5 reasons to travel solo – why I travel alone?
You might have noticed that most of my trips around the world are solo trips. Yes, especially in my first years of traveling I would travel solo all the time. Do you ask why? I would like to explain to you why I’ve been doing mostly solo trips. Below you can find 5 reasons to travel solo. Hope you get inspired and start planning your first solo trip, if you have been scared until now.
5 reasons to travel solo
1. No need to wait for others to join you
To be honest, I started traveling solo not because I wanted to but because everyone else would always just make excuses so they could not join me. Or they did not have time, or money, or something else. If I had to wait for another person to join me, most probably I’d be still waiting. As one of my biggest dreams was to travel around the world, one day I decided to stop waiting for others to join me and simply bought a ticket to Mexico. Alone.
Since then I spent 5 years mostly traveling solo and it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. After those 5 years, let’s say my first 5 years of travel blogging, some friends started to join me on some trips, then also my parents, my best friends, and from time to time I even travel with other travel bloggers (mostly on press trips). However, many of my trips are always just me, mysef and I :D
TIP: Want to know more about my lifestyle? Find out the truth about hard life of travel bloggers.
2. Learn more about yourself
When I think about it, nothing has ever thought me about myself as much as solo traveling has. When it’s just me there, I have to learn to be strong, to be brave, to become a better person, to overcome my fears, to count only on myself. Solo female trips make me learn more about who I really am when no one is watching. Traveling makes me be more patient, more flexible, more adaptable to the unknown… to go with the flow.
3. Learn more about life in general
Travel is the best teacher.
If you travel solo, you have more time and energy to pay more attention to what’s going on around you … life of both locals and other travelers. For me personally, solo travel gives me a chance to learn more about local life and life in general. When on my own, I tend to be more observant and notice a lot of details I might not spot if always spending time with others.
4. Easier to make friends
When you are alone, it’s easier for others to approach you. They are curious to find out why you are traveling solo. When I think about my past trips, I always made more friends when I was alone than with another person, or even in a group. When you are with people you know, you don’t really feel like talking to strangers that much. I mean unless you want to hook up with someone or learn more about the local life. I can honestly say that I’ve made a lot more friends on my first years of traveling when I was alone, than in the recent years of traveling with someone else.
5. No compromise
Solo travel has another advantage – you don’t have to make compromises. And that’s a good thing, I believe! You can wake up when you want to, go to sleep when you are tired, visit the places you long to visit and spend there as much time as you’d like to.
For example for me, sharing a room with someone else is usually a nightmare. I cannot stand snoring and even the slightest noise wakes me up. I also don’t drink alcohol so traveling with people who want to party all night and then sleep in until late morning is not something I am willing to tolerate. And even less when traveling as I want to see as much as possible in each destination. And then, usually in the evening and at night I work on my blog and social media channels so for me it’s more logical to travel solo than to spend time chatting with others instead of getting work done.
Speaking of my weird travel habits, I am vegan, mostly on raw vegan diet, and I also do a lot of intermittent fasting when I skip breakfast. That being said, I think you understand that it’s not very easy to travel with me as most people eat a lot more often than I do. Plus, I usually eat at special restaurants or markets where I can get vegan meals and not everyone is willing to go there with me.
Travel solo makes you do what you and only you want to do. No compromise.
Would you dare to travel solo? Or are you already traveling? Share your story in the comments below :)
Jeje
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I like to travel alone also.
But it is also nice to share beauties of the world with someone else,even if we have to admit some compromises in this case ?
Thanks for your nice blog !
Crazy Sexy Fun Traveler
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True, with other people it’s always about compromises :)
David
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I travel solo for similar reasons, although with a compatible companion is equally rewarding. Well written as usual.
Crazy Sexy Fun Traveler
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Thanks David ;) I guess most of us solo travelers travel alone for similar reasons :)
Charlie
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To me it’s more fun when traveling with buddies. Despite the fact that we sometimes have to make some small compromises but that doubles doubles the fun.
Crazy Sexy Fun Traveler
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Sure, it can be more fun to travel with friends :) But I travel 80% more than most of my friends so waiting for them to join me would not work for me ;D
Chuck
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Also prefer to travel alone, allows me to do what I want to do when I want to do it and not live on someone else’s schedule.
Crazy Sexy Fun Traveler
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I agree, it’s a lot more convenient to travel solo :)
Jobi
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I also travel solo, I like to have all the time to myself I can stay late or leave early.
Crazy Sexy Fun Traveler
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It makes sense, right? No compromises :)