Everyone should travel alone.
At some point. Even if it’s just once.
At the time of writing this, I am finishing up my first venture of travelling alone. So you may think I’m being a bit naive.
But bear with me.
Taking your first solo trip for most, not all, can be pretty terrifying. Especially if you’re naturally more introverted like myself. It can seem pretty daunting and is so SO easy to say no to.
But that is PRECISELY why you should do it.
It’s a ‘feel the fear and do it anyway’ type of thing.
I’ve been following a YouTube account, Yes Theory, for awhile now. Their whole theory is saying ‘yes’ to things that make you feel uncomfortable. To ‘seek discomfort’.
Now you may be like, ‘well why the hell would I want to do that?’
Because discomfort is a catalyst for growth.
Obviously I’m no lifestyle guru, with all this training that can actually put ‘proof’ behind what I’m saying. But you’re a quick google search away from finding out that statement, is pretty darn accurate.
(Also if you want need some more ideas, subscribe to Yes Theory’s YouTube channel. Great fun, great videos. Plus, they’re the guys that were responsible for Will Smith’s 50th birthday bungy jump over the Grand Canyon – pretty cool)
ANYWAYS.
Moving on.
Travelling alone is, without a doubt, one of the best things I’ve done.
Was it challenging? Yes.
You get thrown into a completely different culture (varies depending on where you’re going, obviously), and you just have to figure it out. Alone.
But that’s kind of what makes it so rewarding.
Plus, you get to do everything YOU want to do. You want to go and do a 10 hour hike? Do it. You want to go and swim with sharks? Do it. You want to go and find an extremely obscure landmark, that your friends wouldn’t let you see? Go find it. You want to sit inside and watch Netflix all day? Go for it.
You can make it exactly the trip you want, no sacrifices.
I’m not saying you should only ever travel alone from this point onwards. I still LOVE going on trips with family and friends, it can be great fun.
But I am saying, if there’s a place you’ve been wanting to go to for ages and your only limiting factor is not having someone to go with, just go by yourself.
You’ll have a great time. I promise.
This is a fairly sporadic blog post, mainly because there’s a lot of things around this subject that I would like to talk about. For that, I’m sorry.
I genuinely believe that all of us can benefit from travelling alone.
You end up learning a lot about yourself, you push yourself to do things that you maybe otherwise wouldn’t do – chatting to new people, heading to the pub by yourself, taking yourself out for meals.
It’s a truly wonderful experience.
As I’ve said, it can be scary. But I swear to God, it is SO worth it.
(P.S. Obviously if you’re travelling alone, keep your wits about you. ESPECIALLY if you’re a female (I’m sorry, unfortunately it’s just the way the world works at the moment). Just needed to make that clear before I finish.)
(Likely that I will do more posts about this though so stay tuned!!)