I start out traveling alone I find that I never go through the whole of my trip that way. Usually you come across other people to travel with (if you want to).
Lovely, inspiring site.
Thanks for the lift today. LMc.
Hi Alisa,
Thanks for your comment. That Australia/NZ trip must’ve been amazing. Have a great time in London!
Cheers,
Keith
I travelled alone around Australia and New Zealand for 7 months. It was spectacular! I went where I wanted to go when I wanted to go. I was also working, so I didn’t have to worry about a travel partner finding a job in the same city/town I decided to work in. I’m planning a short trip to London this spring alone!
Hi Jen,
Check out this article to prepare yourself: http://tinyurl.com/c82ogr
It’s never too early to start!
Best regards,
Keith
I agree with all your points! Travelling solo is an experience everyone should have! I will surely encourage my daughter to it for herself (she’s only 2 y.o.–hahaha!).
Hi Gray,
Yes, I find that solo travel does build planning skills. The fact that you’re on your own means there’s no else to do it for you (oh, some travellers I know have their own private concierge but that spoils all the fun, I find). For my trip, I had to continuously plan where I was going to next, how I was going to get there, plan my budget, plan excursions and their sequence, etc… It was great fun and it taught me things like working with a budget, time-management and the importance of being punctual (or else you’d miss your bus/flight!). It takes great planning to do all that and if you don’t have the skills, you’ll certainly learn them very quickly!
Best regards,
Keith
Good post! I’m a fan of solo travel, too. The first couple of times you eat alone, it feels a bit weird, but then you learn some strategies, and I don’t think twice about it any more. You know, because I’ve always been very organized and a good planner, it’s never occurred to me that solo travel builds that skill. There’s something new I learned today. Thanks!
Hi Rich, thanks for your comment. I used to fret eating alone but when I went on that five-month trip, I seldom had to eat alone! I was meeting new people every day. I actually started to enjoy eating alone as a nice change from eating with others. Funny how that works out.
Cheers,
Keith
Glad you’ve become a solo convert. I enjoy travelling with friends, but they can’t always be relied upon to join me on a last-minute cheap jaunt to some obscure European city.
You do have a different experience travelling solo. Much easier to make friends. I’m sure I end up drinking more though…
Thanks for posting this! I am thinking about traveling alone for the first time this fall.