Guest post: “Why travelling alone is the most freeing experience” by Sabine

Sabine from Kung Fu Princess on the Road blog writes:

“Many wonder why somebody would want to travel alone?

Isn’t it dangerous? Boring? Difficult? Annoying?

And the answer is quite simple : NO!

It pretty much can be the most amazing thing you will ever do. It can be the most empowering and freeing experience ever if you let it!

I always loved to travel, but until I was 19 I either travelled with my family or with friends. After a trip with 3 of my best friends, which really didn’t go as I wanted, simply because we wanted different things from the trip, I was kind of done with traveling with friends.

So while I was in Scotland volunteering, I decided to visit my host family in the United States and was going to stay a couple of days alone in Chicago.

This was the first time I was really alone and gosh I loved it. I was not really insecure, because I had travelled a lot before. Even if I wasn’t alone those times, I usually was responsible for finding the way and organising things, so not much of a difference if you are alone…it is even better because nobody can blame you if something goes wrong and you can just change all your plans on a whim without having to convince anybody else.

I walked around, discovered the city, went sightseeing, decided to take a break and go shopping instead. I did whatever I was in the mood to do.

photo from kungfuprincess-on-the-road.com

When, a couple of months later, I went for my first proper backpacking trip in Malaysia, I was sold on single travel.

I love it and here is a list with all the reasons why =)

1. You learn to make decisions by yourself! Instead of just following the group it is up to you to decide what you want to do. You have to learn to rely on yourself.
   
2. You become much more confident in yourself. Yes, you are able to find the bus stop, you can book a hostel, but you still will find a place even if you don’t prebook. You will be able to find your way around anywhere after a while
3. You meet lots of new people. Because you are alone you are much more approachable and more likely to get in contact with other travelers. So embrace the chance and meet a lot of very interesting people with amazing stories to tell.
4. Like I said before, no more compromises.
5. You enjoy things differently. Because you are not chatting away, you are much more likely to discover the special places. You will start to see things differently and notice things you earlier overlooked.

Sure sometimes traveling alone can be incredibly lonely. You will have moments where you just want somebody next to you to share the experience with, but then there will be also moments when you will just take a deep breath and enjoy the freedom and peacefulness of just you and whatever magical place you are at.

Everybody should at least try traveling alone once. It will teach you quite a lot of things about yourself.

Whether you like it or not, that you can decide afterwards.”

By Sabine K of Kung Fu Princess on the Road blog.

 

photo from kungfuprincess-on-the-road.com

Sabine loves martial arts and travel, and blogs about her two passions. She writes about how to live your dreams and how to overcome even the biggest challenges. Take a look at her blog here!

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