If you can't be bothered to read the whole post, I will break it down for you:
Solo Travel Pros:
1. Easier to meet people - in your hostel, at a restaurant
2. You get to see and do what you want to do - no one to compromise with. Especially the travel buddies you meet spontaneously, there isn't the same pressure to stay together and do everything as a unit.
3. Reflection - More time alone with your thoughts to absorb what you are experiencing. No need to constantly entertain or think about another person.
4. You are more likely to engage in random activities - Without another person second guessing you or being more timid, you'll say yes to a lot more.
Solo Travel Cons:
1. Especially if you are a woman, you have to always be aware of your surroundings - Travelers should always be aware, even in a group, but this is definitely a strong necessity if you are alone. It can get quite exhausting.
2. Fear - It's a lot scarier alone. You have to face everything without a support group. I am not saying you can't make fabulous friends while alone somewhere but if they aren't traveling with you every step of the way and something goes wrong (which will happen), it can be a huge stressor.
3. Too much time with your thoughts - I am a huge people person and while I am a fan of my own thoughts, I definitely don't like be stuck with only them for an extended period of time.
4. Danger - I don't want to freak people out and I hate it when people are so terrified of the big, bad outside world but the truth is that I have been sexually harassed in pretty much every place I have been. India was by far and away the worst where I have been groped in movie theaters, in autos, etc. I have been followed through a mall. A group of guys once even tried to pull my friend into a van. I have also had some difficulties in the U.S. and Italy, so no getting smug here western world! I was with a group when these things happened (except for the auto incident, that was scary), and while groups don't get rid of the problem, they do serve as a deterrent to potential harassers. If you are alone, you just have to be that much more aggressive and good at sensing trouble.
Tips to meeting people while solo-ing:
1. Your dorm mates - Hopefully you won't get any obnoxious ones. I got really lucky when I went to Santorini and I am still talking Facebook friends with them! Try to alternate activities with people and go see the sights together.
2. If your hostel has a bar, GO! That is the only place I drank while in
Athens. I did not want to stumble home along any sketchy streets so I made a
nightly place for myself in the handy bar in the basement of Hostel
Aphrodite. Another tip is to make friends with the bartender. He or, in
my case, she is the best person to introduce you to old and new people.
This hostel also had a great policy of a free shot of ouzo for every new person who walked in. Nothing bonds people faster than taking a shot together.
For the Group Pros and Cons list, just invert the Solo list. I will add these two for Group Pros:
*You always have someone to share the experience with - This can be a moment of absolute amazing or it can be stuck on a fifteen hour bus ride to Hell on bumpy road/sitting between two toilets on an Indian train for eight hours (both have happened to me). Having someone along can turn a good memory into a great one or a crappy one into a great story.
*You can divide and conquer - If there is a large enough group and you want to see different things, you can always split up if you want company or even go it alone.
Now here is the actual post:
I have been traveling since I was three months old. I have been taken on trains that were falling apart, rickety buses, jeepneys, tuk tuks/auto rickshaws, you name it. I have traveled all around most of East and Southeast Asia, the U.S., and Europe. All of this was with my family. The first time I ever took a flight alone (i.e. without my parents), I was fourteen years old. I was flying from Chennai, India to Manila, Philippines and I was going to visit one of my best friends. During high school I also traveled with friends to Bali, Goa, and Kodai Kanal. I traveled by myself up and down half of the U.S. east coast when I was sixteen, but always to visit friends or family. When I graduated from high school I did my celebration Euro-trip with my then boyfriend and we blazed through Denmark, France, Belgium, the Alps, the Netherlands, and England (not to mention driving through Luxembourg and Switzerland).
The common thread through all my travels is that I was always with people. The only time I was alone was during transit. I love going on adventures with people and I didn't feel like I was missing out by avoiding solo travel.
It finally came up as a viable option when I was in college and wanted to go to Greece. My friend didn't get as much of a summer as I did so she arranged to meet me ten days later in Spain. I was to head to Athens and then Santorini while staying in dorm hostels. This was new. And I was terrified.
It is such a different experience traveling with a group as opposed to alone. While I am usually the responsible one, the fact that I had no safety net stressed me out. If something went wrong, I had to work it out all on my own. If I ran into trouble, there was no one to go through the ordeal with me. If I had all my stuff stolen, there was no friend's credit card to help me get by. Having a friendly face, if only to suffer through a situation together, wasn't going to be an option.
What I failed to take into account was that groups tend to stick together and are less likely to want to branch out to fellow backpackers. Fellow backpackers are also less likely to want to approach a large tight-knit group of friends or even just a couple. I have actually had people tell me during conversation that if I had been with a partner, they wouldn't have tried to start talking to me.
When I arrived in Athens, I had a bit of a harrowing trip to my hostel. I stayed at the Hostel Aphrodite (got to love the name) and to get there from the nearest metro stop you have to walk through a residential area, then through the sketchiest alley before you finally get to a main road and the hostel. While lugging my bag and trying to navigate in a strange city, guys began to catcall from the balconies of the apartments above me. This was not a fun journey.
However, the rest of my time in Greece was an absolute blast. I am very much still alive and in one piece and I am so glad I decided to go alone. I did get a horrible debilitating sickness (which to this day I am not sure what I got), but it only struck after I left Greece and was in Spain. By that point my friend and her friend joined me and so I had them to take care of poor sick me. That is when a group comes in handy. Plus, when I needed to pass out from exhaustion, they sectioned off and went to stuff I didn't have the energy to see.
That whole trip was a great comparison for the differences between group and solo travel. While I had an unforgettable experience alone, I personally prefer group (as in one or two other people).
Solo Travel Pros:
1. Easier to meet people - in your hostel, at a restaurant
2. You get to see and do what you want to do - no one to compromise with. Especially the travel buddies you meet spontaneously, there isn't the same pressure to stay together and do everything as a unit.
3. Reflection - More time alone with your thoughts to absorb what you are experiencing. No need to constantly entertain or think about another person.
4. You are more likely to engage in random activities - Without another person second guessing you or being more timid, you'll say yes to a lot more.
 |
| This is probably the most fun I had alone. I was in Santorini and I decided, on a whim, to start walking right. I walked from Fira to Oia and arrived just in time to see the sunset. I even ran into some friends I made on the shuttle to my hostel and they poured me a glass of wine. It was a perfect day. |
1. Especially if you are a woman, you have to always be aware of your surroundings - Travelers should always be aware, even in a group, but this is definitely a strong necessity if you are alone. It can get quite exhausting.
2. Fear - It's a lot scarier alone. You have to face everything without a support group. I am not saying you can't make fabulous friends while alone somewhere but if they aren't traveling with you every step of the way and something goes wrong (which will happen), it can be a huge stressor.
3. Too much time with your thoughts - I am a huge people person and while I am a fan of my own thoughts, I definitely don't like be stuck with only them for an extended period of time.
4. Danger - I don't want to freak people out and I hate it when people are so terrified of the big, bad outside world but the truth is that I have been sexually harassed in pretty much every place I have been. India was by far and away the worst where I have been groped in movie theaters, in autos, etc. I have been followed through a mall. A group of guys once even tried to pull my friend into a van. I have also had some difficulties in the U.S. and Italy, so no getting smug here western world! I was with a group when these things happened (except for the auto incident, that was scary), and while groups don't get rid of the problem, they do serve as a deterrent to potential harassers. If you are alone, you just have to be that much more aggressive and good at sensing trouble.
Tips to meeting people while solo-ing:
1. Your dorm mates - Hopefully you won't get any obnoxious ones. I got really lucky when I went to Santorini and I am still talking Facebook friends with them! Try to alternate activities with people and go see the sights together.
 |
| My awesome dorm mates surprised me with this sugary doughnut and "candles" for my 19th birthday in Santorini! |
For the Group Pros and Cons list, just invert the Solo list. I will add these two for Group Pros:
*You always have someone to share the experience with - This can be a moment of absolute amazing or it can be stuck on a fifteen hour bus ride to Hell on bumpy road/sitting between two toilets on an Indian train for eight hours (both have happened to me). Having someone along can turn a good memory into a great one or a crappy one into a great story.
*You can divide and conquer - If there is a large enough group and you want to see different things, you can always split up if you want company or even go it alone.
Now here is the actual post:
I have been traveling since I was three months old. I have been taken on trains that were falling apart, rickety buses, jeepneys, tuk tuks/auto rickshaws, you name it. I have traveled all around most of East and Southeast Asia, the U.S., and Europe. All of this was with my family. The first time I ever took a flight alone (i.e. without my parents), I was fourteen years old. I was flying from Chennai, India to Manila, Philippines and I was going to visit one of my best friends. During high school I also traveled with friends to Bali, Goa, and Kodai Kanal. I traveled by myself up and down half of the U.S. east coast when I was sixteen, but always to visit friends or family. When I graduated from high school I did my celebration Euro-trip with my then boyfriend and we blazed through Denmark, France, Belgium, the Alps, the Netherlands, and England (not to mention driving through Luxembourg and Switzerland).
The common thread through all my travels is that I was always with people. The only time I was alone was during transit. I love going on adventures with people and I didn't feel like I was missing out by avoiding solo travel.
It finally came up as a viable option when I was in college and wanted to go to Greece. My friend didn't get as much of a summer as I did so she arranged to meet me ten days later in Spain. I was to head to Athens and then Santorini while staying in dorm hostels. This was new. And I was terrified.
It is such a different experience traveling with a group as opposed to alone. While I am usually the responsible one, the fact that I had no safety net stressed me out. If something went wrong, I had to work it out all on my own. If I ran into trouble, there was no one to go through the ordeal with me. If I had all my stuff stolen, there was no friend's credit card to help me get by. Having a friendly face, if only to suffer through a situation together, wasn't going to be an option.
What I failed to take into account was that groups tend to stick together and are less likely to want to branch out to fellow backpackers. Fellow backpackers are also less likely to want to approach a large tight-knit group of friends or even just a couple. I have actually had people tell me during conversation that if I had been with a partner, they wouldn't have tried to start talking to me.
When I arrived in Athens, I had a bit of a harrowing trip to my hostel. I stayed at the Hostel Aphrodite (got to love the name) and to get there from the nearest metro stop you have to walk through a residential area, then through the sketchiest alley before you finally get to a main road and the hostel. While lugging my bag and trying to navigate in a strange city, guys began to catcall from the balconies of the apartments above me. This was not a fun journey.
However, the rest of my time in Greece was an absolute blast. I am very much still alive and in one piece and I am so glad I decided to go alone. I did get a horrible debilitating sickness (which to this day I am not sure what I got), but it only struck after I left Greece and was in Spain. By that point my friend and her friend joined me and so I had them to take care of poor sick me. That is when a group comes in handy. Plus, when I needed to pass out from exhaustion, they sectioned off and went to stuff I didn't have the energy to see.
That whole trip was a great comparison for the differences between group and solo travel. While I had an unforgettable experience alone, I personally prefer group (as in one or two other people).
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