“Travel – the great liberator”
Have you ever thought about what is the best gift you can give yourself? It is to travel alone! There are times when you need to get to know yourself, think things through, or get away from all the hustle and bustle of family and friends. It could be that for some reason you simply need to go somewhere alone, or that you have won a gift, a voucher or a ticket for yourself for a short holiday!
It could be that you all had the right intentions to travel with family or friends, but just couldn’t agree on a schedule that suited everyone. Whatever the reason, if you have never traveled anywhere alone before, please do yourself a favor and get going. Traveling opens your eyes and your mind, and if you travel alone, it is an experience you will treasure for a lifetime!
Still not convinced? Well, here are 13 reasons why you should travel alone at the next possible opportunity:
1. You will find yourself
What can be better than discovering a new you? Sometimes we are not aware of our abilities and may limit ourselves. When we travel alone, it brings with it responsibility for ourselves. We learn to pay attention to the self and to act accordingly. When we travel with others, a feeling of security is created. But when you travel alone, you have to overcome this fear and keep going.
In times like these, we often find that we are good at things like planning, budgeting, making contacts and friends, and making the best of the resources available. In short, you learn to take full responsibility for yourself and your actions. You will also realize that you are able to do many things all by yourself that you thought you could not do. It is like finding a new self, and you can also take time for your passions such as reading, humming, singing, dancing, photographing, or even writing.
2. You will love your freedom
Once you have traveled alone, you will certainly enjoy your freedom like nothing else! This incredible feeling of liberation is a great feeling to hold on to. The excitement you feel as you face the journey, the anxiety you feel in your head, the joy you feel when you finally get going, it’s all worth it. The excitement you feel when you go through the journey alone, seeing places, meeting people, doing things at your own pace, etc., is incomparable.
You come back as a new, confident, bubbly person who is passionate about life having had a rich and invigorating experience. This feeling of freedom that you get when you travel alone is simply inexplicable.
3. It’s your choice
When you travel alone, you are the boss, and there is no one to answer to. You decide the route you want to take, depending on what you want to do, when and how you want to do it. It is not about doing something, especially something you do not want to do, for the benefit of others. You are the only dictator of your time, and you can spend it as you see fit. And if on any given day you just want to relax, you can do that too.
4. You will meet new people
It’s only natural that when you travel you meet people and make new friends. When one travels alone, it’s the case even more. You might also find like-minded people around you who travel alone and exchange ideas. You will learn to talk to the locals, gather information, and plan your trip well.
You will be able to find out what places to see and eat and what these places are. The more people you meet, the better you will feel. A word of caution: you should also learn to choose the right people to talk to and make friends with, otherwise it can be dangerous, especially if you are in a completely foreign place. A very nice quote says: “You never really travel alone; the world is full of friends waiting to meet you”.
5. Your sense of observation improves dramatically
When we travel with others, we usually worry more about ourselves and forget to observe things, people or places. We do not see what is around us and are more absorbed in ourselves. Traveling alone helps us to greatly improve our sense of observation. We begin to perceive things in a different way and we also see things that we would otherwise not notice.
Being alone can, therefore, help us to improve our travel experience by becoming more aware of our surroundings, the place, and the people.
6. Overcome your fear
Mostly it is our inner fear and ignorance of our own abilities that prevent us from travelling alone. We are afraid of all the things that can go wrong. We worry about all the worst-case scenarios. This prevents us from thinking about the best scenarios of all the things we can achieve by travelling alone.
Traveling alone is the best way to overcome some of your fears. Sleeping alone in a hotel room far away from home and waking up before a whole new day can change your perception of life.
7. You can lose yourself
In fact, we have said that you can find yourself, and it is also true that you can lose yourself. When you are with people you know, you are expected to behave like yourself. But when you are alone, no one around you knows you; you become whoever you want to be. It can be fun; you are someone among strangers who do not expect anything specific from you. You can let yourself go, lose yourself, and then find your true self, throughout the process.
8. It clears your thought process
Sometimes when you travel alone and spend some time with yourself, certain things start to come together. Maybe you also think differently about people and things in your home country. You will find answers to certain questions in your head. Your thoughts will become clearer and your thinking will improve enormously.
9. The world is beautiful
Only when you travel alone do you realize that there is a lot to see in the world out there. It’s not just the people, the places, the nature, the animals, the cultures, etc. You realize that the universe as a whole is a beautiful place. You will also realize how small we are as human beings and learn to see the world from a completely different perspective. This also improves us as human beings as a whole. We learn to drink from these experiences and insights.
10. You will learn to accept things and changes
The best plans can always go wrong. When you travel alone and circumstances change, you learn to accept it rather than throw a tantrum over it. You realize that some things are out of your control and that change is good too. You may end up not seeing a place you wanted to, staying a few days longer in a place you hadn’t planned to see, having someone messing up your bookings, etc.
11. There is always a first time
If you are travelling alone, it is quite possible that you will end up trying out a few things that you might otherwise have avoided. There is this little person inside you who is pushing you to do the unfeasible, something you have not done before but would like to do. You realize that you may not get the chance to do certain things again, and so you let go.
ALSO READ: Tips To Save Money When Travelling Overseas
12. You will appreciate the ‘Me’ time
Usually, you can hardly find time for “me” at home or in the office. Life is more like a fixed sequence of things you have to go through. You rarely find time for yourself. There is always something to do, someone to look after, somewhere to go, etc. All these everyday activities can mean that we hardly find time for ourselves.
Take the small step of travelling alone to a place for a few days. It may well be that there are many things you can check off your bucket list. It is not that difficult to read a book, watch a film, cook by yourself or paint a picture. We just think it is difficult. Once you have travelled alone, you will appreciate the “me” time and learn to find it often.
13. You learn to love life
Once you have traveled alone, you learn to love life and yourself better. You will have stepped out of your comfort zone and will now be more open to things. This alone will help to improve your life.
There are many other reasons why you should travel alone at least once in your life. However, we are sure that you have read enough to take the plunge! People do not make trips, trips make people. In fact, travel is what changes people thanks to wonderful experiences on the road – even truer when you travel alone!
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