5 Reasons Why You Should Travel Alone At Least Once In Your Life

Being an only child in a family with parents working a lot, I got taught to be independent at a very young age. This sometimes also includes shopping or dinner alone, for example. Therefore, I am used to doing a lot by myself. The only thing I never did by myself was going to travel alone. When I was younger, I only travelled with my parents. I just started to fly on vacation with friends a few years ago. The problem was that sometimes I wanted to visit places nobody else wanted to visit. Due to that, I had to decide whether I wanted to travel alone or not to see the places I wanted to.

The trouble with that situation was that travelling alone sounded scary as hell. Just thinking of spending the whole day alone in a foreign city without knowing anyone freaked me out even just thinking about it.

Luckily, my curiosity became more vital than my fear last year, and I finally got the strength to dare for that adventure. In March 2018, I visited Vienna not only for the first time, but it was also on my first solo trip. It was a fantastic experience, which taught me so much! After visiting Vienna alone, I recommended travelling alone to everyone I know. Many people were saying it would be weird to do that. However, I have a few friends who dared to take that step as well, and they were so grateful for that experience.

Hence, here are five reasons why you should travel alone at least once!

2. INDEPENDENCE

Travel alone means learning to be independent. You must do everything independently, from booking the tickets and hotels to finding the right way to keep yourself busy. The last point is not entirely accurate because there is always the opportunity to meet someone new while travelling. However, you cannot rely so easily on others when you have an adventure alone.

Independence is something you can learn and gain step by step. Also, the key to success, in this case, is preparation! If you do your research and be prepared while travelling, you will not feel so insecure. You will probably still get lost a few times on your way, but if it comforts you, I got lost a hundred times while travelling alone. I just learned from it, so I am sure it will not happen to me again if I have to take that route back.

Talking about being prepared, here are all the travel essentials every jet-set girl needs for her flight.

4. MEETING NEW PEOPLE

One of my favourite things about travelling or moving abroad is meeting incredible new people and finding fabulous new friends. Travelling alone doesn’t mean you have to be alone all the time. I met so many lovely friends because we happened to be alone, both of us being here and there. Now, whenever we have the chance, we are meeting again.

Since I study abroad very often, I can tell you that there are plenty of reasons why you should also do an abroad semester. Furthermore, you should definitely go alone for an abroad semester. Don’t get me wrong! Going with your friend can also be good because it strengthens your friendship. However, I also saw many times that you would just stick with your friend then. If this situation surrenders, people tend to make less effort to find new friends than if they would go alone.

As I said, I had the pleasure of meeting many lovely friends abroad. Even after years, the friendship is still going strong. Additionally, I learned so many new cultural aspects from my friends because if not learning from natives, then what else?