Why You Need to Travel Solo (at least once)

Travelling is one of the best opportunities you can hope to experience in life, and it truly does have the power to change your life. You may have been lucky enough to grow up travelling to different countries or to book holidays with your friends when you got a little older, but neither of those experiences can compare to what you feel when you travel on your own.

Travelling solo is one of those terrifying prospects that you’ve been put off of doing, probably by your parents who are terrified something bad might happen when you don’t have anyone to back you up (or is that just my Mum?). Yes the thought of it is terrifying, but the reality is that it’s one of the most incredible feelings you could ever experience and will teach you more than travelling with friends or family ever could. I’m assuming I’ll probably need to convince you, so here’s why you should travel solo at least once.

Independence

One of the reasons we all like to travel with someone is for security - by that I don’t just mean personal safety, but it sticks to the old adage of “two heads are better than one”. When you travel with someone you tend to allow yourself to rely on that other person, thinking “it’s okay, they’ll do it”. When you travel alone you don’t have anyone to fall back on so you have to look after yourself - you can’t expect someone else to find your passport, charge your phone, get directions or get you to the airport on time, you have to do it. While the thought of it is scary, once you’ve done it for the first time you’ll find you’re a lot more independent, both when you’re travelling and at home in your every day life. 

Self Awareness 

If you ever read travel websites or follow those inspirational quote Instagram pages, you’ll probably have heard the quote “Travelling makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world” and while the quote itself is very much overused, the sentiment behind it is absolutely true. When you travel alone you suddenly become much more aware of how you act, your own thoughts and the actions you choose to take and while it’s a weird feeling at first, it’s incredibly valuable. I often find that if I’ve been stressed and unhappy at home, going away on my own gives me the mental clarity to really think about what it is that’s upset me and gives me chance to decide what to do about it. Even when the effect of the trip has worn off, I’ve found that being able to step back and look at what I’m doing, how I’m feeling and how to change this is something that’s stayed with me since my first trip.

Confidence

One of the biggest things you will gain from travelling solo is confidence and self belief. It’s too easy to rely on other people and because you haven’t had to do everything for yourself it can be easy to think you can’t do it - proving yourself wrong is absolutely going to make you more confident. When you’re travelling with another person it’s easy to let them fix it - when you’re alone you have to cope and fix your own issues as they arise, and realising that you don’t need someone to come in and fix your mistakes is the best way to gain confidence.

An Understanding of Different People - 

Have you ever noticed that you don’t talk to people when you’re in a group? You probably haven’t because you’re so preoccupied with the people you already know, but when you take those people away you’re still going to crave having people to talk to. One of the most important benefits I’ve found with travelling solo is that you speak to people. Sometimes you make friends, sometimes you just chat to a local for a while (like in my Cherbourg travel diary), but by doing that you’ll learn more about how other people live their lives which can give you an amazing new perspective, as well as hopefully going home with new contacts from around the world.

Freedom 

While all of my other points focus on improving yourself, I’ve purposefully left the most self-indulgent reason until last. When you travel alone you don’t have to make compromises to suit another person. When you’re travelling with a friend it might be that they want to go somewhere that you don’t or vice-versa, or maybe their idea of a holiday is relaxing on the beach instead of visiting every possible cultural high point a city has to offer. If you don’t have to take someone else into account you can do whatever you want to make the most of your trip; if you want to go climb a mountain then great (and rather you than me), if you want to go lie on a beach or visit a church you can do that. Isn’t a little time to be selfish what a holiday is all about, after all?

You know you’ve looked at cheap flights to a weird and wonderful destination that doesn’t fit in with your friends’ dates or where they want to go on holiday so stop worrying, stop wasting hours staring at cheap deals and just book that trip - I promise you won’t regret it.

Love and Feathers, 

 The Owlet 💜 

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