Traveling alone can sound daunting, especially to a young woman. I thought this as well, but throughout my experience, I learned that there are positives and negatives.
I studied abroad in Florence, Italy this past summer and had time remaining in my 90 days abroad after I finished classes. A U.S. citizen can stay in the Schengen Zone for 90 days consecutively without a visa. I did not have a visa, so I needed to leave before that 90 days. At this point, I had used 83 days. None of the friends I had made abroad were available to go on a week-long trip. They either had other plans or were just going home before their regular semester started at their home universities. One of my best friends went on a three-week backpacking trip through Europe alone just a few weeks prior to my unplanned trip. I asked for her advice and she gave me the reassurance and confidence to embark on a solo journey. During a seven-day period, I visited Zurich and Interlaken, Switzerland, Cassis and Marseille, France, and then Barcelona and Madrid, Spain to use up my remaining days. This was a jam-packed week of transferring from train to train and checking into questionable hostels.
There were many pros to traveling alone and reasons why I would recommend it to anyone. While exploring these many cities, I realized I was seeing, hearing, and tasting many things I normally wouldn’t. Sometimes when you are around others, it can be hard to suggest branching out of the predetermined comfort zone. This is especially prevalent when abroad because you are usually with people you only met weeks prior. Similarly, when you’re alone, you can do anything on any timetable. I found it refreshing that I could stop and eat a meal whenever I was hungry and I could go and nap in my hostel whenever I wanted. Even if you are with people you love, it can be hard to make everyone happy. When you are solo, you can choose activities or sights to see that you will enjoy and that is all you have to worry about. In Barcelona, I really wanted to see this mural but it was a 40-minute subway ride away. Since I didn’t have to please anybody else I was able to make this trek to see the “El Món Neix En Cada Besada” (The World Is Born In Every Kiss).
Problems and mistakes are inevitable while traveling. These types of situations can be very tense and stressful. It can be hard when you are traveling with others and these problems occur; someone is always to blame or someone is always more affected than others. When you encounter these experiences alone, you don’t have to worry about most outside factors. I traveled through Italy for a week with my family of seven. Finding a table at a restaurant or getting tickets to a museum was proven very difficult for a big group. When I was alone, there was never a wait for a table and there were always tickets available. This experience was empowering and taught me many lessons about independence, responsibility, mindfulness, and complex emotions that I am still deciphering.
As you could guess, there are also cons to traveling alone, especially as a young woman in today’s world. I have never experienced catcalling like I did in Western Europe. You see the movies about a woman walking down the street when a man walks by and whistles at her. I had only experienced this in the United States a handful of times, but there were only a few days that went by during my time in Europe that I didn’t receive a sly comment about my looks or a kissing sound from a scooter whizzing by. This is a safety issue because these were older men and I was a young woman in an unfamiliar city where I didn’t speak the language. I had to take precautions during my travels. When I was alone, I never went out when it was dark. As soon as the sun set, I was back at the hostel to read my comfort book until my eyes got heavy. This was honestly kind of nice because I was going to bed so early that I was able to wake up early to seize the day a lot more easily than if I was going to bed at my regular hours. I also had to continue paying extra money so that my phone worked without Wi-Fi. This was so that if I was in a situation I could call for help without having to go into the nearest cafe and ask for their Wi-Fi password. Parts of traveling alone can get lonely. I am an introverted extrovert, so I was not interested in reaching out and making friends in each new city. This led to me being alone for an entire week straight. I was watching the British show “Sex Education” during this time and I am not even joking when I say the voice in my head had a British accent because of the lack of human interaction I was having. Additionally, some activities are more fun with people. A fun aspect for American students studying abroad is that they are legal to drink there before they are legal in the U.S. I was 20 years old when I went, so this was the case for me. I wasn’t able to go out on the town or anything along those lines when I was alone.
Aside from partying, in Madrid, I rented a paddle boat and went around a pond in the beautiful Parque del Buen Retiro. This was one of the activities that might have been even more special if I were sharing it with a friend. Some parts of traveling alone can be awkward as well. I ate most meals alone at a restaurant. While this has the potential to be weird, I found it calming and now I can take that confidence and use it in my everyday life. Lastly, as I stated before, problems come up while traveling, and when you are alone it is all up to you to solve these problems. This can be very upsetting and it can be hard to ask for help, especially in a place without English speakers. When I was in Switzerland I tried articulating that I was a vegetarian when I was ordering at a restaurant called “Muggenbühl” and the waiter could not understand what I was saying. This was completely my fault because I was in their country and speaking my language but I was stuck at that moment. It didn’t help that my phone didn’t have service so I didn’t even have the luxury of Google Translate.
I hope that my experiences and insights will encourage others to try out traveling solo. If you take the precautions necessary and are aware of the positives and negatives of this journey, it’s a life-changing experience.