Adventure has been coded in our genome since the evolution of our 4 legged ancestors. Hunting that antelope was a necessity but also an adventure of discovery how fast, and far you can go to get what is needed or desired. We are stunning creations of complexity and of what our brain evolved to be.
Since the dawn of our kind, traveling solo or in groups has been a significant part of what shaped the everyday life of early humans. So, perhaps, there is an intricate connection that can explain our very own modern human desire to explore the world.
In this article, I will pinpoint some of the benefits of traveling solo and why I prefer to do it. I hope I am not misunderstood, I like traveling with my friends too, they are quite fun travelers, but there is nothing like traveling alone. It is like a special bug that you carry around waiting to transform itself into a beautiful butterfly. Beautiful experience, I wish you can all guys experience it.
P.S. It is not scary at all!!! You will be surprised how confident you can do it even for the first time, you will also grow to like it from the first day.
1. The Experience
Think about it, sounds selfish but… The whole experience is there for you to observe, immerse and collect. Just for you! Create that inner connection with the place at your own pace, strengthen it, nourish it.
Think about how that place makes you feel and why what do you like about it?
Take your time! Gather as much energy and memories from it as you need or want. You might never go back, don’t rush, don’t overlook anything, it is your moment, right there, right now, all for you.
2. Personal Growth
As humans, we are quite resilient. We can only change if we really want to or we need to.
Traveling solo can be that need factor. It would require that you are well organized so that you can be more prepared for the unexpected. I want to emphasize on prepared, because there is no way to be fully aware of the unforeseen but being prepared to face it, would make it much more comfortable and make you much more pliable.
Example, you know that the hike to the peak of the mountain is about 8 miles. If you haven’t done a hike that long, make sure you give yourself extra time to hike up, enjoy the scenery and have enough time to comfortably get back without risking to get stack in the middle of the mountain at night.
This could mean that you will have to give up your favorite sleeping habit and get up very early. Now you are faced with a choice of character. By choosing the get up early and enjoy the beauty of those mighty peaks at the top of the hike, you are altering yourself due to the internal motivation and drive to experience the world.
3. Finding Yourself
When we travel in groups or tours, inevitably we have to become a version 1.1 or 1.2 of ourselves. Simple reason why- for the greater good we have to mute some of our strongest desires and personal traits.
Tours are not individually designed, they are meant to serve the masses and the economy. But how can you serve the masses when every single piece of the mass is entirely different than the others?
So what happens is you have to give up who you are to be able to enjoy the tour. I might not lake caves or having lunch right after a hike but that’s what we are doing, I guess.
As I always say, we learn best from our mistakes. I remember taking a tour that I disliked so much that I don’t even remember what we saw. Then I thought that traveling is supposed to be fun, so I will just take the organization in my own hands and travel solo on my own terms. But if it wasn’t for that experience, I would have probably never found what I like in traveling and how do I want to experience traveling.
4. Celebrate Yourself
Celebrate the type of person and the type of traveler you are. Very simple! Give yourself what you like the most. If you love mountain biking, go for it, design your trip around it, you will be surprised how much you can actually do to tailor your experience to you. Those trips will be the best ones you’ve ever taken.
Or perhaps, you like diving, build your trip around the dive experience or at least include some parts of it.
Slowly you will learn that you can reward yourself in a non solo travel environment as well. If you are traveling with good friends and people who admire you for who you are, you won’t be at unease to tell them you will take a side trip on your own that will fuel your own desires.
5. Time to Think
Bustling everyday life makes our brains hyperactive and unable to access certain skill, feeling, and emotions, we become machines. The peace and tranquility of traveling solo, the silence, the overstimulation of the brain with positivity, and honestly just different type of stimuli, can significantly affect your rational thinking.
You can unlock decision making of a new kind whether it is for life-changing events or just everyday life, or if you are a mathematician, for example, you can even find a solution to a problem you’ve been dealing with for a while.
6. Unlimited Opportunities
They really are unlimited. It only takes imagination. Solo traveling is all about your own desires.
You can visit a Costa Rican coffee plantation tour today, rainforest tomorrow, surfing the next day or fly to Panama.
It’s totally up to you. And one thing that is for sure, it will be a unique experience, because you are unique as a person, your passions and desires are entirely individual, celebrate it.
7. Follow Your Instinct
Yes, your instinct. When traveling with a group or taking a tour, nobody cares about your intuition, but this is one of the most powerful tools in our arsenal.
Instinct is not just a survival mechanism, it is a food source for our brain and its production of feeling and emotions that can even alter the physical state of our bodies. I view following my instinct as my fellow traveler it’s always there, and we have a conversation about what we should do next. Don’t think I’m crazy talking to myself but when I see a Vietnamese seafood restaurant, I can’t hold back, I have to try it.
8. Change Plan on the Spot
And as we said above traveling solo is all about you – You as a beach lover, you as a bird watcher, you as a scuba diver, you as whatever you want to be.
Changing your plans on the spot is allowing you to be that YOU. Now, slowly you are becoming more and more yourself allowing you to breathe at your own pace without the need to hike a hike you don’t want to or spend a full day at the beach, where you don’t feel you belong. Or hey, maybe you feel like some tacos and margaritas. Not on your plan? That’s the beauty, you are the writer of the plan and can change it on a dime.
9. Financial Control
Are you a broke college student, or just trying to see as many places as you can? Solo traveling might be right for you.
You are the treasurer, you know and control how much you can spend on airfare, accommodation, experiences. That will make a lot of the choices for a trip much more straightforward and less sacrificial. You won’t have to take the guided National Park tour, you can probably save the money and do it yourself.
You are benefiting from a financial standpoint as well as allowing yourself to experience the park at your own pace, take time to create beautiful memories through photography or drawing.
Are you convinced yet? What is your next Solo Travel Destination of choice?
If not sure… Check out our Destinations page or just play darts on the world map, I have a friend who did it, and he had the best time of his life.
