The 10 Best Things About Solo Travel

As you’ve read in my previous article, there are a lot of great things to experience when traveling with friends. Honestly there’s nothing that I love more than being abroad with friends; except maybe being abroad alone.

I understand the trepidation some people feel about solo travel. It can feel scary the first time, but I was very lucky to have dipped my toes into travelling alone slowly. I didn’t travel fully ‘solo’ until I was well into my twenties, but I went ‘without friends’ for the first time when I was fifteen. If you want to know more about how to ease yourself into solo travel like I did you can check out my article about it, coming soon!

For now, here are all the benefits that come with solo travel for you to get excited about!

#1. Go Where You Want

When you travel with friends you are naturally bound by other opinions. It’s great if you and your travel companions all want to go to the Bahamas, but when one of you wants to jet off to the Emirates you start to have some issues. How does one compromise between destinations? Not well, in my experience. When it’s just you and your suitcase, no one can get between you and your dream destination.

#2. Keep to Your Own (Lack of) Schedule

I’m usually pretty good about keeping to my own schedules, but there are times when I just want to spend a little more time in one location, or I’m getting tired and think “You know what? Not today.” It’s okay to change plans, and it’s very liberating to be able to shift your own schedule at your own leisure.

#3. Challenge Yourself

I do like to challenge myself a little bit when I travel. For the most part I’ve only traveled in countries where English is widely spoken and that are culturally similar to Canada. Places like Turkey or Mongolia are very scary to me because they’re so different, but they’re also places that I would really love to visit some day because of that! When you travel alone, you can decide which challenges you’re ready for and take them at your own pace.

#4. Earn Your Bragging Rights

Along with those challenges you get bragging rights, especially if it was something really scary for you. Let’s be real, you don’t want to be that person who mentions that they’ve been abroad every two sentences in a conversation but hey, if you’re afraid of heights and you made your way to the very top of the Eiffel Tower, brag about it! You’ve earned it!

#5. Looking out for Number One

It can be great to have someone watching your back and you theirs when travelling, but only worrying about yourself can be really liberating too. If you’re uncomfortable in any situation you can leave without worrying about what your friend will say, especially if they’re having fun, and you don’t have to worry about your travelling companion becoming a liability either. Just make sure you’re safe, and have fun!

#6. Making Your Own Mistakes

I like being able to make my own mistakes. I think it comes from having people stop me a lot to protect me from myself. In my opinion, making your own mistakes is a very important experience to have because it allows you to realise that most of them are either fixable, or not that big of a deal in the first place. Plus, if you’re traveling, you can leave town immediately and nobody back home will ever know about your blunders unless you decide to tell them!

#7. You Can Pretend Not to Understand

This isn’t my proudest trick in the book, but it is still there, and I have had occasion to use it. If you find yourself in a situation where somebody has come up to you and is making you uncomfortable, you can pretend you don’t speak the language. Unless you’ve been narrating your journey aloud to yourself, nobody will be able to say for sure which language you speak, and nobody will be able to call you out on it. Note: Don’t try this with police.

#8. Make Your Own Soundtrack

When I travel with other people I always worry about having my music on. I want to be able to hear them when they’re speaking! When I travel solo, I have no such worries. I can appreciate the ambiance of my surroundings, or rock on to my own trip soundtrack.

#9. Making New Friends

The people in my life will know that I am very reserved when it comes to making friends. It doesn’t happen easily or often for me, it’s just who I am, but travel creates great opportunity for short but meaningful friendships. Busy restaurants will sometimes take in more clients by asking if you would mind sharing a table. Take the opportunity, say that you’d be glad to share! It’ll be a bit awkward at first, but open up, ask where they’re from, if they know any interesting places around town. You don’t have to lay your heart in the palms of their hands, just open up a little bit and you’ll have a new friend in no time!

#10. Self Discovery

You already know who you are around your parents, your friends, and your co-workers. They can be three very different people. Who are you when you’re surrounded by strangers? Who are you when you only have yourself to rely on, and where everything you encounter is new? Only one way to find out … go solo!

Share your best solo travel memories in the comments below! I’d love to hear your stories!