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

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.

When you step outside of your comfort zone, you are stepping into a world of possibilities. Life happens in the most beautiful and unexpected ways when we leave the illusionary protection of the walls we’ve all personally built around ourselves. For many, being alone, especially in a place far away from home, is a high leap over the wall. But it is this solitary leap of faith that might turn out to be the best decision that you ever made.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.