Have you ever done solo travel before? If not, what’s kept you from trying? Earlier this year, I went to New Orleans on my first solo trip. I was a bit nervous leaving the family home and venturing out on my lonesome. However, it was an absolutely great experience. In this post, we are going to discuss five simple reasons why you should try solo travel too.

1. Freedom and Flexibility

The more people you travel with, the more difficult it becomes to plan your trip. You have to coordinate flights, hotels, activities, dining plans, etc. And, if plans do change, it’s much more frustrating to figure out alternatives.

Traveling by yourself, you need not worry about any of that. If you are a morning person, you can book an early flight. If you prefer a late dinner, you don’t have to concern yourself with others’ tastes. Like a jam-packed day? Go for it! It’s your trip, your plans!

2. Pace is Totally Yours

Have you ever wished you could spend more time at an activity but know the rest of your group is ready to go? On the other hand, have you been bored out of your mind somewhere but know the others are enjoying it? If you have kids, then any answer but ‘yes’ is a lie!

With solo travel, the pace is totally yours. Loving that museum? Stick around for an extra hour! Feel like turning in early one night? There is no one else to disappoint!

3. Connecting with New People

When you travel with others, you tend to spend a lot of time in conversation with them. That makes perfect sense. However, could this be deterring conversations with others?

The greatest benefit of traveling is immersing yourself in new experiences. This includes the opportunities it creates to meet new people. Solo travel would get pretty lonely if you spent the whole by yourself. That should give you the incentive to interact with others. This might seem daunting to some but think of it as a chance for personal growth. In fact, others might do all the work for you. On my trip to New Orleans, I had the sneaking suspicion that many people started conversations with me just out of curiosity why this guy is traveling alone.

4. Change in Perspective

When you are traveling in a group—especially as a family unit—you are not just a tourist. You are a parent, spouse, buddy, and so on. This impacts your perspective.

Traveling solo allows you to focus on the experience at hand. You’re not constantly thinking about the others in your group. You can be all-in on whatever you are doing.

5. Self-Reliance

The last reason you should consider solo travel is self-reliance. This might also be the biggest blocker for you to try it. We’ll get to that.

When you travel by yourself, it is up to you to make the decisions. There is no deferring to others. For some, this might not be too big of a change. For others, it may be a chance to boost your confidence and strengthen problem-solving skills.

That said, security is understandably a big consideration. For solo travel, some are at a higher risk than others. There is a solution though.

If you feel you are especially at risk traveling alone, join a tour group! This gives you the safety of a group setting while also putting you amongst new people. There is an added advantage to this as well. You’ll probably share similar interests with the others, making it easier to build new friendships!

Give Solo Travel a Try!

Many of you reading this have been thinking of all the reasons not to solo travel. Sure, you can always think of reasons not to do something. I put off a solo trip for years for many of the reasons going through your head. However, I can now tell you all those reasons keeping you from trying it won’t hold a candle to the benefits you’ll reap when you finally give it a go.

So, start planning your solo trip today. It’ll be brilliant!

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