5 Reasons Why Solo Travel is the Best Thing You’ll Ever Do

I can’t tell you the amount of times people have asked me why on earth I’m travelling solo for a whole year. Seeing the world without a boyfriend? How dare I!

Despite the fact that it’s 2020 and we’re slowly breaking down traditional norms one by one, society often still tells us that the meaning of life is to find someone to share it with, and until that, life is meaningless. Unfortunately, Instagram’s obsession with #travelcouples only adds to the pressure, with Barbie and Ken: Influencer Editions gracing your phone screens every day.

But if I had waited until I had a hot piece of a…rm candy before I went on any adventures, I wouldn’t be writing this blog from a café in Luang Prabang, a sleepy riverside town in Laos, in the middle of Southeast Asia. I also wouldn’t have lived overseas (twice), visited 56 countries, started a solo female travel blog, or seen, done or eaten anywhere near as many epic things as I have at the ripe old age of 28.

If you still need convincing, here are five reasons why solo travel is the best thing you’ll ever do. 

Warning: This one’s pretty addictive. If you’ve ever travelled with a difficult partner, you’ll know how stressful it can be to find middle ground or to keep someone else happy while on the road. Compromise is a natural part of any relationship, but compromising on travel when you’re spending big bucks and your precious annual leave SUCKS.

Planning a trip with nothing to think about except your own preferences is a total game changer. Love cheese? Go to France and taste wine and cheese to your heart’s content. Obsessed with Carrie Bradshaw? Oh hey, Sex and the City Hotspots tour! Prefer your holidays with a cocktail in hand by the beach? Bali is calling, and no one is getting in the way of you answering.

If you get halfway through that cheese-fueled French holiday and decide you’re more passionate about pasta instead, guess what? You can fly to Italy and start another food crawl, no drama!

Travelling by yourself means you have no responsibility to stick to anyone else’s deadlines, flight times or approved leave dates. If something comes up that makes you want to stay longer, leave earlier, swap continents, or cancel your return flight home, you can do so without impacting anyone else*.

*Except maybe your boss, but that’s for Future You to think about.

It’s easy to look at experienced solo travellers and think that they’re different to you and that’s why they can do it. Maybe they’re introverts who don’t need social contact, maybe they’re super confident, maybe they have a natural ability to make best friends in hostels.

I’m here to tell you that (most of the time) that’s not true. Before I moved overseas at 19 years old for a uni exchange the most ‘solo travel’ I’d ever done was probably a four hour drive between my hometown and a work event, and even last year before kicking off a year-long solo round the world adventure, the longest fully solo trip I’d been on was a week in Lisbon, Portugal.

Solo travel can be tough, but getting out of your comfort zone absolutely does wonders for your confidence, your problem-solving abilities and your social skills.

And if you really need some human interaction, travelling solo doesn’t have to mean you’re alone all the time! There are loads of ways to make friends on your adventures, and even better, you know you’ve got a love of travel in common.

I try and do a tour of some sort in each destination, which lets me get my bearings, introduces me to the history and culture, and as a bonus I’ll meet other people who are visiting too. You could find a walking tour, a day trip to a nearby region, or, my personal favourite, a food tour.

When you live a ‘normal life’, with a job, a group of friends, family nearby, a routine and so on, the idea you have of yourself is massively shaped by what other people think of you, whether that’s good or bad.

When you’re alone, abroad, way out of your comfort zone, having incredible solo adventures and having to deal with the misadventures too, you learn just how much you can handle. Solo travel brings clarity to your self-perception, mental wellbeing and even future goalS and plans.

Let’s be clear, I’m not saying that solo travel is necessarily always better than travelling with the love of your life… If Ryan Reynolds knocked on my hostel door and whisked me away to a romantic island escape then obviously I wouldn’t say no.

But I want to break down the misconception that solo travel is some sort of ‘back up option’ for when your desperate search for a ‘significant other’ doesn’t pan out. You’re as significant as you need to be just as you, and I promise you, you’re about to have some damn significant adventures too.

Follow along the rest of my solo adventures and misadventures on my Finding Alexx travel blog or right here on Instagram.