Travelling Solo
Taking a gap year to travel the world or volunteer abroad can seem daunting, especially if you're doing it on your own for the first time.
Travelling alone takes you even farther out of your comfort zone. If you travel with a friend, you get to take a little piece of home with you. A friend is someone with whom to share your fears - and your meals. There are disadvantages to travelling solo, but there is a surplus of advantages that outweigh them.
Advantages
The disadvantages of travelling alone seem trivial once you've embarked on your journey. After returning from your gap year, you will remember the amazing things you saw and experienced long after forgetting any occasional bouts of loneliness. Perhaps you will even make new friends!
The advantages of travelling solo are enormous. It allows you to meet more people, see more of the culture and grow tremendously as a person.
Grow
Probably the biggest gain of travelling alone, though you may not see it at the time, is personal growth. It’s a time for self-reflection and examination. It’s a time to discover who you really are and what you’re capable of. Travelling alone allows you to gain confidence and independence. It’s a challenge that forces you to overcome obstacles and grow stronger as a person. Think about your reasons for taking a gap year. Many people who take a gap year do it to escape something at home or to figure out what they want to do with their life.
Meet more people
Travelling alone forces you to meet new people and make new friends. People that travel solo are more likely to meet local people, because they’re they’re and will find them to be more approachable and, less intimidating. People who travel together do so in their comfortable little bubble of togetherness. They don’t meet anyone new, and their views are often more narrow.project a willingness to meet new people or try new things.
Freedom
Thoreau said “the man who goes alone can start today; but he who travels with another must wait till that other is ready. Travelling by yourself gives you total freedom. You can do the things you want to do, when you want to do them. It’s all up to you. You don’t have to argue about where to eat or sleep. You can go at your own pace, be that faster or slower than others’. Often when I travel with people, I don’t speak up and end up spending more money than I’d want toI can really afford on a hotel rooms, or eating food I don’t like and going to the places I wouldn’t have chosen. On my own, I have total flexibility and control over where I go, how long I stay and how much I spend.
Getting along
You may think you get along really well with a person, but then you embark on a year long adventure and have to spend twenty four hours a day together. Travelling alone relieves you of the rows you may endure travelling with a friend. It’s not uncommon for friendships to end and travellers to go their separate ways. Nor is it uncommon to get bored with your travel companion and run out of things to talk about.
Travelling on your own is a gratifying experience, but can be quite overwhelming. If this is the first time you’ve really travelled, you might choose not to do it alone. If you’re not very sociable, you might be nervous about meeting new people.
Choosing who to travel with is a tough decision. It dependsSome considerations in choosing a travel companion may be your goals for the experience, what you want to get out of your gap year, how well you know the person, if you’ve spent a considerable amount of time with them, if you want to do the same things, etchave similar interests, and if you are financially compatible. If there’s no one that wants to take a gap year with you, that should absolutely not discourage you from going. Even if it’s not ideal, it will work out well. Except for an occasional lull in the conversation, you may turn out to be the best travelling companion you’ve ever had. I’ve never met an unhappy solo traveller, and I’ve, nor have I never regretted going it alone.
Advice for solo travellers
- Go to festivals and sporting events
- Stay in a hostel
- Join a tour group
- Take a journal and a book
- Write some postcards at dinner
- Avoid romantic destinations
- Smile and make eye contact
- Eat at informal restaurants
- Eat your main meal at lunch
- Always keep your belongings with you
- Be careful trusting new friends
- Don’t walk alone at night
And for women…
- Use common sense and follow normal safety precautions and have common sense
- Ask for directions from other women if possible
- Take a cue from local women and learn how to deal with unwanted Ignore obnoxious male attention. The locals usually just ignore obnoxious men or perfect the infamous “withering stare"
- Walk with confidence, and if you have none - fake it
- Know the culture so you won’t be misunderstood
Just because you set off alone doesn’t mean you’ll stay that way. You’ll meet plenty of people along the way. Bear in mind that the more challenging something is, the more you’ll grow and learn from it. And remember, there’s a difference between being alone and being lonely.
