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Have you ever thought about traveling solo? Well, you should! In fact, everyone should travel solo at least once in their life! There are many reasons to travel solo, even though many don’t do it.
Solo travel is understandably daunting, scary, and almost unfathomable to imagine for some, especially to an introvert. However, there are numerous benefits to solo travel, and the advantages of traveling alone easily outweigh the fears of doing it—like most things in life.
Most people travel with friends, a partner, or family, so traveling solo can seem overwhelming and so different from other trips you’ve taken. However, there are plenty of reasons to travel solo at least once in your life, no matter how old you are.
We’re going to highlight 10 reasons to travel solo at some point in your life to encourage you to do it if you haven’t already!
1. Learn a Lot About Yourself
The absolute number one reason to travel solo is to learn about yourself!
When you are forced to be alone and rely solely on yourself, it is necessary to trust yourself, adapt, and overcome in every situation that presents itself to you. This isn’t always easy, but it’s what happens when you are traveling. The biggest difference when traveling solo is that you are alone and cannot rely on your friends or others to make crucial decisions.
In adapting to new situations, you learn a lot about yourself. You learn to trust yourself and that you can, in fact, do things on your own.
Being alone is awkward, difficult, and uncomfortable. Doing this in an unknown place is even more challenging, which is why traveling solo forces you to get out of your comfort zone.
Traveling, in general, forces people out of their comfort zones, but traveling alone will really force you out of your comfort zone. You will learn that everything will be okay, and you will learn that being uncomfortable is okay and healthy.
Knowing that you can accomplish things on your own in a new place will help make you aware of how truly awesome you are! You will learn that you are an amazing person who is capable of things beyond what you believe you can do.
Ready to book your trip and travel solo now? Well, we still have 9 more reasons to travel solo at least once in your life!
2. Fun!
Travel is fun, so why would traveling solo not be?
If you are reading this, it’s assumed that you love to travel, or at least are very interested in traveling. It’s a travel blog after all!
Travel, whether with a group or alone, is fun. You get to experience new places, learn a new language and culture, and try delicious food! This is all the same when you are traveling solo!
You do not have to sacrifice all the benefits of travel just because you are traveling solo. In fact, sometimes you get to enjoy them more because you aren’t compromising based on what other people you are with want to do.
3. It’s Therapeutic
No one has the picture perfect life that they often portray on social media. People go through so many things, yet are resilient. Travel can be a way to help escape those things and give the mind a place to rest for a while.
We have both been in very toxic relationships and used solo travel to help us clear our minds, escape the situation, and be happier.
Becca moved to Puerto Rico for a summer and did a Workaway. Traveling solo helped her move on from a toxic relationship and grow as an individual, while learning more about herself in becoming an independent woman.
Mike moved to Logroño, Spain for two years and taught English abroad. While moving abroad and traveling solo, he learned that he could succeed in new situations and create a new life for himself..
We both have firsthand experience with knowing that solo travel is very therapeutic and believe that it is one of the best ways to get over a toxic relationship because you truly have to immerse yourself in the moment in order to get around, meet people, and enjoy your solo travel. By immersing yourself in the moment, you begin to enjoy the moment and forget the thoughts and emotions of the past.
Obviously, those thoughts will pop up from time to time, but solo travel is a great escape for you to move on from past relationships.
Traveling solo can also be a fantastic way to clear your mind when you leave a toxic job, have a challenging life experience, or just need to be away from the present.
4. Meet More People From All Over the World
When you travel solo, you will have to talk to people. You can’t rely on the one outgoing person in your friend group to do all the talking because you’ll be by yourself!
Introverts are already feeling uncomfortable just reading that last sentence, but it will be fine. Relax. You can do it!
People, and travelers in particular, are welcoming and happy to meet other people. It’s also way easier to meet people, either locals or travelers, when traveling solo.
If you are staying at a hostel, people generally want to meet other travelers and get to know you. You can always talk about where you are from, where you are coming from, or where you are traveling to next as an ice breaker. This topic might get old if your are traveling long-term, but it makes for an easy opening to a conversation.
Take advantage of this benefit of traveling solo and talk to people. You can always learn more and make yourself a better person by interacting and talking with people from around the world.
5. Learn a New Language
While you are more likely to talk to people from around the world when traveling solo, you are also more likely to learn a new language—or at least a little bit of a new language.
Since you will be talking to people from all over the world, whether at a hostel or locals, you’ll probably run into someone who doesn’t speak your first language. Having to communicate between two languages can be a challenge, but it can be fun too! Maybe they will want to learn English, and you will want to learn their language.
Doing a language exchange where the conversation is 50% in one language and 50% in another is one of the best ways to learn a new language. Plus, you will be learning so much more about local culture, perspectives, and have a more authentic travel experience.
Now, if you are traveling solo for one week, you won’t become fluent in a language in that amount of time, but it can be fun to learn phrases in a new language!
6. Have a More Authentic Travel Experience
This has been touched on with other reasons to travel solo, but being able to have a more authentic travel experience fits hand-in-hand with traveling alone.
Since you are traveling solo, you can more easily interact with locals, have cultural experiences that aren’t available to travel groups, and do the things you want to do.
Traveling in group, while fun, can be an insular experience where you don’t really interact with anyone else. On the other hand, traveling solo can lead to meeting locals, having deep conversations, and even getting invited to local events, cultural events, or simply a dinner that you wouldn’t get invited to with a group of people.
Not only is it easier for you to talk to others when traveling solo, but you are more approachable for locals and others when traveling alone.
While solo travel is one of the best ways to guarantee having an authentic travel experience, check out these other ways to have a more authentic travel experience.
7. Do What You Want
If you travel solo, you create the itinerary. You decide where to eat, what to do, where to stay, and what to see.
You don’t have to change what you want to do because your travel group wants to do something else. We all know that awkward feeling when your group wants to do different things and you might miss out on something you want to do.
If you are traveling alone, you pick where you go and what you do. If you want to change your itinerary at the last minute, go for it! No one is going to disagree or argue with you about it.
By creating your own travel itinerary, you will get to see everything you want and go everywhere you want to. You travel to see and experience things, so why not see and do what you want? That’s why this is one of the top reasons to travel solo.
8. Be Yourself
When you travel solo, you are able to reinvent yourself. No one on the road knows who you are, so you can be who you want. This might sound strange, but people on the road don’t know your past. They don’t know embarrassing things about you. They don’t know what bothers you or what you like. You can be you, or someone else!
Are you the quiet one in your family or friend group at home? You can be outgoing when traveling solo because no one expects you to be a certain way. No one is going to question you for who you are.
If your solo travel takes you from city to city, you can reinvent yourself and be a new you in every place to travel to!
By the end of your trip, you might even find a “new you,” someone who truly is you because you can be yourself and by doing this, find the true you. You are special. You are unique, and you should feel comfortable being you.
Oftentimes, the real you gets lost in the day-to-day hustle and stress of life. We change and adapt to whatever we are around, and if we are in a toxic environment—work, relationship, or other—we often change who we are and lose ourselves. Traveling solo will help you find who you are because you can finally be comfortable being you.
9. Boost Your Confidence
Solo travel will boost your confidence. You will learn that you can, in fact, travel on your own, have fun, and be comfortable by yourself. This will boost your confidence.
Most people don’t think that they can travel alone. They’re used to traveling with others, so traveling solo seems overwhelming. However, you can do it!
Yes, eating at a restaurant, exploring a neighborhood, going to a museum, or drinking at a bar by yourself is an odd experience for most, but it’s an experience that everyone should have. It’s awkward. There’s no getting around that. But knowing that you can do it and be okay is what’s important.
By being outside of your comfort zone and realizing that you’ll be okay and survive, you will grow as a person, and it will boost your confidence because you will know you can do it!
10. No Regrets
The last reason to travel solo is one of the most important. You want to travel, so what are you waiting for?
Your friends to all align their vacation time?
Everyone to agree on a destination?
You to finally click the ‘Buy’ button on that flight?
What’s holding you back?
There will always be excuses not to do something you want, but if you want to do it, do it! If you want to travel but others don’t want to come with you, go by yourself! You will probably have a better time anyways.
If you are nervous to travel solo, just book the trip and go! You will not regret it. We promise.
We are only on this earth for a short amount of time, and you don’t want to spend it toiling around in a toxic relationship, unhealthy work environment, or simply in a bad headspace. By traveling solo, you will be able to escape all of these situations and move on.
Ask anyone who has traveled if they regret it. The answer will probably be a resounding No!
Take advantage of the time you have being able to travel and do it. Don’t wait for the exact perfect time or others to organize their schedules. Just go! Take short trips, long trips, live and work abroad, or do whatever you want. That’s the beauty of solo travel. You can travel how you want!
Traveling solo is something everyone should do at least once in their lives for all these reasons and more!
If you are debating traveling solo and need help planning your trip, figuring out where to go to help you escape whatever you are dealing with in your life, we are here to help you! We offer Travel Planning Services where we will work with you to find the best travel destination and activities for wherever you are at in life.
