Last Updated: 31st March 2020
Traveling alone does not make you look like a loser. And when you travel alone, you’ll hardly ever find yourself lonely. Open your mind and jump into the adventure that unfolds when you finally travel alone.
So, why should you travel alone, at least once?
Because of a number of reasons, actually..
Experience Complete Freedom
It’s a dizzying spell to experience this ultimate sense of complete freedom. No one to answer to. No one to make plans with. Go where you want. Eat what you want. Wear what you want. It’s all about YOU.
Plus, you don’t have anyone to blame too, if something goes sour for you.
Boost Your Confidence
Traveling alone makes you face your fears and insecurities. After the first initial hours, you stop looking at every man as a potential rapist. From the next day of your trip, you stop wondering what will happen to your stuff back at the hotel room. By afternoon on Day 2, you are bound to check out the map and carve out a sightseeing route yourself, instead of asking the hotel concierge.
This kinda confidence only comes when traveling alone, not when your father or boyfriend is making the plans and you are just there to enjoy. Nothing wrong with that, but traveling alone is worth its own thrills and chills.
Find Your Answers
Traveling generally is a great time to mule over your lifestyle and work and relationships and what not. Traveling alone takes it one level up by making you mule over questions regarding yourself, no one else is involved.
Maybe you want a change in the work scene, or you are ready to take your relationship to the next level. What you want is what you can concentrate and hopefully find your answers by the end of your trip.
My Story
I first traveled alone when I was 20 years old, that too to Hawaii on my first spring break at the Arizona State University. In those days it was completely unheard of for a girl to travel alone. So basically I lied. Profusely.
I don’t particularly remember why I wanted to travel alone (after all, I had travelled alone from India to Arizona to attend ASU all on my own just a couple of months back), but I knew I had to do it. I got the student discount too. No one at home, or anyone around me had any clue!
Recapping my Hawaiian trip would be completely beyond the scope of this post, so all I’m going to say is I came back more confident, more independent (with better understanding of what independence meant), and definitely more happier than my old self. And I still have the Hawaiian lei (garland) the hula dancers placed on my head at the arrival lounge!
Since then, every now and then, I try to travel alone.
Over to you..
You might not have the exact same experience like Julia Roberts in the movie “Eat, Pray, Love” while traveling alone. But you’ll definitely enjoy your own company, slash your fears and insecurities, and be more self-assured than ever. And yes, you will love gorgeous (hopefully!) men hitting on you all the time.
I didn’t used to find any article on how I should travel alone. But lately I have noticed articles giving tips on how to travel safe when you are traveling alone.
My only piece of advice to you, if you ever think of traveling alone, is trust your instincts. If your gut tells you to run, then run. If your gut says “don’t smile at that guy”, then don’t. Follow your gut, and you’ll be fine.
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