11 Reasons Everyone Should Travel Solo At Least Once
Need some convincing to pursue solo travel? Look no further.
The Importance of Solo Travel
Outside of tackling regular life tasks by yourself, solo travel abroad can add to that sense of self-confidence, self-reliance, and knowledge of your own power and capability. While going it alone in a foreign country can be very daunting, it can also contribute to personal growth and development by helping you become a better person and by providing you with lifelong skills.
These points have been divided up into skills and personal growth. Hopefully, these will convince you that solo travel is something that you can do and even should do, even if it’s just once in your life.
Let’s start with skills
1 – You’ll Discover Your Travel Style
The first thing you’ll realize is whether you are a planner or if you prefer to wing it. Your travel style can say a lot about you, and going solo is the best way to figure out what your preferences are. Selecting where you want to go, what you want to see, and how to spend your time can be an eye-opener in realizing your tastes and your priorities.
Knowing your style contributes to your skillset because then you can start making moves to hone your decision-making and develop strategies for travel that fit your personality and preferences. Like anything, this is a skill set that takes practice. As soon as you learn this about yourself, the quicker you’ll get to refine your approach!
2 – Solo Travel Will Boost Your Budgeting Skills
How you decide to spend your travel budget when you’re alone can also teach you a lot about yourself. When you don’t have a buddy to split costs with, your true preference on how you are willing to part with funds and what you’re willing to tolerate in regards to roughing it, or sacrificing certain comforts, will all come to the surface.
3 – You’ll Learn To Pack Efficiently
During solo travel, it’s just you. There’s no one to help with a potentially heavy suitcase or anyone to assist with juggling multiple bags. This is especially important on a multi-city/country journey where you’ll be hauling your stuff around on multiple modes of public transportation. Packing lightly takes not only practice but confidence in your decisions. The anxiety you feel in not packing an extra outfit or extra shoes? You need to handle it and make the courageous decision to leave it behind and manage with what you take.
4 – You’ll Get Comfortable Asking For Help
The daunting task of approaching strangers and asking for help or figuring out which wrong turn you made and where will no longer be an issue for you. You have no choice when you’re alone. You either figure it out or approach a stranger.
Hand in hand with this…
5 – Solo Travel Will Sharpen Your Instincts
Your ability to get a sense of people, a sense of danger, trustworthiness, and whether or not going down a road seems safe will all become stronger. Honing your instincts, and learning to listen to them, is a skill that requires practice. There’s nothing like going on a solo trip abroad to help exercise those intuition muscles!
6 – You’ll Become More Adaptable
Being alone, having no help, and no one to talk to can lead to loneliness and even panic and anxiety. Adapting to that kind of condition and navigating those waters can improve how you approach other life adversities as well.
Depending on where your solo travel takes you, you may also develop a sense of gratitude for all the things you do have. For instance, seeing the impoverished states of some of the world’s populations can help you appreciate the life you live, no matter how difficult it may or may not be. Having such an experience can make you more empathetic and less afraid to tackle difficult challenges or situations when you come home.
Now for personal growth
7 – You’ll Boost Your Confidence & Self-esteem
It’s empowering to know that you are able to plan, budget, pack and then navigate another part of the globe all on your own. Coming home, you’ll be a whole new person armed with new skills, a new appreciation for what you have, and a sense of “yea, I got this.”
For some, taking that step with solo travel and experiencing personal growth means that you will find the confidence you’ve been lacking; or elevate your self-esteem to where you have the courage to tackle other life issues. Learning where you stand in this regard, and improving upon it, can trickle into other areas.
8 – You’ll Know Yourself So Much Better Than Before
Having 100% time to yourself and taking the time to talk to yourself and spend time doing things that you want to do, no questions asked, can be a game-changer. This is the biggest advantage of solo travel. That time and those moments can help you gain perspective on your goals, wants, desires, and issues you’ve been dealing with.
9 – You May Be Able To Make Major Life Decisions
Sometimes the best way to gain perspective is to get away and not think about whatever it is that’s stressing you out. By taking a mental break, you’ll remember what matters most to you, your life goals and priorities, and the trajectory you want to take.
Solo travel is a great way to come to any conclusion because you have the time and the space to learn about yourself, your hopes, dreams, ideas, wants, or desires, and there’s no outside noise or opinions getting in your way. Instead, you can truly take the time to think about YOU, your social, emotional, and intellectual self, and make a decision independent of anyone else.
10 – You’ll Become More Grounded
Everyone has a different set of priorities; however, the overall importance of family, true friends, satisfying work, and personal fulfillment in life and at work sometimes fall by the wayside.
Traveling, in general, can change all of this when you see the rest of the world’s problems. Wanting what you already have and showing gratitude are two important steps in creating your own satisfaction and happiness. Those superficial pursuits will no longer hold any significance. Seeing and realizing all of this when traveling solo can give it much more weight.
11 – You’ll Start Making A Bucket List
This may not hold true for everyone, especially if you’re the spontaneous sort, but many people become motivated to travel more once they get started. How do you keep track? Write it down and create a bucket list.
Traveling, in general, can feed this motivation, but once you do something on your own, it becomes easier for you to plan on tackling the rest of your list. You’ll no longer be dependent on anyone else; instead, you’ll likely start making plans for yourself.
In Summary
Overall, personal growth means that you better yourself, and that you continue learning new things and developing new skills. Why is this important? It’s so that you become better able to deal with life changing events, can handle the obstacles that come your way, and overcome adversity. As we get older, life get’s harder and more complicated. Only by pursuing personal growth intentionally can we become the best, capable version of ourselves.
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