My friend Sloane just wrote a blog post directed to her sister about traveling alone that really nails my feelings about it as well. She writes:
“Travel is your chance to take ownership over your life – every decision you make today is yours and yours alone. Where you go, what you eat, how you deal with situations – I’ve found travel to be the one thing that picks me up when I’m down and rebuilds confidence in my ability to trust my instincts, make plans and follow through with them and yet also throw caution to the wind and abandon all plans and just go where the day take you.”
I couldn’t agree more. If you know anything about me you know I travel a lot and I love traveling with friends, as well as traveling and meeting up with friends, but there is some serious gold in traveling by yourself that is like nothing else in the world. Especially to places you’ve never been, though places you’ve been just enough to not feel totally lost are equally amazing. I’ve done it through out my life but often as more of a compulsion and never really thought out why, though Sloane kind of nails it here. When you are out in the world on your own, and only have yourself to rely on, you get to trust yourself completely and nothing builds your own confidence in yourself like that. I’ve been to cities and sat in a hotel room the entire time, and also wandered the streets aimlessly. I’ve seen great sights and also just sat on a bench and watched people. There is something about being the only one you have to think about and doing whatever whim you have that is magic.
If you haven’t been on a trip somewhere by yourself recently I highly recommend it. I always come back with new found faith in myself. I bet you will too.
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