There is something salutary about travelling solo. The freedom gained enables you to immerse yourself in different cultures in a way like no other. I took my first trip alone to New Zealand when I was a 20-year-old. I got to admit that was, hands down, the best experience ever. Yes! The picturesque camping spots and adrenaline pumping activities (bungee jumping, river rafting) added immensely to the experience.
Of course there are some potential hurdles you might come across when travelling solo like getting lost, planning expenses for your trip and finding likeminded travelers to mingle with. Common sense and preparing yourself well in advance can easily take care of all of these factors.
You get to meet people from different walks of life; when you travel with friends and relatives, one tends to interact less with fellow travelers. When you travel alone, you don’t really have a choice, do you? Sooner or later you’ll have to start chatting with the guy or girl next to you or risk being a lonely loner throughout your journey
Travelling alone really gets you out of your comfort zone. When I made a solo trip to the mountains in Himachal Pradesh recently, I had no idea what was in store for me. You are coerced into making choices that you wouldn’t have made if you were in a group. Little did I realize that this trip would be an energy infusing experience for me. Over the course of two weeks, I managed to trek six to seven hours almost every alternate day — that was definitely exhilarating. I was also lucky enough to come across a local farmer and his lovely family, with whom I ended up staying four days with.
You get to pace your day as you want to; if you wake up one morning grumpy after a hard night of partying, worry not! Travelling alone enables you to decide what you want to do at the time you want to do it. There will be no travel companies to wake you up early in the morning to show you new sights at your destination. The next time you don’t feel like travelling to “sunrise point”, you don’t have to!
You can take the time to re-develop yourself. If you have a hectic life back home, there’s nothing like travelling solo. Explore parts of your personality that you may never have uncovered. There will be some surprising and challenging elements in your expedition. But isn’t that the whole point of a journey. You will end up becoming more of who you finally wish to be.
So the next time you have an opportunity to travel alone, don’t think twice! Pack your backpack and explore the world. You’ll be amazed by how rejuvenated you feel once you get back home.
Somesh Chandran
Image Source: [https://www.flickr.com/photos/danielfoster/13081653374]