One thing I always find people talking about is traveling alone. But it’s always a question instead of an answer. I am going to go to X is it safe to travel alone? The question of course has a reason behind it. You’re going to be going far away from home and friends to somewhere totally unknown. You would surely feel better if you had someone with you right?
The first major thing is that to travel with a friend or as a group you actually need everyone to be equals. What I mean is that everyone needs to have the time off of work, they also all need the same amount of money. How many of us have a friend that would be willing to just run off to Morocco with us for a month? How many could if you had the time and money? I took a year off and traveled the world; do you think I would ever find someone able to do that with me?
The thing is many people put off travel because they don’t have someone with them. You really want to run off to Paris but none of your friends can or will go with you, so you just don’t go. You put it off and wait until one day maybe you your partner or some friend will go with you. This is a horrible way to do things because it opens the possibility to it not happening. You should never put off your dreams of travel because of anyone else.
But I want to visit X is it safe alone. Without even knowing the country or where you want to do I can tell you yes its perfectly safe. What you don’t realize is that you are not actually alone at all. So long as you are going where other tourists/travelers want to go you are part of a massive group. You will never be the only tourist at the attraction or the only one on the street. You think I am crazy, you don’t even know these people! But you do, you all share the same connection. You’re all tourists that have wanted to come here and finally did it, you may be from the same country, and probably speak the same language.
Connecting with other travelers is as easy as asking to hang out with them for the day. It’s not like at home where if you ask a stranger to go shopping with you and grab a lunch it’s going to be weird. But when you are traveling everyone has the same things they want to do. If you haven’t been to the Great Wall yet and they haven’t been its incredibly easy to just go together. Why not right?
Seriously I spent over a year traveling solo on my last trip and I was never alone unless I wanted to be. I am not some super out going instant friend kinda guy. But it’s nearly impossible to not meet people. If you are in a hostel dorm room you already have roommates who are all there to do the same stuff as you. If you go down the to bar or common room in the hotel people are going to be all around you. Did you just over hear 2 people saying they were going to the Great Wall tomorrow, just walk over and ask to join them. I swear this works 99% of the time. Does the city or hostel/hotel have a walking tour? Now you and at least 10 other people are going to be walking around for a good 2 or 3 hours together. You are bound to strike up a conversation with one of them at least. I can absolutely guarantee that you will never be alone unless you want to be no matter where you go or what you do.
Not only will you not be alone but you will also have a better time then some people that travel in groups. If you and 4 of your friends came together you don’t need to talk to other travelers. You have enough people in your clique that you can just do your own thing and ignore everyone else. I’ve seen this plenty of times and I always feel sorry for those people. Being alone allows you to connect with other travelers from all over the world. Maybe even make friends in the next country you want to visit. Sure you can do this with your group if you wanted to, but if you are alone you have to do it. I have many great friends from all over the world that I met just this way. I have even visited a few of them again in their home countries! Japanese friends I met in Israel, Egyptian friends I met in Turkey, Taiwanese friends I met in Austria, and Australian friends I met in Japan just to name a few.
I really want to put your mind at ease here and expresses that you will never be alone traveling alone. You are part of a greater traveler community and new friends and experiences are all around you. You are already a part of them just by being there, now it’s just the simple matter of striking up a conversation. “So where are you from?”
