10 Things I Learned from Traveling Solo
Solo traveling is something that I’ve been wanting to experience for the longest time. This year, as I am approaching my 30th birthday and still has a lot of cities to cross off of my bucket list, I decided to pack my bags and head out to Europe for my first ever solo travel experience! Fun was an understatement but I never expected for this trip to be filled with lessons that I can treasure for life! Here are the 10 Things I Learned from Traveling Solo to hopefully encourage you that being a lone traveler is not that bad at all!
10 Things I Learned from Traveling Solo
1. Planning Ahead
I’m not a big fan of strict daily travel itineraries since I prefer to be more flexible when traveling. I want to be able to make some last-minute changes when necessary especially after hearing suggestions from the locals themselves than what I searched on Google.
However, traveling solo is a little different. Since I don’t have anyone to depend to but myself, I had to make a list of all the daily activities, places and restaurants that I want to visit on a specific day. All designed depending on the proximity of each places since I can get lost really easily.
I also had to plan different routes and had to screenshot them one by one just so I have a guide even if I’m not connected to a wifi. Doing this really helped me move around easily and maximized my time to make sure that I am visiting as much places as possible.
2. Be Organized!
If you know me, you would know how disorganized I can get! Surprisingly, traveling solo is what taught me to be organize and why it’s important.
Not only do I have to smartly plan what items I can pack (aka restrict myself from overpacking) considering that I would have to carry my own luggage around (did I mention I had to take trains to transit from one city to another? Europe is hella fun and tiring!) but I was also able to organize a smooth 14-day travel plan for this trip! It took me a few months to do it but hell, I did it!
3. Appreciate the whole travel process.
As much as I enjoy traveling, I am not a big fan of airport securities, long check-in cue lines and basically all the waiting and searching situation! Surprisingly, I found it amusing this time.
I guess it’s mostly because I am able to do the whole process on my own without depending too much on any travel companion as I am used to do. Weirdly, it feels kinda liberating to be able to move around different and foreign airports, train stations or even in the subway stations!
Simple successes like riding the right train or metro and finally arriving at your destination is so fulfilling and makes you feel like you can do every freakin’ thing!
4. Celebrating Little Success is REALLY Important!
As I mentioned in point numero tres, simple successes are honestly very fulfilling when you’re alone in a foreign country that doesn’t fluently speak the languages you speak let alone a new city that you don’t know how to navigate. (It’s funny how I only truly understand this after this trip.)
We probably even hear this statement in our normal day to day life but doesn’t really practise it because in our mind, “What’s there to celebrate?” Personally, I can be really hard to myself especially if I feel like I did not accomplish as much as I would want to and so I’m not a big fan of “little celebrations“.
However, being alone for two full weeks makes you appreciate every single accomplishments you had which I believe is really important to carry out in life because it encourages you to keep going in all of your adversaries! Hell, I even learned to celebrate being able to cross the streets of Rome alive and well!
5. Stop, Pause and Appreciate..
You’re probably looking at this statement and be like, “What?”. But, I’m sure you can relate that traveling can be full of hustle and bustle especially if you have a limited time to be in a specific place. I get that because it usually happens to me especially if I’m traveling with a group. Many times, I want to just really sit down and stare at whatever’s taking my breath away at that moment which I usually can’t do because I had to respect the time of my travel companions.
I can say though that one of the perks of traveling solo is that you can really take your time to appreciate every single place that you’re at without worrying about other people! Be it a cute little cafe, the beach or even the sunset.
Doing this makes you really appreciate nature, people, time, new experiences and basically life- every inch of it! It’s a beautiful realization especially that we are almost always caught up with our busy schedules that we sometimes neglect to appreciate what’s sorrounding us.
6. Make Friends!
When we were younger, making friends seems so easy but wait till you reach adulthood where finding “real” people that you can genuinely connect with is almost always a challenge. Personally, this whole friendship thing made me slightly reluctant to build new relationship with new people at some point of my life.
But, when you’re a solo traveler, you get tired of being on your own all the time. So you kinda force yourself out of your comfort zone and become more open to conversation with different people. Some you’ll have a brief interaction which is fine. But you’ll find people that you can really connect with and develop a longer . relationship with.
7. There are still a lot of Good People in this World!
Talking about meeting different people and making friends, traveling solo can make you more expose to different type of individuals. In my experience, I encountered a lot of good ones and a few bad apples.
Personally, I really appreciated the ones who helped me carry my luggage to go up the stairs at the subway station in Paris which can really be a challenge for a 5 foot girl like me! This couple even went out of their way to help find my hotel which I find really nice.
8. Independence
Independence is such a big word! Honestly, at my age, I have never once been fully independent until I was alone a thousand miles away from home. This experience taught me to make my own decisions (as little as they are) and to be responsible for each of them.
You learn that you can do things on your own and that you don’t always need anyone to have fun and enjoy. Traveling alone gives you a sense of freedom that you won’t probably learn anywhere else.
9. Being Alone is not too Bad!
Being a solo traveler for the first time can be challenging especially if you’re used to being with the people you know majority of the time. However, being alone in a completely different country or city can still be fun because of all the new experiences and people that you will meet along the way.
It gives you more time to just be with yourself, be yourself and in the process learn more about what you truly want, achieve and experience more in life.
10. It's Never too Late to Do what you TrulyWant!
As I mentioned earlier, solo traveling is something that I’ve been wanting to experience for a while.
However, I never really push through with it because I was afraid that I won’t be able to pull it off. But then suddenly I realized that I am turning thirty and if I don’t do it now then when?
This realization encouraged me to made this trip a reality. After all, life is too short, might as well go and achieve your long time dreams and plans regardless of your age or how long it took you to actually it happen.
I was a bit nervous a few days before my trip but in the end it was such an amazing experience and I would definitely do it again!
I hope you found this interesting and if you’ve been wanting to try solo traveling, GO FOR IT!
5 Comments
Leonard Durso
Great outfit. Looking like that, you won’t have any trouble meeting people.
Giulia
Yessss to this!!! Could totally relate! x
vinneve
Hi how are you nowdays? It’s been awhile. I am checking out my usual reader/followers.
Keep safe on this lockdown period anywhere you may be.
Regards.
helena
Yes to all of this this! I loved my solo traveling experience and I honestly can’t wait to do it again, it was so fulfilling and liberating. I’m glad you got to experience and doing it before a landmark age! In terms of #1, my sister gave me a tip that you can download the map of a country on google and it will allow you to use it when you’re offline. Hope that helps!
Ema
Solo traveling is the best… empowering! Nice article 🙂