Lessons from A Year of Solo Travel

There’s little “solo” time in solo travel.

From the time I left in August to the time I returned at the end of November, I was only alone for maybe five days. On my Uluru trip, I was on a group tour, so it was impossible not to talk to people. And on the East Coast trip, I met the people I traveled with for most of my trip within 4 days of starting the journey.

You meet people all over the place: hostels, buses, tours, pub crawls, and internet cafes. So don’t worry about being alone. But on the other hand, don’t feel guilty for taking time to yourself. Traveling with a group, whether or not you were friends to begin with, can get tiring. If you want to spend the day reading at the hostel while everyone else goes to the pub, do it.

Not everyone will like you, just like you won’t like everyone you meet.

I occasionally meet people I don’t get along with, but not too often. They’re usually those over the top, complaining, loud travelers you sometimes meet in hostels. And I hate to say it, but I’m not used to people not liking me. But it happens, as it did on this trip. You just have to get over it and move on to people you really click with. There are plenty of other travelers out there for you to interact with.

Just because you both travel, or both speak English or are both from the same country does not mean you will get along.

Everyone travels differently. Some people go to the other side of the world just to do the same things they did back home: drink, hook up and talk about what happened the night before. Others want to check every sight and experience off their list.

And others are comfortable hanging out at a local coffee shop with a good book or talking to their friends and family on Skype. Don’t try to fit in with them just for the sake of having travel companions.

If you’re not following your own travel plans, get out of there sooner rather than later.

I wish I had followed by own advice on this one. I got so comfortable traveling with a group of people, even if we didn’t get along, that I didn’t do what I wanted to do. I followed what the group wanted until I finally resented them so much that I had to get away.

I have a few things on my list that I never got around to because I was so absorbed in the group mentality. I lost what made me a solo traveler in the first place: independence.

Don’t burn bridges, because you never know when you will run into someone again.

Once I gave this group of people the finger (literally….on more than once occasion) I ran into them multiple times. Awkward. Even if you start to resent the people you meet, it’s better to leave on good terms. I wish I had said back in Brisbane that I wanted to go at a different pace or see different things. Then at least I wouldn’t have felt weird about seeing them again.

Don’t let anyone make you feel like a loser for traveling solo.

I often heard, “So you’re traveling by yourself?” I didn’t think much of it since I know a lot of solo female travelers, but there were a few times when I felt like I was abnormal for traveling this way. The beauty of this lifestyle is that you can choose when you want to be around people.

Just do it.

If you’re thinking about traveling somewhere but don’t know who to go with, just go. You’ll be fine, I promise. And you will probably enjoy yourself more than if you had dragged an unwilling friend along for the ride.