5 Reasons you need to Travel Alone atleast once in your Life!!!

5 Reasons you need to Travel Alone atleast once in your Life!!!

Travelling alone can be a life changing experience. The ride can be bumpy at times but these bumps can be taken as lessons learnt and it will completely change the way you live your Life. If you haven’t traveled alone yet, you are really missing out on a unique experience. Solo travel does come with its own perils – safety, loneliness and scams. But a little common sense and research can help you jump over these barriers. You will taste real independence when you travel alone. How much fun you are gonna have is all in your hands. You are the captain of the ship called Life…with no sailors on board. OK…that sounds a bit scary.

When you travel alone for the first time, you will be scared and you should be. If it scares you then it might be a good thing to try. I have never come across any Solo Traveler who has got negative views on Solo Travel. Their life is made up of good experiences and lessons learnt that can inspire anyone to pack their bags.

Now, Do you really need reasons to travel alone? Fine….here you go:

Making new friends along the way:

You will be more open talking to strangers when you travel alone. If you are an introvert like me, then you really need to travel alone. When you are alone you will have to interact with locals or fellow travelers to find your way. You don’t have the extrovert friend to do the talking this time. Its a Do or Die situation. But when you realize that all travelers are friendly, you will get over the awkwardness. They are all like you, away from home, trying to make friends. Solo travelers are all like minded and can easily bond together.

Self Discovery:

Cliche Alert!!!

But true….without a friend by your side to eat your ear away, you can immerse yourself into the surroundings. There is no one to please but you. It gives us the opportunity to break free from the daily life. Smell, See, Taste..get your senses working. There are lots of inspiring stories of Solo Travelers who found the purpose of their Life, people who found love, a long lost friend, a new home. You never know what you might experience. But at the same time, we should not expect that our trip will be all sunshine and rainbows. Expectations and Desires are the main reasons for human failures. Just know that your experience is going to be new and different.

Getting out of the Comfort Zone:

Probably the most important reason you need. All life we have been seeing the same people, eating the same food and following the same routine. Solo travel takes you places, exposes you to different languages, tests your senses and more importantly you realize that there is big world out there to be explored. You don’t have anyone to back you up. You will be shit scared at the beginning but by the end of the Solo trip, you will have transformed into a much more mature person. Maybe you won’t notice the change, but your people back home will.

Set your own Itinerary:

Talk about Independence. You get to choose where to stay, you can choose how much time to spend at the hilltop enjoying the view, you want to eat a lizard in China, eat it….if it is cooked, not the Bear Grylls way. Well it is upto you and you don’t have to do anything just because someone else wants to. Flexibility is one of the best part of solo travel.There is no one to preach you on how to enjoy your vacation.

Understand the difference between Loneliness and Solitude:

Difference between Loneliness and Solitude – Introverts can understand this better. I have seen people getting confused between these 2 words. Let me put it this way,

Loneliness – Depressing, related to people who can’t handle being alone.

Solitude – Elating, related to people who can totally rock being alone.

Still confused?….then you got to travel my friend. You will get a better idea when you do.

 

Just Pack Up and Leave.

 

(All images sourced from Google Images, as I have yet to take such awesome pictures)

 

 

40 thoughts on “5 Reasons you need to Travel Alone atleast once in your Life!!!

  1. I agree! Travelling alone truly makes you richer as a person. Good points and nice that you explained the difference between loneliness and solitude. I think it is important to know it and people can sometimes forget how to embrace being alone.

  2. I so agree with this.I have traveled in groups of know people as well as with stranger turned into friends and I prefer the latter any day.
    Traveling alone means you can move at your own pace, do what you want, socialize with strangers and make bonds. That’s what life is all about. Isn’t it?

  3. I agree with all points mentioned! I wrote a similar entry some time ago but speaking more towards the female audience. I learned so many things from solo traveling – super glad I started doing it 🙂

  4. I just don’t think I’m that great of a solo traveler! I’ve only been on about 3 trips by myself, but each time I’ve wanted to share my time with someone else!!! But, I’ve also never really gone out and introduced myself to others while traveling, it’s just a lot of “me” time. But you have some great suggestions on how to enjoy it!! Maybe I need to plan another Me-Trip soon to give it another try!

    1. Yes you really should. But it again depends on what kind of person you are. If you love your me-time more then you should go with it instead of forcing yourself to make friends.

  5. All of this is so true! I just got back from my first solo trip and you wouldn’t believe how many people tried to discourage me from going alone in the first place…. just to be super jealous of my adventures when I got back. Absolutely no regrets. I am sure I will travel with a buddy again in the future but for now I like riding solo. You learn so much about yourself and others.

  6. Such an inspiring article. I so always have wanted to plan one for myself but don’t get to gather that much of courage to convince my family to le’ me go….and as a respect i had to drop my plans but sooner or later i will definitely make it

    1. I do really hope that you make it. Even I had many insecurities before I went for my First Solo Trip. I kept it under wraps because I dint want anyone to spoil it.

  7. I absolutely love the ‘just pack up and leave’ comment at the end! OK then, I will LOL. Great post as I agree everyone should experience this. I did it for the first nizagara time earlier this year and now I can’t stop, I’m heading off to Seattle next week alone and I can’t wait. I’m sure I’ll meet new friends whilst out there and if not, I can enjoy the solitude. Thanks for sharing, I hope people take note!…

  8. I was just talking about this topic with friends the other day! I love time by myself and spent quite a lot of time solo travelling before having a family. These days, as a mum of three young kids, I *long* for the opportunity to travel alone, even for 24 hours!

  9. Getting out of your comfort zone is such an enlightening experience. You’re absolutely right that everyone needs to do it at least once in their life!

  10. All great reasons to travel solo! I agree with you–it’s something everyone should do prednisone at least once. I’ve only traveled by myself on a small scale with a couple shorter trips, but mostly because my husband and I usually travel together all the time for work. I think one of the best reasons for traveling alone is to get outside of your comfort zone–always a good way to do it!

  11. I couldn’t agree more. I unfortunately do tend to get lonely, maybe it’s the extrovert in me, but it’s still so important to work through that and I always end up meeting people to hang out with. This is definitely an experience everyone should have.

  12. Great post, Gokul! I’m a big advocate for solo travel. It’s such a big self-confidence booster, as well, that people should definitely do it at least once. Although I doubt that, after they’ve done it once, they won’t repeat it!

  13. Your post all the valid points about solo travel. I wrote a similar one long ago when people kept asking me (I still get them) about why I travel solo. I ask them back, why not? Not a cliche, being a solo traveler, I totally understand what you mean 🙂

    1. Thanks. Only once you go for a Solo Trip by yourself you will realize how valid these points are. They will not make any sense before that.

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