On the second-last day of my solo trip to Jibhi – a small and relatively uncommercialized town in India – I left my hostel and started walking uphill, crossing a series of tiny wooden bridges, overlooking the ripples from a steadily-flowing stream underneath. After fifteen minutes of walking, I arrived at a waterfall. Water droplets fell into the pond like pearls from the sky. Besides the stridulating sound of crickets and a calm rhythm of waves splashing against each other, there was absolute silence. No one was around—no one, except me and my solitude. I sat on a rock, took out my notebook, and penned down a poem from the bottom of my heart.
Why do I go on solo trips? To find peace in the arms of nature, to sift through darkness and find the truth, and to escape far away from a world of pretense so that I’m finally ready to experience reality.
*****
A few months ago, I went to meet a friend over dinner. During the course of our conversation, he casually asked me what I’d been doing lately. I told him about my solo travel adventures, and unsurprisingly, his first reaction was, “How can you travel alone? Don’t you get bored? I mean, I like traveling too, but why would I want to go alone? Why would anyone?”
It’s a classic question I get every time I tell someone about my love for solo trips. I answered his question, explained to him why I travel alone, and used this golden opportunity to make him subscribe to my blog (was that clever or wicked?).
However, I also realized that my friend is probably not the only one to question the idea of traveling alone. Most of us are accustomed to going on trips only with close friends or family. Travel, in that sense, is more about recreation than anything else.
In fact, traveling alone may even come across as a weird choice. When you can have fun, share responsibilities, and split restaurant bills in a group, why go on a solo trip, right?
I like to look at solo trips as something less about travel or recreation and more about an experience that brings positive value addition to your life. For many, it can be a way to explore the uncharted territories of their personality and find what they’ve been looking for.
After a great dinner with my friend, I decided to write a post to share with you all my reasons for traveling alone, and why I believe each and every individual should frequently take solo trips in their life.
1. Solo trips work as a gateway to meet other travelers from around the world
The world is small and each one of us has a fascinating story to tell. The only problem is that we don’t have the time or patience to hear them.
Probably the most significant benefit of traveling alone is – meeting other solo travelers. It is surprising how many connections you could uncover with total strangers. Moreover, solo travelers are usually happy to share the story of their lives, which can sometimes turn out to be extremely motivating.
I’ve been fortunate enough to meet some of the most outstanding people from different corners of the world while traveling alone – people who were kind enough to share their knowledge and experience and show me that there is more to life than I ever knew about. People who would’ve otherwise just been, you know, people.
2. Solo trips allow you to experience absolute freedom
This is my favorite one.
Traveling alone is your way towards complete freedom and finding your own rhythm. You do what you want, as long as you want it, without worrying about the priorities of others.
It’s exciting and scary at the same time because freedom always comes with responsibility. But once in a while, it is thrilling to let yourself loose from the accepted norms that you’ve seen your entire life.
Different people enjoy their trips in different ways. Traveling alone allows you to spend either an entire day at just one location or everything in a day. You can enjoy the liberty to move at your own pace.
For instance, I like to cover more depth than breadth. It contradicts the regular tourist itinerary of doing a sight-seeing streak. I wouldn’t care if I feel like walking around for the whole day in an area that is not ‘popular’ per se – I’ll still do it.
3. On a solo trip you can truly immerse yourself in the surroundings
They say that when you stop talking, you start listening.
Whether it is about capturing a place’s vibe or having a conversation with an old couple – traveling alone allows you to delve deeper into your surroundings.
Traveling in a group sometimes feels like swimming in an ocean while being constrained within an area just as big as the old pond that you came from. I’ve been on a few trips in a group, and then came back only to realize that I just spent thousands on flight and accommodation, doing exactly the same things that I could have done without leaving the city.
We could play music and party, or have a group banter anywhere in the world. But the joy of quietly sitting on a rock with your eyes closed – under the cool shade of tall trees – listening to the soft sound of birds that you’ve never heard before, is unique.
4. Solo travel teaches you to be independent
If you want to discover and follow your passion, be prepared to follow a tough path of becoming independent as hell.
Man is, was, and will always remain a social animal, but in difficult times, it is important for you to be able to come up with innovative ideas and solutions on your own.
Traveling alone puts you in the spot more often than you’d like—there’s no denying it. But in such situations, you learn to make decisions yourself without taking help from anyone else.
And that is an invaluable skill!
5. Traveling solo helps you overcome your Fears and Challenges
Being alone with no one to look after you demands responsibility, and it is in circumstances like these that a person learns to come out of their comfort zone.
If you’re not a frequent traveler, the first few times that you go on a solo trip will overwhelm you in both good and bad ways – don’t give up. These experiences are intended to teach you valuable lessons in life, such as not getting swayed away by temptation, and moving on quickly from adversities.
During my first solo backpacking journey to Rajasthan, a nasty pickpocket stole my wallet. For an instant, the situation was so grim that I could’ve easily lost hope, felt dejected, and given up on the trip. But my past experience of traveling alone helped me remain confident and think rationally, so much so that I actually got the wallet back from the pickpocket! I did learn to keep my belongings secured though.
Among the many things that traveling alone teaches you, confidence in yourself and the ability to tackle tough situations are at the top.
6. A solo trip can turn modest experiences into exquisite memories
Traveling alone multiplies the perceived happiness quotient of experiencing something – anything – by several times.
A kind gesture from a stranger could mean a world of support to you. A walk alone on an empty street could induce nostalgia from your childhood. Someone handing you a musical instrument that you’ve never even seen before in life, and putting faith in your capabilities that you’ll play it, could fill you with a burst of emotions that will help make memories for a lifetime.
Something happens when you’re free to enjoy whatever you like, which turns even simple moments into special ones.
7. Finally, a solo trip gives you the unique opportunity to introspect about yourself
Ah, finally.
You may have heard of people taking quintessential solo trips to the Himalayas to search for their purpose in life (nope, I’m not talking about myself). Several people go seek solace amidst the repose of the mountains.
Because if you look deep enough, you’ll find that at some level, our lives are nothing but enigmatic tales of varied facades.
At some point in life, we all exchange our original identity for a facade that bodes well for society. Sooner or later, the desire to rediscover yourself hits you, either as a mid-life crisis or a more recent quarter-life crisis for the millennial-born.
We all want to find our passion, our purpose in life. But the question is, how do we?
Traveling alone helps you uncover your innermost conscience, to find what you’re searching for. An outside perspective and motivation with real-life examples could provide you with the direction that you’ve been looking for, and may even liberate you from the shackles of social conditioning, to gauge who you truly are.
Would you go on a solo trip now?
Well, those are the reasons why I like traveling alone. I don’t always do that, but I’ve been taking at least one solo trip each year.
If you think the idea of traveling alone is crazy, check out this other post that I wrote to specifically address that.
Now I’d like to hear from you:
What are some reasons why you like/don’t like traveling alone? Do you feel motivated to go on a solo trip now that you’ve read this post? Do you have a different perspective on any of the reasons mentioned above?
Don’t forget to me know by leaving a comment below!
