Is Solo Travel Really Worth It? (Pro’s & Con’s)
Solo travel is something you’ve most likely heard about online or through social media. People hype up travel like it’s the best thing ever.
It’s all smiles and sunshine, without a care in the world. The reality, in short, is that it just depends on your situation and your reasons for traveling.
I’ve been on the move my whole life, and long story short, it’s a crazy ride. If life is a roller coaster, then a life of travel is a roller coaster with higher ups and deeper downs.
So with that being said, here comes the famous pros and cons list that everyone loves!
Pros? and Cons?
There’s no surprise that so many people recommend solo travel. It can really be a benefit for some, but with every pro that you encounter, a con could be waiting just around the corner.
I’ll list a couple of reasons below, from my own experience, on how traveling helped me develop as a person and a couple of other reasons you might find interesting.
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Pros:
1. Unconscious Confidence
I know what you’re thinking; what do you mean by “unconscious”? When you think about the idea of confidence, people usually think about how unconfident they are.
They need to be more confident and assertive. They usually figure this out through their own observations or comments from friends or family.
The problem with this way of thinking is that when a person is even just mildly concerned about their confidence, what ends up happening is that they “try” too hard to fix the problem.
By “trying” too hard to be more confident and outgoing, what happens more often than not is that it becomes an ineffective (but commendable) act that will lead the person back to where they started.
Constant travel fixes this problem. Instead of “trying” to be more confident, you’re forced to actively meet new people, overcome more obstacles, and just have more varied experiences in general (more chances to practice, but in a natural way).
You’ll start to notice that “confidence” will slowly become part of your personality. To the point where you’re no longer “trying” to be more of the confident person you envision, you just are.
And yes, other people will notice this as well. You’ll develop more of a “presence” as a person, and people will see you in a different light. Just know that this benefit only comes from constant travel for an extensive amount of time.
One month or even a couple of months of travel to a new place (city, state, or country; the effect will be more or less the same) might feel good, but it most likely isn’t enough to have any real significant benefits other than a good time (although it could be the spark that sets you off in that direction).
2. Adaptability of Self-Awareness
You see the adaptability pro on a lot of “x amount of reasons to travel” lists out there, but they don’t really get into the how or why. I put these traits together because I think they sort of play into one another.
Traveling will obviously hone your skills at adapting to new environments. Just like the way travel develops your “unconscious confidence,” your ability to adapt develops in the same way, along with your self-awareness.
Adaptability is a little trickier than confidence to explain. A lot of people understand why it’s important to adapt to the customs and mannerisms of people in a specific place. They try to do what the locals do but aren’t self-aware enough to see their own faults.
Traveling helps in that you become more attuned to how people see you in a different way and are able to adapt and use your differences and similarities to connect with different people.
So really, what happens is that your self-awareness becomes razor-sharp (or at least better than it was before). You start to become more aware of yourself, your surroundings, and the people around you.
You’re now able to think and act more effectively according to whatever situation you find yourself in.
3. Quick Thinking
Once you develop the above skills, you start to become better at handling situations where you need to think quickly and make decisions on the spot. You develop the confidence to adapt.
When you’re confident and able to adapt, you start to become more self-aware. You learn how to differentiate your similarities and differences from others to find common ground.
When you put it all together, you can apply these skills to any number of situations that might require you to think and act in this way. Basically, you get better at “thinking on your feet.”
4. Constant Learning
If you’re anything like me, this might be more of a personality trait than an actual skill. If you truly enjoy learning about new things, then solo travel is something that will hold your interest endlessly.
When traveling to a new place, you’ll have to learn new ways to approach people and situations. You’ll learn about culture, language, history, and different ways of thinking. Learning something new will be part of your normal life.
Yes, you can learn about all these things without traveling, but part of learning is experience. If you think about it, if you truly are a person who seeks knowledge, reading about specific topics or doing research will only take you so far.
To really understand the whole idea, experience with a certain topic or concept is an important part of the learning process. Especially when it comes to traveling and understanding perspective.
5. Comfort With the Unexpected
Constant travel will make you feel almost comfortable when dealing with unexpected situations. When something unexpected or bad happens, most people get stressed out about their situation.
They rack their brains thinking of solutions to how they can deal with the problem. They may even break down mentally and become unable to handle a situation.
Traveling to different places puts you in an ever-changing environment. You get comfortable living that type of lifestyle, and you start to adopt a more calm and collected mentality.
Unexpected situations become almost expected. I say almost because no one can really expect and be completely comfortable with an unexpected problem. It’s just that someone who travels constantly becomes used to that way of living.
Unexpected problems or situations become a normal occurrence. That person is better able to handle the stress that comes with unexpected “life happens” types of problems.
6. Always a Fresh Start
Every time you travel to a new place, there’s always a chance to make a new name for yourself. If you didn’t like your reputation in another place, traveling allows you to change that.
If you wanted to live a different lifestyle or be known for something other than whatever you were known for before, you could do that. Of course, this might not always go as planned (more on that later).
It’s a chance to do everything differently than what you did before. I understand this might not resonate with everyone (some people want different things at different stages in their lives).
I do know that there are more than a couple people out there where “a new beginning” is something that’s been sitting in the back of their minds.
If, by chance, you decide that you didn’t like the change, you can always go to a new place and try something else (if you plan on adopting a life of travel, that is).
If you do this constantly, you pick up something new every time. I like to think about the knowledge and wisdom I gained from having done this so many times, sort of like “souvenirs” that I keep with me everywhere I go.
I find that it’s the small experiences and bits of wisdom that add up to shape your overall personality that can really develop you as a person (at least in my experience).
7. Finding Your Faults
This might not be the most positive thing to talk about, but the number of things that we’re bad at actually outweighs the number of things we’re good at (most of the time).
Most people are only good at one thing, and some people (if you’re lucky) are good at multiple things. Traveling constantly helps you find these “things” more easily, which helps you identify your strengths.
Again, you can learn these things without traveling, but most people fall into the trap of becoming too comfortable and end up only following the same routine. Never really trying anything new due to not being in an environment that emphasizes change.
That’s right, traveling helps you by putting you in a state of mind where you’re more likely to try something different. You’re more open to meeting new people or trying a new experience. Which, in turn, gives you more chances for opportunity.
While in the process of having all these experiences. You learn surprising things about yourself that you probably wouldn’t have learned if you never decided to take up solo travel.
8. Meeting People
Some people are naturally good at talking to people, but some have social skills that need a lot more work. If you travel long enough, your social skills start to develop.
I understand that some people don’t really want to meet other people (which I completely understand; I consider myself introverted as well), but you have to admit that having good social skills helps a lot with life in general.
There’s nothing like travel to help you develop your social skills. You really don’t even have to try all that hard. One of the best things about travel is that you can travel and learn at your own pace.
Maybe you want to go at it head-on and hope for the best. Or you can also take it slow and only talk to a couple people here and there.
Eventually, you’ll be really good at striking up conversations with new people and making friends on the fly. Or at least be at a comfortable enough level where it comes more naturally to you.
Even if you don’t like meeting new people, you can’t deny the fact that good social skills are important to have. Also, sharing a connection with another person is just better for your overall well-being.
People are social by nature; no matter how much you might hate meeting new people, realistically, it’s something that would only make you a better person.
9. A Broad View
It’s easy to fall into “tunnel vision” when you get too comfortable with your current lifestyle. Having this mentality isn’t bad, but when you travel constantly, you start to develop what I call the “snow globe effect.”
Which is basically like seeing or experiencing people and culture from an outside point of view. It’s almost like holding a snow globe in your hand and observing how everything works in that “world.”
When you look at the world with this type of mentality, you start to see things in a different way. You look at things with the “bigger picture” in mind, and again, you don’t have to travel to think like this, but the difference is in the experience.
Not only are you observing, but you’re actively engaging with the scene you see in the “snow globe.”
You start to notice patterns that people follow. Compare similarities and differences in your own personal life.
Which is a benefit because you start to realize that the things that you used to be worried about, compared to the “bigger picture” of what’s important to you personally, are just sort of insignificant.
Cons:
1. Burn Out
Probably one of the biggest negatives you’ll encounter with constant travel is burnout. Constant travel will eventually take a toll on your body and mind.
Having to pick everything up to leave again and again will most likely stretch you to your limits.
Eventually, you’ll feel tired of always having to deal with the small problems that come with constant travel.
From flight cancellations to problems with your living situation, Maybe the hotel, or wherever you’re staying, is in an inconvenient place, or maybe there’s a power outage in your area.
Small problems that don’t seem so bad can really get to you after a while. Even if you do sort of expect it, it almost makes you want to live a normal, less chaotic lifestyle (almost).
2. A Lonely Road
People who travel constantly are actually sort of rare (regardless of how much the internet says otherwise).
The positive about this is that you have knowledge and experience that a lot of people don’t.
The negative is that a lot of people just can’t relate to your experience. I remember being at a family get-together after my first experience traveling on my own.
I remember telling some of my family and friends about my experiences.
I basically got the same type of reaction, which was the “don’t really care, but I don’t want to be rude” type of response, which was something like, “Oh, that’s nice; it must have been fun.” Or different variations of that (you get the idea).
The sad truth is that most people just don’t care about your travel experience.
It’s really not their fault; they just can’t relate, but it can make you feel alone and out of place in certain social situations.
The good news with this is that when you meet other travelers, you’re kind of in the same boat, and a lot of times, just having that in common is enough to make a solid connection with someone.
3. Expectations
Maybe you decided to travel for a specific reason, like wanting to start a new life. You had these expectations, like everything was just going to fall into place and everything would be great.
The truth is, you might actually just end up hating it. This could be for any number of reasons.
Maybe you traveled somewhere and realized that you didn’t like the culture as much as you thought you would. Maybe the whole process of traveling somewhere different was just too uncomfortable for you to handle.
Sometimes it’s better to leave your expectations at home. Just go with the flow and embrace the unexpected, good or bad.
4. Constant Change
Now, this can be both a pro and a con at the same time. It’s a pro because of all the reasons listed above, but it’s a con because constant change means your life has no stability.
You always expect the unexpected, which means you don’t really know what’s going to happen.
Basically, living life without knowing what the next destination will bring means having to react to problems and situations as they arise.
With a more stable lifestyle, certain things are almost guaranteed. You sleep in the same home, go to the same places, talk to the same people, and do the same things.
You’re comfortable and safe, and it feels more secure to have that sort of reassurance in life. Not having to constantly be on your toes.
The negative of that also means you most likely won’t have as many chances to develop as a person. So it’s really about making a decision on what you’re willing to give up to gain something more.
5. Apathy With Normalcy
If you do decide to travel and turn travel into a lifestyle, it’s hard to go back to a more “normal” lifestyle.
You might feel bored and uncaring about all the little mundane things that come with living a less eventful life. Boredom could turn into pure apathy towards most things, which in turn could lead to depression.
You might start to feel uncomfortable about not being able to go anywhere new. It’s almost as if anything you do (as far as living a “normal” life goes) leaves you feeling unsatisfied. Like traveling is some kind of mental itch you just can’t scratch.
6. Relationships and Connections
Constant travel can be rough on your love life and the quality of your social network. Especially if you’re the type of person who likes to be in a long-term relationship or have long-lasting friendships.
Constantly going from one place to another will make it a little harder for you to develop and maintain those types of connections.
It’s not impossible, but it’ll be somewhat of a challenge. As far as romantic relationships go, you’ll have to find someone who likes travel just as much as you.
Otherwise, it’ll most likely end up just being a fling (which some people are okay with). Things like friendships or professional connections are actually a little easier than romantic relationships to maintain.
Just make sure you stay active on platforms like social media or other ways to connect socially with others.
If you meet someone with whom you really share a connection, try to stay proactive by doing things like catching up with them over a few drinks, hanging out at an event, or just making some time to chat about how they’re doing.
Simple things like that go a long way toward maintaining your social circle. It’s all about your approach and how you maintain your social connections, which determines how healthy your overall relationships are.
It’s just that, with travel, you have to do a little more than usual to maintain those relationships.
7. Potentially More Dangerous
So it stands to reason that if you travel constantly, there’s a higher chance that you might find yourself in more dangerous situations. From my experience, this mostly depends on the type of person you are.
Taking unnecessary risks, like walking alone late at night in an unfamiliar neighborhood, might not be the best idea.
Taking risks like that comes with a higher chance of something bad happening. I mean, it only makes sense not to do this type of thing, but some people just like taking these types of risks (I’m a little guilty of that, to be honest).
I put this on the list just because it’s still something to look out for when traveling. Really, though, it’s more based on your personality.
If you aren’t a “risk-taker” or don’t actively look for those types of experiences, you most likely won’t find them. Again, this is just from my experience.
When it comes to safety as far as meeting people goes you just have to be more aware about how you present yourself.
As long as you don’t give people a reason to do anything bad to you, they most likely won’t. Doing things like making yourself look vulnerable (showing fear), showing off, or generally just bringing too much attention to yourself (being loud or being somewhere that foreigners don’t usually go).
These types of things usually attract unwanted attention, and things might get bad pretty quickly. This is also where the self-awareness trait I talked about earlier really comes in handy.
8. Friends and Family
If your friends and family are an important part of your life, solo travel might end up just making your life more stressful.
If, for whatever reason, you can’t be away from your friends or family, then constant solo travel would most likely leave a bad mental strain on you.
Being homesick all the time can lead to depression, which would stop you from reaping the benefits of travel. If you can’t be away from friends and family for a long period of time, you might be better off just going on vacations every now and then.
Although just traveling for vacation is most likely not going to be enough to develop the traits and skills I listed above (at least not in the most effective way),.
Is Solo Travel Worth the Hype?
So, is solo travel really worth it? In my opinion, the positives that come from solo travel shine through the negatives. If you have a strong urge to solo travel, I think you should give it a shot.
In the end, no matter how much research you do or how many Google searches you come up with, the only way to find out is if you go for it.
Just like anything else in life, it depends on what you take away from the things you’ve learned and the experiences you’ve had that define whether or not something was worth your time.
A lot of it also has to do with your mentality as well. You can sit there and put a negative spin on something, and it will forever be a source of regret.
Or you can go the other way, with a positive attitude, and grow as a person from there. If solo travel is something you feel the need to do or might enjoy, then just do it.
To answer the question, it’ll really depend on you as a person. Once you’re actually there, you’ll know for sure if solo travel will be worth your time or not.
If you want to know more about solo travel visit the main page at Traks&Paks.
