Why You Should Travel Solo at Least Once in Your Life

Solo Travel is one of the most rewarding, eye-opening experiences that one can have in life. Even if you’re in a relationship or have kids, you should make time for yourself and travel solo at least once in your life. We have each traveled in virtually every capacity possible: with family, together as a couple, with friends, girls trips, boys trips, as a student studying abroad (Michael), and of course, we have taken solo trips! Regardless of how many countries you have visited or how often you travel with your partner or family, we implore you to spoil yourself at least once in your life and take a solo trip!

Be the captain

Without a copilot, 2nd mate, or partner at your side, you get to be the captain of the ship with no checks and balances. That means you have all of the freedom in the world to plan the logistics, financials, and superfluous details of the trip without worrying about a second opinion. This freedom alone is exhilarating and you’ll begin to feel the impact during your planning phase when you are literally setting the course of sail to your liking.

Completely immerse yourself

When you travel solo, you have the ability to cut yourself off from whatever world of normalcy you live in and be completely 100% present. Immerse yourself in the culture of the solo travel destinations you choose and

Make local friends

This is something we do even when we travel together as a couple or with our friends, but when you travel solo, you almost force yourself to make local friends if you want to avoid being a hermit. Over the years we have made innumerable friends around the globe and many of them were made at times when we were alone.

Challenge yourself

Traveling is often difficult. While traveling as a couple or together as a family, you can work as a team and each individual can assume both risk and responsibility. However, traveling solo forces you to accept the full risk and responsibility for every decision. Traveling solo forces you to challenge yourself, learn new talents, and get outside your comfort zone to hopefully grow as an individual.

Find yourself while getting lost

We are a product of our environment, genetics, family, friends, past experiences, etc. Our view of who we are as an individual is predicated upon other people’s expectations and views of who we are. Solo travel has a magical power that allows one to find oneself while getting lost. Challenge what you know as truth. Challenge your perception of who you are. Do all of this in an environment where you don’t have outside influence that is forcing you to be any particular way.

Allow yourself to be selfish

As children our parents all told us to be selfless, to share, to consider others. This is common practice for us in our daily lives and those of us who are married constantly put our partner’s needs over our own. So, we implore you to seize the opportunity to be selfish.

When you travel with a partner or a family, you only have so much input on the destinations you visit, the activities in which you engage, the meals you eat, etc. Solo travel allows you to choose not only your destination but also your type of accommodation, your activities, and most importantly – what you eat! Be selfish!

You have the rest of your life to travel with a family and kids. For our fellow married couples, don’t get complacent in your marriage. Not EVERYTHING you do for the rest of your life has to include your spouse. You should 100% take solo trips, go to bachelor and bachelorette parties, and plan trips with your boys from college or your girls from high school. Never stop investing in yourself. The strongest couples are couples with 2 strong individuals.

Solo travel makes budget travel easier

This idea might seem counterintuitive, but traveling solo can make budget travel easier. Yes, as a couple you can split accommodation costs, but you also have to pay for 2 flights, double the amount of food, and 2x all entrance fees and activities.

We have found that traveling solo fosters budget travel decision making. While traveling together we innately want to make every night date night. Traveling solo, you can eat cheap, stay in a hostel, and make other smart budget travel decisions. Hostels aren’t ideal for couples, but they are perfectly fine as a solo traveler. They are also a great place to meet fellow nomads!

If you’re truly up for an experience and want to seize the opportunity to save money on accommodation, try out Couchsurfing to stay with locals and meet other travelers. This isn’t really an option for couples or families, but as a solo traveler, you can leverage this free accommodation option.

Book cheap flights with Skyscanner and search for cheap accommodation on Hostelworld!

Need budget travel tips? Check out our blogs on how to visit Italy on a budget, how to visit London on a budget, and how to visit Australia on a budget!