Recently, I was discussing my winter solo travel experience with an acquaintance. After telling her...
Confession time: I am an introvert. I enjoy the company of other humans, but too many of them in the same place at the same time can wear me out. My idea of a lovely Saturday night is curling up in a cozy warm bed with a good book. I spend a lot of time thinking things out in my head. I do not like hugs.
I do, however, love solo travel. The first time I traveled anywhere alone other than the neighboring town was in college; I took my first trip to the South to visit potential graduate schools in South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. With a day to kill between two of the campus visits, I found myself sitting in a hotel room alone in my future hometown of Gainesville, Florida; while flipping through channels, it struck me – rather obviously, in retrospect – that I didn’t have to putter around town for a whole day waiting for something to happen. I could simply get in the car and spend the whole day doing whatever I wanted! I had no one else I needed to answer to, and no responsibility for anyone but myself. I think I ended up going to the Magic Kingdom that day.
Since that trip, I’ve traveled alone all over the country and to several countries in Europe as well. I’ve visited big cities, the countryside, flown, driven, taken trains, hiked, biked, and walked – all solo. These days, the majority of my travel comes with spouse and/or kids in tow, but I try to make it a priority to do at least one solo trip every 18 months or so – it’s that important to me! Luckily, my husband is totally supportive of me in this endeavor.
When I really think about it, my love for traveling alone comes down to just a few major things:
Solo travel is the ultimate expression of freedom. Every choice, every decision, every opportunity during a trip by myself is mine and mine alone. If I want to get an early start on the day – great! If I want to go to bed at 8 pm, I can do that! I can spend four hours or forty minutes in a museum, and I can “sleep like an X” in my king-sized hotel bed. I don’t have to spend any time shopping for souvenirs or waiting for other people to be ready to go. I don’t have to entertain children on a flight or constantly count heads when moving in a crowd. I get to unplug my brain from the day-to-day and focus on lesser needs – what to do, what to eat, where to sleep.
Solo travel allows me to engage in my destination on a different level. I’m an experienced traveler, so navigating a new city or figuring out public transit is already a skill I have acquired. Striking up a conversation with a stranger, however, is not! I am not a shy person at all, but traveling alone forces me to engage with people in my destination in a way that I don’t when traveling with others. For example, I am much more likely to ask my hotelier for a restaurant recommendation when traveling alone, or I’m more likely to sit at the bar in a pub and have a chat with the barkeep. I might join a walking tour at a particular location, or even a small group bus tour. I meet people differently when I’m traveling alone.
Solo travel is a form of self-care. I often indulge in things when traveling by myself that are either too expensive or too time-consuming when traveling with my family. For example, one of my all-time favorites treats when traveling is ordering room service and eating it while lying in bed. On an upcoming trip to London, I’m booked to experience an afternoon tea at a fancy hotel. On a past trip to New York, I went to a Broadway show. These are all things that get really expensive multiplied by four, or would not hold my family’s attention for very long – making them perfect activities for a solo trip.
Solo travel encourages reflection and self-discovery. Traveling alone gives me more time to reflect on what I’ve seen and who I’ve met, and reflection often leads me to learn something about myself. I found my favorite piece of art once on a solo trip. A Van Gogh painting called “Wheatfield with Crows,” the piece hit me on an emotional level when I stumbled across it in a museum. I must have spent half an hour staring at it, lost in the textures of the brushstrokes and stunned by the visceral reaction I had to the piece. I thought about that painting for hours after I left the museum. Since I was traveling alone, I had plenty of available bandwidth to work out why I had reacted so strongly that that particular piece of art (the why is a blog post for another day!).
Traveling solo may sound scary to some. It’s not everyone’s comfort zone, and I totally understand that. I also recognize that I am fortunate to have a supportive partner, plenty of time off work, and a financial situation that allows me to travel frequently. There are some experiences that I’m very glad to have shared with my loved ones! Travel is a big part of our identity as a family as well. However, solo travel is something I would always encourage if one has the means and the desire to do so.
