I absolutely love traveling and seeing new places. I have traveled mostly with my family, and several times with friends. I had seen a bunch of articles and blogs about other people who have traveled solo and it was the most amazing experience they had ever had. I knew that it was something that I always wanted to do but never knew when I would be able to do it.
I spent my spring break on a solo trip to Iceland. I can say that it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life and I absolutely want to do it again. Honestly, I planned this trip somewhat on an impulse buy during finals week when I was sleep-deprived and flights happened to drop $200. I called my parents to tell them and that was it. I packed up in a backpack and a smaller daypack and went off on my next adventure.
What I have noticed about traveling solo is that everyone always talks about the good, amazing, positive things that happen but fail to mention the negatives, so I have laid out the good, the bad and the ugly of traveling solo.
Pros
Do things at your own pace.
I was dropped off at the check-in counter at DIA and was completely on my own until I was picked back up at the airport after customs. I have a lot of experience getting through airports and checking into hotels and all that, so I was more focused on getting that done than being alone. It was nice to be able to take my time to get all of that done and pick what I wanted to do. The only thing that I had planned before I left was a tour all day on Wednesday. Every other day was free and I could choose to do whatever I pleased. I walked the entire city the first day, walking as fast or as slow as I wanted and stopping wherever I wanted to take in the view. I think the best part about traveling alone is that you can literally do whatever you want. I could have stayed in bed the entire time I was there, or never came back to the hostel at night and walked around the city, and there was no one to tell me otherwise. I could stay at a coffee shop and watch people walk by the patio for hours on end and no one would complain that they were bored or hungry. It was nerve-racking to figure out everything that I was going to do and figure out how to do it on my own, but being able to actually do everything I wanted to do and nothing I didn’t want to was very freeing.
The days seem a lot longer.
When you’re alone with no one to talk to, drag you to touristy attractions or keep you on a schedule, you realize how much time you truly have. The first day I got there, I walked around the city. It’s a pretty small downtown area and I felt that I had seen everything there is to see. When I looked at the time, it wasn’t even noon yet. Being alone makes time slow down and you have so much more time to stop and take in what is around you. It is nice to not have a schedule to stick to and I felt like I was there much longer than five days.
Meet fun, exciting people that share your interests.
I stayed in a ten-bed co-ed dormitory room and it was completely booked out the entire time it was there. I met incredible people with incredible stories and we all shared at least one interest: wanting to travel and see the world. I met a 23-year-old guy that was almost killed in Iraq and sold all of his stuff to travel to all seven continents over the course of a year and a girl who was getting her Ph.D in immunology on a full-ride scholarship at Stanford. We ended up going out to a pub and watching a soccer game one night and it was so fun! Even if you’re shy, people will introduce themselves to you, ask you where you’re from and ask if you want to go out and get a meal. The solo traveler scene is very friendly and I didn’t meet another solo traveler that didn’t want to make friends.
You get out of your comfort zone and learn a lot about yourself.
Getting out of your comfort zone obviously comes with the territory of doing anything new for the first time. You are going to face a lot of challenges and be in a lot of situations that make you uncomfortable but you will also learn so much about yourself. You will learn a lot about who you get along with and what annoys you about other people, how much you like being alone and independent and how you respond to a bunch of different situations and challenges. There is no replacement for the courage and knowledge that you gain from traveling alone. Learning to accept and embrace the uncomfortable was the best thing that I did on this trip.
You have a lot of time to be with your own thoughts.
This can be both good and bad, so take it for what you will. Personally, I am involved in a millions different extracurriculars and activities and seem like I am always surrounded by people or have to interact with people. Being able to spend 30 minutes sitting on a hill overlooking the harbor and the mountains behind it allows you to connect with yourself in a way that I have never experienced. You would be amazed how you feel when you are completely alone. It’s a kind of serene, peaceful experience that I didn’t know I could feel just by sitting on a hill in Iceland. I had many more of these moments, just looking at the beautiful landscape around me and skies above me and just feeling like I didn’t have a worry in the world. If you know me, you know that this sounds crazy because I’m always worried about something. I even had a marketing test the week after spring break that I hadn’t started studying for yet, and it never even crossed my mind until I landed back in the states. When you are alone without anyone telling you what they think, you have the time and space to figure out what you truly want. I realized that there were people that I had to cut out of my life, I realized what I want to put my time and energy into, and I realized what was truly important to me. Without the time and space to be with my own thoughts and have no one else trying to pressure me, I was able to learn a lot about what I wanted.
You can blend in.
This isn’t always exactly true, but it is much easier to do as a solo traveler. It depends on where you go, but not being surrounded by your entire family or a group of tourists gives you the opportunity to blend in with those around you. If you aren’t dressed like a tourist, people won’t treat you like one. This is more true in some locations than others. I’m a college girl with blonde hair and blue eyes, so I blend in well with all of the other Icelandic college kids walking around downtown. I was dressed like I was Icelandic (I was actually just dressed like I live in Laramie because it’s always cold there, too) and people would treat me like I was. People would actually start conversations with me in Icelandic and I would have to tell them that I spoke English. Iceland is a very safe country to begin with, but it made me feel more at ease that people didn’t look at me and think I was a tourist.
You’ll probably come up with a way to document your travels other than taking selfies.
I personally don’t like taking selfies when I travel. It usually doesn’t make for a great picture and I don’t have a selfie stick so it’s usually at an awkward angle. So I tried to find a different way to document my solo travels. I bought a pair of red kodiak boots for the trip and I absolutely love them and wore them the whole time. I don’t know why, but I kept thinking “it’s just me and my kodiaks out here exploring Iceland” and for some reason I liked that idea. Starting on the first night I would take pictures of my red boots on all different kinds of landscapes. I felt it was a way of documenting where I had been and where I was going. I can still look at all of the pictures that I took and remember exactly where I was and what it looked like when I took it.
Cons
The days are a lot longer and you’re at your own pace.
I can be a very indecisive person, so without a schedule or someone to tell me what to do, I spent a lot of time wondering what I should do. I feel like I wasted at least an afternoon’s worth of time sitting in restaurants and coffee shops trying to figure out the best thing to do. The truth is that you don’t know the best thing to do until you do it, so you have to pick something to do and just roll with it. Walk around until you find something cool, ask the locals what they think you should do, just do something. Don’t waste the valuable time that you have there trying to make it the most amazing experience possible. It will do that on its own.
You have to be open to meeting new people.
You absolutely can be a solo world traveler if you are shy or introverted. But there does come a point where you have to talk to other people, whether it’s to check in to a hotel, order something at a restaurant or introduce yourself to someone in your hostel. It’s okay if you are scared to do these things because getting out of your comfort zone is a huge part of traveling alone. You shouldn’t be afraid to travel solo because you have to be independent, but you have to be aware that there is a certain level of responsibility and independence that comes with it.
You do need to get out of your comfort zone and be uncomfortable at times.
There is no way that you would ever be able to travel alone to another country without getting at least somewhat out of your comfort zone. You will face challenges and you will feel very uncomfortable and overwhelmed at times. You will be scared and alone at times. If you aren’t a people person, you will need to at least be able to hold a conversation with people. It might even be a very challenging conversation just because of a language barrier. If you have no experience traveling internationally, you will gain some. Even if you think you are comfortable and capable of handling everything you encounter, expect the unexpected.
A ten-bed dorm is not a personal room.
I learned this very early on. A ten-person room is the cheapest option for solo travelers, but it is definitely not for everyone. When traveling internationally, you will meet travelers from all different countries and cultures. For example, Japanese travelers are very polite when they are talking to you, but they have no problem turning on the light at 1am and spending an hour unpacking and repacking everything in their suitcase. I’m pretty sure that they individually packed every single item they brought in the loudest ziplocs possible. You want to take a shower at night after being covered in sand and mud? You can in an hour after the girl in the shower gets done blow drying her hair and putting on a full face of makeup. Other people have other beliefs and ways of doing things and you have to respect that. There will be times when you are annoyed, but I’m sure they are annoyed with something that you do, too. You just have to be kind and respectful to everyone you meet.
You are much more vulnerable as a solo traveler.
There are going to be a lot of times when you are completely alone. You have to constantly be aware of your surroundings. People are much more likely to try to steal from or hurt you if you aren’t surrounded by other people. Especially being female, you have to make sure that safety is your first priority. Make sure that you are visiting places that are known for being safe (Iceland is consistently ranked in the top three safest places for solo female travelers, FYI). Stay in a place that is safe and if you don’t feel safe, make sure that you get out of the situation. There were definitely a few times that I wish I had my dad walking beside me to protect me, but you have to protect yourself. Do your research and make sure that everywhere you are going and staying is relatively safe and make sure you have a plan in case something happens.
Don’t let the cons of traveling solo scare you away from doing it. There are cons to everything. I’m sure that I could list off four times as many for when I travel with my family… Traveling solo is an absolutely amazing experience and I think everyone should take the opportunity to do it at least once in their life. Adventure is out there!
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