So, I was out with some girlfriends the other night, and this topic came up. Traveling alone. And how we all should do it at some point in our lives.
I am little scared by the idea of this, however, I kind of want to try it. I always say I wished I had a boyfriend simply for a travel buddy. I should so ditch that idea and try this plan out.
Does anyone out there actually do this? Where is a good place to go? I always said I wanted to see France, and no one I would travel with wants to, so I am thinking this is a possibility, but maybe I should start out smaller scale. Your thoughts?
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4 comments:
I've traveled abroad (and domestically) several times on my own for varying lengths of time, and I love it. It's exhilarating. It forces you to do several things:
1) You become more self-sufficient, learning to travel with only what you need from home (basically, what you can fit in one suitcase or backpack), and relying on your intuition to find anything else that you might need in whatever places you're going. After a while, you'll begin to notice which things you really need (for me, my camera and the Internet), which things (or people) you really miss back home, and you might be surprised at things you don't miss and can live without.
2) It'll force you to meet lots of people from all over, whether they are locals or fellow travelers. You'll need to do this to get anywhere on your journey, and I think you'll like meeting new people and the interesting (albeit, temporary) company you'll find. Hostels are a wonderful place to meet the latter (people who are often traveling solo, just like you, and need to share a cab or bus, or need to split a room, or just want to find someone to explore with). Don't let the "Hostel" movies scare you; I've made some great traveler friends from all around the world this way, as well as many great local friends. It's amazing how much I've learned from all the people I've met. Traveling buddies also come in handy if I ever want to travel to their home regions of the world at some point; or in the case of locals I've met, if I ever want to travel back to their countries again.
3) When you don't have traveling buddies to talk to, your solo journeys can be hugely introspective times. (Side note: I make this point knowing that we are both only children, and thus probably grew up experiencing quite a lot on our own anyways… or at least I did, and am often introspective because of it.)You're exploring totally unfamiliar, hopefully awesome sights, and being able to take it all in just for yourself, on your own schedule and terms, and relating all this back to your own thoughts, can make for very touching, deep, personal moments. That said, this point is a double-edged sword: I've had a few grand, awe-inspiring (and I mean that in the hugest sense) moments that only I could/should experience on my own; but there have also been a few instances where I've witnessed things so elegant or powerful that I've been immediately remorseful for seeing them by myself, and for not having a person special to me there to share the experience with. Your solo time is also an excellent time to muse on things. Lots of backpackers keep small journals. I usually use my camera to do this, post the pictures to Facebook, and write extraordinarily long captions to make a sort of travelogue when I get home.
Now, I will be up-front with you: I think it is much easier and safer for men to travel abroad alone than it is for women. That’s not meant to be a sexist remark. Aside from the safety reasons you might expect to hear associated with this point, from what I’ve seen, a lot of the rest of the world simply does not have the same social norms regarding gender equality and liberalness that the US, Canada, and Western Europe do. This can make it very tough for a woman (especially a foreign woman) to walk around by herself. That said, I do know a couple of women who are stark exceptions to this observation, and have made it totally on their own in the Middle East.
As for places you might like to go… it seems you like the idea of going to France, and that’s not a bad candidate for your first solo trip. That, along with Ireland (a great choice!), the UK, or any Scandinavian country are very friendly, easy to travel, and generally safe. I’m afraid I can’t offer too much solo travel advice for these, though. I’ve been to the UK and Ireland on group trips, but my solo traveling has predominantly been in the Middle East and Central America. My first time solo was in the summer of 2007, when I went over to Jordan for my study abroad. I ended up making friends with a couple students, and we took side trips to Syria and Egypt. I went to Guatemala on my own in March 2008. Most recently, I went back to the Mideast in November 2009, to Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon. If I had to pick my next destination right now, Israel and Argentina are at the top of the list.
Sorry for the mega-long post, but I hope that helps! Let me know if you decide to jet off somewhere – I’d be interested to hear where you’ll go.
I travel to work alone!
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