The Beauty of Traveling Alone

Traveling alone is scary. It truly forces you to rely on yourself more than you probably ever had to in your entire life. Every problem that arises is your responsibility to solve and it forces you to spend hours alone with your own mind.

I understand why many have never had the courage to do so. It makes sense. Usually we surround ourselves in more comfortable environments. The decisions we make in these spaces are usually a combination of the wants and needs of the entire group. The wants and needs of the individual are drowned out by those of the majority. Instead of forming relationships with ourselves, we form relationships with others. Everything is projected outwards instead of inwards.

This precious time spent alone allows you to get to know yourself much more profoundly than you may have ever thought possible. It helps you understand where your self ends and someone else begins. In other words, it helps you to draw strict boundaries.

If you are someone who is very empathetic and easily take on the emotions of those around you, it can be hard to know overtime which feelings belong to you and which ones belong to someone else. Allowing yourself to be separate from these influences, at least for a short period of time, will help you understand what you’re thinking and feeling in every single moment. Spending time alone gives you deep insight into the workings of your own body, mind and soul.

Not every moment traveling alone has to be completely alone with your own thoughts, though. There are other people out there as well. Some are also traveling alone, while others may be with a few friends. Meeting other travelers from all over the world is an incredibly interesting experience. They likely think very differently from yourself and sharing a conversation can teach you a lot about their cultures, interests, and life stories. I have met some truly amazing people while traveling, and the fact that chance brought us together made the friendship even more special. (You know who you are :)) If you’re lucky, you may even meet people who change your life forever.

Even so, it’s hard to start conversations with new people. What are you supposed to start with? What should you say? How do you make the situation less awkward? It’s all about experimenting with a variety of methods and adjusting as you go along. Sometimes I have really terribly awkward interactions with people I don’t know. And you know what happens? It’s uncomfortable, and then we leave to probably never see each other again. (And then they make fun of me to their friends later on because I said something stupid while drunk hahaha)

Maybe it’s the fear of rejection that makes us nervous. Or maybe we’ve never spent so much time to ourselves. All of these feelings are valid. I don’t think the fear itself should discourage people from trying out the experience.

That all being said, I think everyone should travel alone at least once during their lives. No matter how anxious or introverted a person may perceive themselves to be (I am both), the experience is invaluable and forces you to grow inwards as well as outwards.

No matter how much fear rules your life, the experience of traveling alone forces you to address that fear head on. Fear is normal, as is every emotion. It’s okay to be afraid. I am terrified when I go to a new place. I am worried I won’t make friends. I am scared of getting lost. Maybe someone will mug me and steal everything and I won’t know what to do next.

Even if the worst possible thing happens, there is usually a solution. I lost my passport once in London and ended up having a great adventure as a result of this experience. I get lost all the time. I am lost as I write this. Sometimes your phone dies and you need to ask a random person in a restaurant to use their charger. Sometimes you ask for directions but don’t fully understand the language and end up wandering the streets for 20 minutes looking for the casino you planned on going to (just found it!). (And sometimes you lose all your money at the casino and leave in a state of embarrassment because you realize the odds were obviously against you.)

No matter what happens, the experience forces you to be confident in yourself and your own decisions. You learn to be calm when you have no idea what the name of your hostel is and how to get there, because if you’re not, you’re screwed. The experience definitely exercises different mental muscles than we are used to using the majority of the time.

I can’t speak for men because I’ve never been one, but being a female traveling alone in a foreign country can sometimes be a little nerve wracking. Unwanted attention is likely to occur (happened to me today), and you need to be firm in your rejection if you feel uncomfortable. No matter how difficult it can be to say no, this skill is valuable and will serve you well in all aspects of your life. You pick up street smarts and skills that aren’t taught in any other settings. Walking alone at night is maybe not the best idea, but walking alone on busy roads at night at least puts you in a safer situation. It is all about reading the situation and choosing the best possible option.

Most of all, traveling alone is valuable because it forces you to grow. It may challenge everything you thought was true in life. Maybe you’ll change your political views. Maybe you’ll decide that your job sucks and all you really want to do is become a scuba diving instructor in Barbados. Maybe you’ll realize you’re incredibly grateful for your loved ones and have been taking them for granted. It’s all different depending on the person. Underneath it all, the insights you receive while traveling alone will forever mold the way you view life.