With Spring Break around the corner, a lot of you may be left with no exciting plans, but filled with dreams about trips to warm faraway places— I know I am. A problem you might be facing is not having anyone to go away with last minute. However, just because you don’t have a travel companion doesn’t mean you can’t travel. In fact, some of my best traveling experiences have been on my own and here’s why.
You Can Do Exactly What You Want
One of my least favorite things about traveling with others is you have to compromise some of your travel plans to fit your friends’ goals and schedules. Sometimes you can be dragged to things you really don’t care about and feel like you’re wasting time and money. Same goes for restaurant choices— we’ve all had the drawn out back and forth conversation about dinner plans hundreds of times. Plus, don’t even get me started on daily wake up and bedtimes— it’s hard to feel like you’re fully enjoying your trip if your friends are planning to sleep in and you’re ready to go at 10 a.m.! When you’re alone, the only person whose opinions matter are yours. You end up having way more time to explore all the cool places you pinned on Pinterest, especially since you’ll end up gaining extra time from the lack of arguments with your friends about the plan of the day!
You Learn a Lot About Yourself
Sometimes it’s hard to listen to your inner voice when you’re surrounded by others. What you want and what you like can be drowned out by the voices of those around you. When you travel alone, the only person you have to listen to is yourself. You can only get to know yourself the way you get to know others— by spending time with them and truly listening. Sometimes, your true likes and dislikes will come out when you have a chance to explore them without anyone else’s thoughts interfering.
You Gain Independence
It’s super easy to rely on everyone else to solve your problems. Whenever something’s wrong, I turn to my closest friends for advice and help. However, when you’re traveling alone and everyone is hundreds of miles away, you have to do it yourself. You learn to figure out how to solve problems on your own and make decisions on your own. I once missed my connecting bus and ended up stranded alone in another state at 2 in the morning. If I had been with someone else, I most likely would have let someone else handle it. Instead, I dealt with it myself and felt pretty proud. The skills you gain from traveling alone are skills you can’t gain with the comfort of being with a group.
You Get to Meet New People
When traveling with a group, there’s no pressure to talk to anyone new or meet new people—you have your closest friends to talk to! However, when traveling alone, it’s much more likely you’ll spark up a conversation with the person sitting next to you at dinner or with the people on your tour. This can give you a lot of new cultural experiences, as you get to talk to both the locals and learn about them,as well as travelers from other places. In many countries, there are places made just for travelers to meet others, such as the Traveler’s Bar in Barcelona.
You’ll Have a Ton of Fun
Finally, traveling alone makes you much more open to new opportunities and spontaneity. You’ll find yourself doing things you never thought you would. You’re much more likely to do crazy, far out things when you’re not worried about how the people around you will react to them.