Traveling Alone Isn’t That Bad
Traveling to new places alone is not as bad or boring as it seems. I’m assuming that most of us tend to travel with family, friends or other companions. At the same time, I think that everyone should have at least one solo trip during their lifetime.
There are a few reasons that I propose traveling alone. For one, you get to go where you want to go. Sometimes in large groups there are disagreements on where to go and what to do. Traveling alone will alleviate that stress, not to mention you will have complete financial control of your money/ budget.
Traveling alone also increases your self-confidence. You will be able to take care of yourself without backup, push yourself beyond your comfort zone and make your own decisions.
I haven’t traveled completely alone to a destination but there have been circumstances where I ended up alone. Back in 2015, I took my best friend to New York City to watch the New Year’s Eve Ball Drop. After hours of circulating the city blocks with about 400,000 other people to filter up Times Square in the blistering cold, we finally got as close as we were going to get. There is nowhere to get food or water. There was definitely nowhere to use the restroom or warm up, you are snugged up next to hundreds of strangers for a long, long time to watch the 10 second ball drop. My friend stayed with me for a while until she started to have an anxiety attack because of all the people. She left me alone in the crowd to walk 45 blocks back to our hotel with no cell phone service/ wifi . I was not about to leave where I was, not only did I fund this whole trip for us but I came to watch this ball drop- with or without her. I called my parents to tell them what happened and to talk to someone for a while, then I started to talk to the people around me. I was clearly upset that she left me and had no way to contact me but I made the most of the situation. Finally after 9 hours of standing, the ball dropped and it was the New Year. My next problem was figuring out how to get back to the hotel because once it was over the whole place was in a scramble. I walked the streets of New York alone amidst the chaos of the festivities. I managed to find my way back to our hotel, with her safe inside the room- fast asleep.
Although my story wasn’t exactly me traveling alone, it still had some qualities of being alone with no one familiar around you. I feel that I have the confidence to travel completely alone somewhere. My advice would be to make sure you are safe and in a comfortable setting. Do not let anyone take advantage of you or make you do something you do not want to do.
It always seems a bit interesting traveling alone, especially when you are traveling to new places for the first time. But if it is somewhere where you can blend in and not look like a tourist, then you should be fine. In my experience, as long as you look like you belong, nobody will usually bother you.
That sounds like a scary situation being left alone in the middle of all those people alone! However, I do agree that traveling alone can be just as fun as traveling with someone else. It is honestly nice to be able to take in the scenery and explore whatever you want without the interruptions of anyone else!
I have always wanted to travel alone, I think that would be fun! I could also see it being pretty scary too, being by yourself with no one you know around you. Although, I love taking road trips around my city by myself and like discovering things alone. I think that is fun, but when your away from all of the people you know and are with all random people, I find that scary. But if you think it is worth it, I might have to try it out sometime soon.
This definitely sounds like a horror story to me! Glad you got to see the ball drop on New Years.
I’ve never traveled alone and it gives me a lot of anxiety when I think about it. When I’ve traveled its always been with a group of people, and I’ve always been thankful for that. I know people travel alone all the time but I think I’d rather be safe than sorry. I’m glad you made it back safe to your hotel!