Solo Male Travel Not As Popular As Female Solo Travel?
Solo male travel? If you do a basic google search on solo travel you find that much of the advice given is geared towards women.
From social media, blogs, and even Youtube, solo travel and travel in general seems to be an activity that many women tend to pursue more often than men.
Solo Male Travel Not As Popular?
If you think about travel in general, from a logical sense, there isn’t anything inherently “feminine” about it.
It isn’t something like doing make-up or buying dresses. Not saying that only women can enjoy those types of activities, but they tend to be considered very “feminine” things to do.
It seems that the popularity of solo travel among women has more to do with influence and, to some extent, the differing mentalities between men and women.
Social Influence
I believe that the main reason as to why solo travel is more popular among women stems from pure influence.
It’s easy for people to spend a lot of time online and browse through blogs and social media posts.
These posts and online content also tend to portray solo travel in a romanticized way.
(Not to mention that there are so many of these posts and online content)
Couple that with the fact that solo travel and becoming an “influencer” is much more accessible now more than ever.
You can see why so many woman tend to pursue solo travel more often than men (especially younger woman).
Solo Male Travel vs Solo Female Travel
Solo Female Travel
As stated above I believe that, to some extent, another reason why solo female travel is more popular than solo male travel is the way women and men view travel in general.
(I just want to clarify that this doesn’t apply to everyone, this is just information I’ve gathered about solo travel from my own experiences with solo travel)
From what I’ve gathered it seems that women tend to focus on the romantic side of solo travel much more than men.
Most seem to be more prone to looking at travel through “rose-tinted glasses”.
Many women very much want travel to be about the freedom and independence while experiencing beautiful sunsets and picturesque landscapes.
Not saying you won’t experience something similar it just seems that many woman may be leaning a little too much into the romanticism that comes with solo travel.
Solo Male Travel
On the other hand, it seems men look at travel with one question on their mind which is, “why? why should I travel let alone travel alone?”.
Which I completely understand if I was in their position I’d like to have real reasons as to why I should solo travel as well.
As a guy, I understand it’s easy to look at life and think that everything you need is already within reach.
What’s the point in going somewhere completely different?
As men we tend to have simple wants and needs. For a lot of men, it doesn’t take much to make us happy.
That’s why I believe men don’t pursue travel as much as women do they have a hard time seeing any significant value in solo travel or travel in general.
I mean there’s nothing wrong with dismissing travel in that way it just makes sense to think like that, right?
It’s just in my experience, solo travel just presents more genuine opportunities to develop many aspects of your life, especially as a man.
I really believe that passing up on solo travel or travel in general is a wasted opportunity for men.
Why Men Should Solo Travel More
1. Safety
I think one of the biggest reasons that men should solo travel more is safety.
As far as safety goes, women tend to have a higher chance of being victims of things like sexual harassment, rape, and other related crimes.
As a male solo traveler you wouldn’t have to worry about those types of situations as much as a woman would.
Especially if you were to judge from outward appearances, women tend to look more petite and are seen as easier targets.
As a guy, a person who’s up to no good may think twice before going after you just from that fact alone.
Another reason is having the ability to protect yourself. Not saying women can’t protect themselves, but men tend to be more built for situations that involve physical altercations.
If your travels ever put you in a situation where you have to physically defend yourself.
Most guys would have the upper hand in that regard compared to women.
As a guy traveling alone, you most likely already have the benefit of not having to be as concerned with safety as much as a woman would.
Which would make your experiences with solo travel easier to handle.
2. To Stand Out
Since solo travel is more popular among women if a guy decides to solo travel this could potentially make you stand out from the crowd.
It may not seem like such a big benefit, but standing out and differentiating yourself can help in a lot of different ways.
One obvious way is that you’ll be able to see and understand things from a different perspective.
Solo travel will give you that experience, and since many men aren’t as interested in solo travel as women this gives you an edge when compared to other men.
Standing out from the crowd can help in jobs, finding relationships, or just meeting people in general.
What guy wouldn’t want to develop their skills in any one of those areas of their life.
3. To Challenge Yourself
One of the reasons I’m such a huge advocate of solo travel is the challenge that comes with it.
I know not every guy wants a “challenge”, but if you’re one of those guys that likes to test your mettle than solo travel would be an activity that can really put you to the test.
The longer you decide to solo travel the more obstacles you’ll end up having to overcome.
Which would basically put you in a position where you’ll have to survive in different environments and cultures that you aren’t used to.
At the same time, these “challenges” would help you develop into a person who can stand on their own no matter where you go.
To me that’s an experience that can take you far in life.
Even if you aren’t looking for a challenge, solo travel has the potential to make you better in all aspects of your life if you approach it in the right way.
4. To Be More Open-Minded
You might see this a lot on many other travel blogs out there, but it’s just a fact that traveling will help you become more of an open-minded person.
I think this is especially helpful for men. As a guy I have to admit that a lot of us tend to be very closed minded.
I’ve met a lot of different people, and men tend to be the people who only want to see things from their own perspective.
There are pros and cons with this type of thinking, people who are closed minded, for example, are less likely to be tricked or swayed into doing things they otherwise wouldn’t do.
But the con is that close minded people won’t be able to develop themselves effectively enough to understand things like perspective.
Which would basically make it harder for you to connect with people and understand where they’re coming from.
Having a closed minded mentality would also stop you from learning effectively due to only wanting to see things from your own point of view.
This might sound cliche, but in order to better yourself and keeping growing as a person you have to adopt a more open-minded mentality.
5. Develop Your Social Skills
This reason may not apply to some people out there, but one of the things I’ve noticed is that men tend to not be as good at handling social situations as women are.
It almost seems as if women were just born to be sociable, and men have to really try and practice their social skills to be any good at it.
Obviously this doesn’t apply to every man or woman, but as a whole this tends to be the case when it comes to handling social situations.
Solo travel will help you develop these skills by constantly putting you in situations where you have to be social.
What makes it even more challenging is the fact that a lot of people you’ll meet are going to be people you’ve never met before who may or may not be from a different country or culture.
They might even speak a different language in which case you’ll have to figure out how to communicate on your own or learn the language.
If you travel on your own for a long period of time this starts to become easier as you go along.
If you can navigate those types of social situations you’ll either be so good at it that you can work your way through any type of social interaction.
Or you’ll just become better at it in general. Either way you’ll come out of the experience with more knowledge and more skill than you previously had.
So Should Every Man Go Solo?
I believe that more men should give solo travel a try. If only to develop themselves and their outlook on life.
That being said, I can’t speak on whether or not solo travel will be for every type of guy out there, but I do see it as more of an opportunity than just another experience.
If for whatever reason you think you’d enjoy solo travel or if you’re like me and want to use it as a way to develop other aspects of your life, then you should at least give it a try.
(Just know that if you decide to use solo travel as a form of personal development, it’ll take time. It isn’t something that will happen overnight)
All things considered, I really do believe that passing up on solo travel is a missed opportunity that can benefit a lot of other men out there.
If you’d like more advice or tips on traveling solo for the first time check out the blog at Traks&Paks.
