The Unexpected Benefits of Solo Travel and How To Make Sure You Get Them
You'll Become More Decisive
When you are traveling by yourself, every decision is yours. Every moment of the day is planned (or not planned) by you, at your choosing. And you'd be surprised how many more decisions there are when you're traveling than when you're on your own. If you're far away enough from home, you probably won't see our favorite types of food or even laundry detergent. So now you gotta find a new one. And while I don't want you to get overwhelmed at that thought of all of those decisions, consider it a chance to get better at thinking quick on your feet. And making more decisions than you are used to. My recommendation for being a better decision-maker is just to narrow it down to a couple of your favorite choices and just pick any one of them, I don't believe there are any wrong decisions. Every decision you make gets you farther along on the path you're meant to be on.
You'll get better at directions
Even if you spend all your days following Google Maps, you still have to read the map. Yes, you. To maximize this benefit, walk a bit. Instead of taking a taxi or ride-sharing everywhere you go, get out and walk. Even taking the subway will make you better at directions than just hopping in a cab.
You'll make friends
Oh, yes, you'll make friends. I traveled mostly solo for a year, and I made so many new friends, I completely forgot to miss my friends at home.
My recommendations on how to pump up this skill:
Stay in hostels
Ask friends if they know people in the area
Ask in travel groups. If you're part of any travel groups online, ask if people are in that city. I did that a few times during my gap year, and it was a great chance to meet people. People that I genuinely consider friends. I've also met people in my location from Instagram. People have a lot to say about social media, but you can genuinely use it to connect with people.
Go on tours - I always meet new friends on tours. I went on a food tour in Mexico City, and almost the entire tour group met later to go see Mexican wrestling. It was so much fun, and many of us kept in touch.
You'll become more self-aware
Who are you, really? Without your family and friends around. Without your job title, and all your things, Who are you? Traveling by yourself will tell you, real quick.
You'll become more flexible
And I don't mean more bendy. I mean solo travel makes you open to things you wouldn't be open to before. Flexibility in the way you handle your decisions.
You'll learn to make things happen
You wanna go from France to Switzerland. You gotta make it happen. You wanna switch to a new Airbnb because you didn't like the location of your last one, you've gotta make it happen. And you will, or you'll be stuck. I talk about the importance of learning how to pivot, and that is truly one of the best things you can do for yourself when you travel solo. Learn how to pivot, and pivot quickly every time you have to, so you can make that shit happen.
You'll gain confidence in yourself
You see all that stuff you can get better at above - reading a map, spending time alone, becoming more confident. All of that is definitely going to make you more confident in your self and your skills. And trust me, confidence leads to more confidence.
You'll learn to enjoy your own company
When you're on your own, you'll have a lot of time by yourself. You can either wallow in loneliness, or you can learn to spend quality time all alone. Worried about going out to eat by yourself? Eat at the bar - it's like being part of a big group.
You'll become more assertive
This one is kind of funny to me. Because if you're traveling alone, you'll probably hit a market at one time. And as a solo traveler, especially if you are a solo female traveler, you have to learn how to say no. If "NO" isn't already in your repertoire, it will be. You will get very fluent in "NO". And you'll learn that "NO" is a full sentence and it will become one of your most used.
You'll face your fears
What are you afraid of? What makes you unsure of yourself. You'll quickly be in a situation where your fear is staring in your eyes, and you're gonna have to figure out what to do. So what do you do? You figure the shit out. So much of travel is just figuring the shit out. And facing your fears makes those fears smaller.
So go. Go with the wind. Face your fears, reap the benefits, live your best life.