Traveling helps you to grow as a person, acquiring new life experiences along the way. While it is always fun to share these with friends and family, taking a trip on your own once in a while will be rewarding and liberating in a way that you would never have imagined.
Easy Trip Planning
If you have ever tried to coordinate a trip to suit multiple personalities, then you will immediately recognize just how much easier it would be to plan a solo trip. There are likely to be some far-flung places that you have always dreamed of visiting, so rather than waiting for someone to travel with, make plans to head there on your own.
The Perfect Itinerary
In the same way that choosing a destination is so much easier when you are only catering to yourself, planning an itinerary is a breeze. When traveling solo, you can literally have the vacation of your dreams, whether this may include long lie-ins and lazy days lounging on the beach, or city-hopping through Europe to soak up some art and culture. For those that enjoy being spontaneous, you can forget all about planning, doing whatever you please each day once you reach your destination. Rather than having to give away large chunks of your vacation to activities that others want to do, make the most of your me-time and be completely selfish, only doing the things that you want to do, at the time that you decide to do them.
More Valuable Experiences
The experiences that you have while traveling on your own are likely to be much more profound than if you were traveling with others, enabling you to see a place or a culture in a truly new way. Traveling with others will often distract you from fully immersing yourself in an experience, while solo travel is a way to connect with a destination, as well as the new people that you meet, on a much deeper level.
Confidence Booster
Traveling solo takes many people out of their comfort zone, but this can be a huge confidence booster. There is nothing quite like the feeling of being able to conquer the world all on your own, whether this may be figuring out how to order a meal in Mandarin or navigating complex subway systems around Europe. There will always be a few travel aspects that do not go according to plan, but by dealing with these on your own, the sense of accomplishment that you will feel at the end of your trip will be huge. You will also never forget that strong feeling of empowerment, and this will help you to deal with any subsequent challenges that life may throw at you.
Traveling solo will change your perspective of the world, and it is extremely likely that you will return somewhat changed from when you left. If traveling alone is something that you have never really considered, make a resolution to take the plunge this year, as it will really reward you in so many different ways.
