What is solo travel? And how it changed my life
Do you ever have a crazy urge go somewhere new, but you can’t manage to rope your family or friends into it? Trust me, I’ve been there before. So often, people have these epic, amazing dreams, but due to busy schedules, differing budgets, work, and the desire to not go alone, they never become a reality.
More and more across social media, however, we’re seeing something revolutionary called Solo Travel.
What is Solo Travel?
So what is Solo Travel? Solo travel is pretty self explanatory; it’s simply traveling completely by yourself! Saying goodbye to everyone at home and everything you’re familiar with, and going to see the world, alone.
Most people don’t consider solo travel for a myriad of reasons. Concerns over safety, loneliness, experiencing amazing things with no one to share them with (and omg - who’s going to take my instagram pictures?) keep people from actually ever seeing the world - all because people write off the possibility of solo travel.
And I get it! it can be extremely intimidating, especially if you’ve never done anything like it before.
While I never intended on being a solo traveler, I quickly realized that if I waited for someone to go with me, I would NEVER go.
And that, for me, was simply not an option.
How to start Solo Traveling
Okay. Now that we know what solo travel is, how exactly do you start?
Luckily for me, I was able to ease into solo travel. I started off by studying abroad, where I quickly made friends through my program and my school. Although I technically traveled to Spain by myself, I had some built in friends off the bat through orientation and program excursions.
I studied abroad twice, and then made the massive jump to moving abroad by myself in the middle of a global pandemic, which was just about the scariest thing I could’ve done. From there (the most challenging thing I’ve ever done in my life), my most recent solo backpacking trip was actually a breeze.
Even if you don’t have the luxury of having traveled before (even if you’ve never been on a plane before!) I promise, you can solo travel. You are capable of doing scary things - and taking the jump is the hardest part! Once you find the courage to pull the trigger, you’ll be amazed at just how easy solo travel is.
Why Solo Travel?
I can confidently say that solo travel has changed my life for the better. I left America as one person, and I came back as another - someone that I’m so much prouder to be, at that.
In an attempt to convince you to make the life-changing decision to embark on your first solo trip, I’ve compiled a list of the 6 reasons that I solo travel, as well as how it has changed me for the better.
1) Freedom!
First and foremost, solo travel has given me freedom. Releasing myself from the perspective that I can only plan trips and tic off bucket list items if I have people to do them with me has been so impactful.
Imagine if I still lived by the mindset that says to travel, you have to plan trips with your friends and family. I wouldn’t have explored Angkor Wat (twice!); I wouldn’t have gotten SCUBA certified in Thailand. I wouldn’t have spent a year teaching the cutest kids on the planet in South Korea, and I wouldn’t have made friends in every corner of the world.
I’m currently planning on visiting my next 6 countries with absolutely 0 stress - because it’s just me! No one else to convince to book the trip, no one else’s schedule and budget to work around. And I’m SO okay with that.
2) No Compromises!
Going off of the freedom point, I love that when I’m solo traveling, I make absolutely 0 compromises. If I spend one day in a location and hate it, I simply pick up and leave. On the flip side, if I feel at home in a new city, I may just extend my time there and spend 10 days in one place instead of the original 3 I planned.
If you don’t want to do a hike, no one’s dragging you up a mountain. If you want to see all the sights instead of lounging on a beach, you can just knock them out. If you want to eat at the same restaurant three nights in a row, there’s no one to stop you! You don’t have to convince anyone to visit all the museums (or you don’t have anyone forcing you to go to museums you don’t want to go to!)
Okay, I’ll stop. You get my point.
There’s no arguing, no compromising, and you get to do EXACTLY what you want to do. My type A self loves that.
3) You’ll make so many friends
Okay - moving on into things that solo travel has taught me - the first being that your confidence will skyrocket. It will do this a few different ways.
The first way is through making friends. Spoiler alert, you will make SO many more friends through solo travel than if you got a group of friends together for a trip.
If you know people you’re traveling with, it’s so much easier to stay by their side, to not feel the need to meet people at the hostel, to eat meals with them and plan excursions with them, etc. When you travel alone, you’re almost forced to branch out.
Sometimes this is hard or uncomfortable in the moment, but after the initial 20 seconds of bravery where you force your legs to walk over to a new group of people and say hi, it is SO rewarding. I have friends in every corner of the globe because I forced myself to make friends when I was a solo traveler.
And one thing to note about Solo Traveling, especially if you’ve decided to do an extended trip or backpacking route - is that you’re only ever alone for those first few hours or days. Friends come so easily - and chances are that most people are headed in the same direction as you.
For instance, I arrived alone in Hanoi after a month and a half of traveling through Bali, Thailand, and Laos, and I ran into 18 people I knew in my first day there. We were all on the same route, and even though we all did our own thing and arrived in Hanoi whenever we felt like, it was so nice to realize that I’ve made an entire group of friends and now we’re just boppin' around Vietnam all together.
Solo travel is magic, and I will never forget anyone I met along the way.
4) Problem solving and decision making
The second way your confidence will grow is in realizing that you are capable of doing hard things by yourself.
Before solo traveling, I relied on others for so many things. The scariest part of solo traveling for me in particular was the need to make decisions on your own. I always wanted to have someone to bounce ideas off of, and as someone who can barely decide which fast-food restaurant to eat at, the decisions that come with traveling scared me.
How was I going to decide what activities to splurge on? How the HECK am I supposed to get myself from one country to the other when it involves two ferries, an overnight bus, and a motorcycle taxi? You know that moment when you’re in an airport trying to figure out how to get to your hotel and you and your bestie are working overtime googling and calling Ubers and downloading apps? And your ATM card isn’t working so she takes out money for you and you just venmo her?
Ladies and gentlemen - I was on my own. And I was terrified.
After three months of solo traveling, 10 new airports, 5 overnight buses, 5 countries, and over 45 new hostels, I can confidently say that everything is figure-out-able, and that you are CAPABLE.
At the end of the day, we just do what needs to be done! It’s not always enjoyable (and you can read about some of my travel disasters HERE, including transit days from hell and missing the last possible bus and asking a stranger to driver me 3 hours to the Laos border), but we always make it through.
It’s scary at first, but after a few days you really get the hang of things and learn to roll with the punches. Because of my solo travel experiences, my decision making abilities have skyrocketed. I’m comfortable taking charge in challenging situations, and I know that even when I’m alone with no one to rely on, that I’ll be okay.
And trust me: if I can do it, you ABSOLUTELY can do it.
5) Experiences over things
Next, solo travel has also taught me to not put such a high level of importance on material things.
When you’re solo traveling, most of us really just have a small backpack with our clothes and that’s it. We don’t have room to shop for souvenirs or gifts to take back home; all we have are our memories of the incredible things we experienced.
When you’re alone and you see something incredible, your first thought isn’t to turn to your friends and say, “Can someone take a picture of me?” - like it usually is.
While I did become an expert at self timer pictures while traveling by myself, there were so many moments where I simply couldn’t be bothered, and instead chose to soak up the spectacular views and reflect on my day as opposed to worrying about getting a good picture for social media.
Solo traveling teaches you the value in true, authentic experiences, connecting with people, creating amazing memories, and really learning to value experiences over things.
6) Seeing things from a new perspective
Going off of that: through traveling from country to country and through all sorts of different cultures, solo traveling (and even traveling in general!) just shows you how happy people can be when they have so little. It shows how happy YOU can be when you’re dirty, sleep deprived, and sore from carrying a backpack. There is so much more to this life than material things and big-shot jobs.
The benefit here that solo travel can give you - that traveling with friends and family cannot, however - is a total disconnect from home and comfort. You reflect more, think deeper, and are forced to sit with unfamiliar, maybe uncomfortable scenarios, with no one to giggle with, talk to after, or make comparisons with.
It helps you see beauty in everything that’s different from you, and that is such an important perspective to have.
That’s it! thats how Solo traveling changed my life for the better.
I hope that after reading this post that you understand a little better what solo travel is and why so many people choose to do it.
I am forever grateful that I summoned up the courage take the initial, terrifying leap, because now I feel as though I am capable of anything. I’m planning my next trip and all I feel is excitement instead of nerves, because I know just how capable I am and that everything will be okay.
I have confidence that I’ll be able to tic everything off of my bucket list because I’m not wasting time waiting for other people! If I didn’t know that I could do things on my own, the stress I would feel over trying to get people to book the flights and take the time off with me, over the two weeks per year of corporate vacation time, over the fear of not seeing the world, would be crippling.
Solo traveling is the best thing I’ve ever done for myself, and I can’t wait to get back out there.
