Vacation On Your Own

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Travel is a great hobby, but it can also be a huge time investment. If you have never been on vacation before, you’ll quickly realize that it is not something that can be done in a few weeks. Usually, trips require several months of planning and preparation.���

Are you going on vacation soon? How about checking out some local places for interesting attractions or beaches, or maybe even the activities available at your destination? Who says you need to wait for someone else to go with you? You can check them out for free via maps.google.com

Do you want to go on vacation but don’t know where to go? Or maybe you want to take a spontaneous trip but don’t have enough money to do so? Or maybe you just want something completely different. Whatever your reasons, I’ve got a great idea for you! Take care of one thing without doing any work — read on…

At a certain point, the best thing to do is to get away from the hustle and bustle. And that’s easy to do — if you have a place to go! Or maybe you have family nearby, who can keep an eye on things while you take a vacation. In either case, you’ll want these:

Vacation On Your Own

When you’re on vacation alone, the lack of familiar people to interact with forces you to engage much more directly with your surroundings—on where you are rather than who you’re with. This is probably why many travelers report more vivid memories from solo trips; their attention is absolutely focused on their surroundings.

You’ll Meet More Locals

Unable to rely on your traveling partners to buy breakfast, use their better language skills to get things done, or distract you during a boring train ride, you’ll have to turn to the locals—whether you’re looking for human interaction or not.

A solo traveler can also seem more approachable. If you’re with a partner or friend, it’s tempting to talk mostly with each other, and outsiders might not want to impose. But if you’re by yourself, it’s often easier for someone else to strike up a conversation with you (or vice versa).

RELATED:

 How to Meet Other People When You’re Traveling Solo

Not Every Choice Has to Work Out

When traveling with others, we are often selective about suggesting activities that we hope everyone will enjoy and find a good use of precious vacation time. If one of these activities doesn’t work out, it can be a source of guilt and conflict.

If you make the wrong choice on a solo trip, there’s no one to worry about other than yourself, and you won’t feel guilty for ruining someone else’s travel day. Plus, it’s easier to ditch your itinerary and move on, which brings us to…

You Can Change Plans on a Dime

When traveling in a group, changing plans can be rife with interpersonal, financial, and other concerns. When on a vacation alone, you can simply make a decision and move on. This can apply to decisions both small and large, from deciding where to eat to choosing whether to rent a car and leave town.

You Have Complete Financial Control

Want to blow a ton of money on a waterfront room? Go for it. Want to spend next to nothing on food? Fine. Want to go only to free museums, events, and attractions? Keep your money. As a solo traveler, you have the last (and only) word on every dollar you spend.

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 How to Save Money on Solo Travel

There’s No Insulation from Experience

When we are with friends and family, much of our experience is a shared one, which can offer rich rewards but can also create a buffer between us and the world around us. Traveling alone makes remaining in the bubble of your own comfort zone nigh on impossible—which can lead to more intense travel experiences.

You Can Find Your Own Rhythm

Perhaps the most striking thing about traveling alone is that your schedule is entirely yours to decide. Our everyday lives can be a tyrannical grind of accommodating other people’s schedules, and this can easily carry over to leisure time as we try to pace our vacation days to adapt to the preferences of the group.

Traveling alone, you can walk out of a movie you don’t like, stay for hours in a museum no one else you know would care about, ride an elevated subway to the last stop just for the sights, read a book in your hotel room, or whatever you can come up with that would seem a waste of time to almost anyone else. Following your own rhythm without compromise might not be possible in daily life, but it’s great, indulgent fun on a solo vacation.

Traveling Alone Builds Confidence

SmarterTravel Senior Editor Sarah Schlichter notes that her first solo trip, originally a source of trepidation, ultimately offered a wellspring of confidence.

“I remember how scared I was the first time I traveled by myself—and sometimes I still am,” she says. “It can be lonely and unsettling not to have anyone else around for backup. But being able to get yourself out of a jam or figure out where you are when you’re lost can give you a new sense of confidence and faith in your own resourcefulness. For me this carried into not only other trips but also into my life at home.”

Track Your Journey With an Intimate Journal

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 Single Travel: Tips for Going Solo

It Opens Up More Travel Possibilities

Schlichter found her newfound abilities liberating, especially when deciding if and where to travel.

“When I was younger I thought that if I couldn’t find someone who wanted to visit a place with me, I couldn’t go,” she says. “Now, if no one else is interested or available, I just shrug and go anyway, knowing that traveling by myself isn’t a big deal.”

Some Sensations Seem Unique to Solo Travel

Solo travelers often report instances of mundane happenstance offering up strong and memorable emotions. Imagine waking up in an empty hotel, where nearly no one knows you are there, with the hours ahead lying entirely unscripted and your sense of possibilities is nearly exploding. As Freya Stark once noted, “To awaken quite alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world.” It is a unique and heady experience.

You Can Learn More About Who You Are

When you venture out into the world on your own, you eventually need to face who you are, what you care about, and what you want to do with your time. Certainly the literature of our species bears this out, with a journey at the center of many of our greatest and most significant myths, novels, and memoirs. Traveling with others you will find great friendship, diversion, and fun—but traveling alone you might find yourself.