11 Reasons You Need to Take a Solo Trip At Least Once in Your Lifetime

The world is your playground
The world is your playground | © Ditty_about_summer/Shutterstock
Jenn Parker

The benefits, experiences, and lessons of taking a solo trip are quite extraordinary. While the outcome of a solitary adventure will vary vastly from person to person, there are commonalities such as personal growth, valuable lessons, and a sense of accomplishment. If you’ve never taken a trip by yourself, maybe these reasons will inspire you to plan one of your own.

Challenge yourself

Setting off into the world on a solo adventure is not always an easy feat, especially if it’s your first time. It is a true test of self-reliance. You may experience butterflies or second thoughts, but the reward of braving up far outweighs the risk. It is during this solitary experience that you will have endless opportunities to challenge yourself, an ever rewarding experience.

Challenge accepted

Step out of your comfort zone

Trust yourself to clear the wall

Become reacquainted with yourself

A solo trip provides the perfect setting for introspection, reflection, contemplation, meditation, and evolution. While some of us are in tune with our inner being, our Freudian id, our spirit, our soul, our true undeniable self, the rest of us might have become disconnected from it because of the infinite distractions our lives contain. Either way, time alone with yourself is one of the most precious gifts that you can give yourself.

Embrace the journey

Unleash your creative side

Traveling and exploring different destinations is one of the many homes of inspiration if you are open to meeting your creative side on your journey. Having the time and space to explore your creative passions without pressure, judgement, or distraction from anyone else, whether it be photography, writing, drawing, or perhaps watercolor painting, is a blissful and fulfilling experience.

Inspiration lays in fields of flowers

Shed the weight of your own world

Venturing out on your own can be rather therapeutic. At one time or another, or maybe often, it feels like the weight of the world is on our shoulders. This heavy burden is not something that should be sustained for long. Sometimes one of the best approaches is to just remove yourself from the source of your angst and sometimes that means crossing boarders for a bit to regroup, recharge, and reevaluate.

Find inner peace

Experience unbounded freedom

The beauty of traveling alone is that you are completely unbound from anyone, anything, or anywhere. Such freedom is good for the soul.

The choice is all yours

Be completely selfish

The use of the selfish here is free of the negative connotations that typically accompany this adjective. A solo trip is an opportunity to do whatever brings you the absolute most joy without any need for compromise. It is rare that we have the opportunity, especially as friends, lovers, spouses, parents, siblings, employees, and employers, to not think of anyone else but ourselves. Here is your golden opportunity to just be you, do you, and think solely about you for once without guilt or harm to others.

Take as much time to smell the flowers as you want

Form deep connections

It might surprise you that when you set off on your own you end up meeting the most incredible people. With no company of your own, you are more likely to, especially on longer getaways, seek new companionship. Oftentimes likeminded people do likeminded things at likeminded places. The bonds you form through your shared experiences while traveling can be quite strong, sometimes even feeling like you’ve found a family away from home.

Connect with nature

Pursue a potential soulmate or vacationship

Your one or one right now might just be in the very place that you decide to venture off to on your own. With no one to answer to or appease but yourself, you are free to explore any relationship, serious or lighthearted, that you so desire. Love, whether permanent or temporary, presents itself in the most myserteous of places and times.

Likeminded love

Feed your wanderlust

The definition of wanderlust is a strong and undeniable urge to travel. This itchy feet aliment can only be alleviated through the satiation of that innate desire. The need to wander is a syndrome that surfaces for all different reasons. Some hear the call of the road for the need of creative inspiration, while others might yearn for adventure for the adrenaline or lust for the unknown. Too often we quite that melodious calling because we don’t have anyone to travel with. Taking a solo trip might make you realize that you don’t need anyone to travel with if the timing and opportunity doesn’t present itself.

Where to next?

Shrink the world

Our planet might have an equatorial circumference of 40,070 kilometers (24,900 miles) and is home to almost eight billion other individuals, but the more time you spend out and about in it, the more you will realize that it’s not that big of a world after all. Strange coincidences, chance meetings, and common threads are often unveiled during our explorations. You will also realize that regardless of ethnicity, religion, socio-economic status, or country of origin that we actually have so much more in common with one another than we could even imagine. The world becomes smaller when we take our personal and media-fueled barriers down, and the opportunity to do so often happens when we are alone.

It’s a small world after all

Since you are here, we would like to share our vision for the future of travel - and the direction Culture Trip is moving in.

Culture Trip launched in 2011 with a simple yet passionate mission: to inspire people to go beyond their boundaries and experience what makes a place, its people and its culture special and meaningful — and this is still in our DNA today. We are proud that, for more than a decade, millions like you have trusted our award-winning recommendations by people who deeply understand what makes certain places and communities so special.

Increasingly we believe the world needs more meaningful, real-life connections between curious travellers keen to explore the world in a more responsible way. That is why we have intensively curated a collection of premium small-group trips as an invitation to meet and connect with new, like-minded people for once-in-a-lifetime experiences in three categories: Culture Trips, Rail Trips and Private Trips. Our Trips are suitable for both solo travelers, couples and friends who want to explore the world together.

Culture Trips are deeply immersive 5 to 16 days itineraries, that combine authentic local experiences, exciting activities and 4-5* accommodation to look forward to at the end of each day. Our Rail Trips are our most planet-friendly itineraries that invite you to take the scenic route, relax whilst getting under the skin of a destination. Our Private Trips are fully tailored itineraries, curated by our Travel Experts specifically for you, your friends or your family.

We know that many of you worry about the environmental impact of travel and are looking for ways of expanding horizons in ways that do minimal harm - and may even bring benefits. We are committed to go as far as possible in curating our trips with care for the planet. That is why all of our trips are flightless in destination, fully carbon offset - and we have ambitious plans to be net zero in the very near future.

Culture Trip Spring Sale

Save up to $1,100 on our unique small-group trips! Limited spots.

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