Solo Travel Benefits: Great Things Happened After Travelling Alone

After years of talking about solo travel benefits, there are many people who still don’t get it.

Most people still don’t get why travelling alone is beneficial. I understand them because I was one of the sceptical ones too. Solo travelling sounded like a nightmare to me. But here I am, writing about it because I want to let the word out and tell you what the solo travel benefits are and that all you need to do is to travel!

In reality, some of the greatest things started happening after I started travelling alone. I’m sure we can talk about solo travel for hours, but for now, check out the more striking things that you will notice at yourself after your first solo travel.

Save this post about solo travel benefits for later! You’ll thank me for the inspiration!

Solo travelling will make you more sociable

This might sound like a ‘No-No’ for introverts, but hear me out.

I’ve always been a sociable and outgoing person. Even so, after travelling alone for the first time, I realise I wasn’t as sociable as I thought. In fact, I was lonely.

But I soon realised that I had a choice and so do you. You can either talk to people and hope for the best. Or you can feel lonely and miserable for one entire day. Yes, it will feel awkward at first. But use those situations in my favour and take the first step to approach another person. I made so many friends like this and that really helped me in my solo travels.

Whenever you find yourself thinking if you should talk to a stranger or try to make friends in a hostel, just remember that the worst-case scenario is that they will say “No.”

Most of the times their reason for refusing a conversation has nothing to do with you. They probably have no time and that’s ok. You’ll need to practice this skill and pretty soon you’ll start to understand people better. And that’s a soft skill that not a lot of people have.

By reaching out to people and talking to them, you will have come to know what kind of people you enjoy having around, what are your favourite conversation topics and how to break the ice. And like any other skill, practice makes all the difference.

Most times people are incredibly helpful, so don’t be afraid to ask for anything you might need.

Solo Travel Benefits: You will make friends all over the world

If you’re like me, naturally drawn by diversity and everything new, then you’ll discover an entire universe of stories and facts about the world. And you’ll love it. I, personally, don’t know a lot of people who are not instantly curious about people from far away places, different cultures, and unusual stories.

That’s what will drive you to talk to people, and to be engaged in conversations with people you’ve just met. That’s how you will make friends all over the world. You’ll call them travel friends, and if you’re lucky, you’ll get to meet with them again, in a new place. You’ll be grateful for their friendship, think about them every now and then, even though you don’t talk that often.

Ok, I get it. You may not feel like this. Most people don’t, and that’s OK. But hear me out  (or re-read the paragraph with getting sociable). The voice putting you down is my own inner voice. That’s your biggest enemy. Once you become aware of it, you will be able to silence it and your entire world will change.

Travelling is an inner journey, while you get to see the world

By far, the biggest breakthrough will be to discover your wants and to understand your actions.

While you will travel by yourself, you will get to spend more time by yourself, which will make you more aware of your needs. You will learn things like

• How much do you need to rest,
• How do you react when you meet new people
• What do you enjoy doing,
• What kind of people do you want around,
• What kind of work do you want to do,
• How do you like to spend your free time?

Travelling is a tool and it will give you the power to learn something new, from any situation. Some food for though, as some would say. I believe every interaction can be beneficial, and each person that you meet can add value to your life (if you only pay attention to that person).

Knowing your set of values and beliefs will eventually lead to something even greater. It will lead to focused interactions, in which you can be sociable while pursuing your personal interest. I’m talking about passions and hobbies. Things that really keep you up at night. Subjects you care about debating. That sort of interests. And not only did I get this strong set of values when I was travelling solo, but I also developed the habit of engaging in conversations to help others find their own.

All of this are a brief illustration of how I found my inner peace and how you can do it too.  Read more about my journey of self-discovery here.

Other important solo travel benefits: You’ll discover what’s important to you and what do you want in life

Having a basic understanding of myself is also something that ultimately was going to happen, but the real question in my life was “What do I want?”. I was clueless when I was asked what do I really want to do with life, or where do I see myself in 5 years.  That was not my favourite topic. And now I understand that most 20-years feel the same. And I am here to tell you that everything will be ok.

One of the greatest solo travel benefits is that it got me to a place where I can easily express my values. Yes, life is a never-ending learning process. Be aware of it and that will make a great difference in your life.

Have you ever asked  yourself:  What should I do with my  life?

I did. For years. I was waiting for something to happen. Or for some sort of sign to get me moving. But that never happened. All I felt was a lot of fear and uncertainty and fear builds up from anxiety. But I have some news for you.

The answer you’re looking for is inside you. Use the tool of travel to dig. Uncover one of the great solo travel benefits. Discover what you’re here to do with your life.

It is normal to worry about things that could happen, but having the habit of always worrying leads to anxiety which only leaves you in fear. And from that state of fear, nobody will ever take a risk. To be completely honest, if you want to achieve anything, you’ll have to find the strength to leave that fear aside and just do it. Just like Nike says you should. They’re right.

For me, the moment I’ve realized I was out of my comfort zone, was the moment when some of those terrible fears left me. It was like there were never there. Because the fear was all in my head, but there was nothing to fear. It was outside my comfort zone that I met people as lost as I was. Nobody had a perfect plan for how their life should look like. And that was the moment I realised we are all the same. Deep down, we all have a good soul and a desperate want for love.

It only takes one second to realise you’re not as lost as you thought you were and that you are the only one responsible for the social pressure you’re putting on yourself. Your friends, family, and others around can say what they want. As long as you don’t fall under the trap of believing them, it can’t harm you. So don’t put any pressure on yourself. There is no perfect path in life, no perfect career and we must certainly not all have the same life.

Solo Travel Benefit: It improves time management and planning skills

Not only will you immensely improve your planning skills, but you’ll get so good at it, that others will start to count on you to plan stuff. That might not be the outcome you desire, but take it as a recognition of your skill.

Having decided on what you want to do, let’s say plan a solo trip to Europe (because we always want stuff that makes us feel good), it will be a lot easier to focus on that thing. When you focus on something, you start to think about ways to make it better, in this case, plan your trip better, and that’s how you will eventually get good at planning. It takes practices and will, but it will happen. You wouldn’t be here reading solo travel benefits if you didn’t have it in you. Trust me, I know better than anyone else. Nobody trusted me and had faith I can pull a one-month budget trip in Europe all by myself, and yet that’s a travel planning strategy I haven’t read anywhere else and that still brings a lot of traffic to my blog every single day. You’ve got it.

That’s why it’s important to see things clearly and focus on the things you’re doing. I developed a routine of planning things. I focus so hard on my travel planning that sometimes I get all kinds of ideas of how things can go wrong, and then I plan some more for those unlikely situations. Some call it life experience. I call it a solo travel benefit, and it will stay with you for life.

The unpredictable situations are not always pleasant, but the outcome is a better version of yourself. Next time, you’ll be ready, and it will not catch you unprepared. Remember that failing is part of the learning process.

Don’t worry too much about this. If you feel you need to improve your planning skills, please pack your backpack and just go solo travelling. I promise you that something magical will happen. I know because it also happened to me.

Solo travel will make you see things more clearly and eased your decision-making process

We all like simple things, don’t we?

There is one really simple trick to make things simple. In fact, most things are simple, but we tend to make everything more complicated than it is. That’s what people do. You, me, most of the people around us overthink everything, and that leads to a lot of worrying.

When you worry about stuff, it’s not good. It will keep you up at night, and make you feel miserable. Oh, and you can’t concentrate. Doesn’t sound too joyful, right?

That’s not living. That is merely a disappointing way to cope with life. And nobody wants that.

All it took was a mind shift. a change in perspective and a recognition of priorities. Sounds like important stuff, but again, I understood this after I started travelling alone and it is one of the greats solo travel benefits of them all.

When you travel for a longer period of time, you don’t have time to worry about abstract stuff. You need to use your energy to decide on more tangible stuff, such as train tickets and where will you sleep tonight. You learn to act fast and based on priorities. You will notice how you have the power to simplify everything in your life.

You will realise that most things and people that you have around you, are not really actively helping you in any way, and you will learn to let go of them. Trust me, it’s all for the better. Yes, travelling will teach you that. You see, when you’re travelling alone, you are the one on the move and letting go of stuff and of others is part of the journey.

And shortly, you will learn how to let go of the unnecessary time-wasting situations and connections. That will feel like total bliss, trust me. This solo travel benefit will allow you to have more time to focus on your life and plan for the future. That’s the path to keeping things simple and achievable. You will achieve a level of discipline, drive and focus like you never seen before.

Have you ever had any difficulties making a decision about something you really love?

Me neither.

After you will discover what you love doing, the answer to ‘” What do you want to do with your life?” will come naturally.

And all the answers to any questions you have about your life will follow.

If there is only one thing you take away from this long list of solo travel benefits, it is this one:

Have patience with yourself. You’ll get there.

I know it’s scary to go out into the world and start travelling alone for the first time. I know because I’ve done it. But after a while, when you realise all the great benefits of solo travelling, you wake up wanting more. I know it’s scary! (But so worth it!)