What Solo Travel Has Taught Me Over the Years
What Does Solo Travel Teach You?
September 2, 2021
Traveling solo is not just about getting on a plane and landing somewhere new.
It’s about the journey of what it takes to get us there. It teaches each one of us something new every single time we land on the runway or we find ourselves in an unfamiliar place that (strangely) feels like home.
Especially as solo travel enthusiasts, each trip we take is meant to make us better people for the world and for ourselves.
So if you have questions about why solo traveling is something you should try at least once in your life, I’m sharing a few of the lessons I’ve picked along the way.
Having the opportunity to travel alone is amazing and you deserve to experience it too.
Things that Solo Travel teaches you as a Woman Traveler
ROUTINE
When I travel by air, for example, I usually like early flights because of the solitude I encounter when I first arrive at the airport.
I don’t like that the shops and coffee places aren’t open yet, but that’s actually part of that ‘solitude’ I’m talking about. I get in there and walk around until I begin to smell the glorious scent of the first coffee brew.
This became a normal occurrence and I found that the routine gave me peace of mind and eased me up on my feelings of travel jitters.
After purchasing my coffee cup, I will usually take my first sips and curiously watch as more and more people start arriving at the airport and settling in everywhere in the lobbies.
It’s in that moment that I breathe and internally thank the airport for providing me a safe space to sit, reflect, and take on the day before the adventure.
Learning to keep routines, even on days I fly, has made me more organized and calm in situations where I otherwise wouldn’t be.
FREEDOM
The thing about solo travel that I loved when I first tried it was that you get to make your own decisions. It’s 100% just you; You truly get to choose how you want your day to go.
You have the complete freedom to craft your journey however you see it fit. If you want to have a super-packed day with activities and museums on your bucket list, like my trip to Belgium, you do that!
But if you want to do the opposite (lounging for a few hours or days) then you do that instead!
As an indecisive person, I quickly learned to put a lot of value on my choices and how to move forward with my decisions. If I didn’t like them in the end, I would try to readjust my expectation or simply try again.
This of course gave me the confidence to make decisions outside of travel and to make the most out of life situations.
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Solo traveling in Granada, Spain made me feel empowered
PRIVILEGE
I feel like I grow a little bit each time I take a trip alone. It’s a reminder that I’m doing this for myself and by myself.
But with being able to do that (and to afford it by being able to save money for travel) I can’t deny that it does come from privilege. Not everyone has the opportunity to travel, let alone solo, so this was the toughest pill for me to swallow.
I have that privilege.
As solo travelers, we can find ourselves being morning people, planners, budgeters, and our own protectors. We can navigate new places and situations with research we can freely do on our smartphones.
All in all, we can do anything we set our mind to and still have fun with it. All of this is a form of privilege that should be recognized for what it is.
EMPOWERMENT
Even though we travel alone, we’re never alone.
Solo traveling can get lonely and it can suck the fun out of it, but by adjusting our mentality we can find comfort in unknown territory.
It’s not a switch you can turn on and off. I would agree that it takes some serious mental and emotional work to plan and take your first solo trip. But this also means you’re growing and you are fueling yourself with empowerment.
You are choosing yourself with every flight you take and you are choosing to write your story under your terms. You have the power to give something to yourself that no one else can:
The opportunity to be brave, to be adventurous, and to simply live.
Inspired to plan your first solo trip? I have a checklist for you to keep you on track!
MATURITY
The truth is, the effects of traveling begin WAY before you even take a flight.
They begin to take place when you plant the idea in your heart that you want to take a trip by yourself. Then the effects develop when you have a set date and a plan in place.
Finally, these effects grow when you purchase your tickets and you make the trip a reality. So by the time you take a seat in Row 27, you are a new human being with new dreams and goals.
You’ve grown from who you were a few weeks ago. At that moment, it’s clear that solo traveling means maturity.
LOVE
When you arrive at your new destination, you take in the scents of a new location and realize that you have transformed all of these lessons above into one constant feeling: LOVE.
You simply find yourself standing at the corner of your newly-found favorite intersection and you can only feel your heart expanding like a little red balloon, and your smile widening with no end.
That, my friends, is exactly what love is.
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