Solo traveling is a thing nowadays. All these Solo-Travel Facebook groups and Female-Solo-Travel Instagram accounts are getting more and more popular. I guess it goes hand in hand with feminism. This may be a way for girls to show how independent they are, that they can do stuff on their own. And I support that. After all, I’m one of them. Not that I would be trying to prove anything to others. The only person I may be assuring is myself. I do travel solo, but still, I barely find myself being solo.
I love to travel alone, and I’m taking it with everything it brings. The advantages, disadvantages and dangers. I frame plan everything by myself and budget it as well. I enjoy the freedom and flexibility I get. I patiently listen to all those warnings from people who have never left the country on their own. We all have heard those stories about kidnapping, and creeps taking advantages of lonely tourists. Many people will tell you what a dangerous place the country of your visit is. How you should be careful and always have someone with you. They won’t tell you that the narrow empty streets may lead to the hidden gems, or that you may find an altruistic kindness in strangers. So I’m telling you now.
You may think that solo traveling means simply being on your own. Staying at a hotel or hostel, walking around, fulfilling your plans, listening only to your mind or your great playlist. Well, let me tell you that in most of the cases, you’re wrong!
SOLO TRAVELING ≠ BEING ALONE
Yes, you are on your own and you do all those things I named above. But you often are accompanied. You always meet new people. There hasn’t been a trip so far, where I would not talk to a single stranger. In fact, you talk to more people than while traveling with someone. Because having a person (or a group) always with you, only stops you from meeting new people. You have no need to talk to strangers. You don’t need to ask someone in the streets to take a picture of you or to help you out. Being alone sort of makes you to have a conversation with strangers. Afterall, we are social beings. Some more than others, but naturally we talk to people. At the hostels, by the sights, at a restaurant or a bar, in a store, on the plane or bus. People you know would only take these opportunities away.
If I should be honest with you, it was traveling what brought the most interesting people into my life. I met many strangers on my travels. People I still talk to. Some with who I only exchanged a smile. Ones I stayed or spend some time with. Co-hikers and story-sharers. People I had a small talk with and never saw them ever again. Free spirits, amazing personas, people who helped me, all sorts of weirdos but also creeps. Each of them gave me a lesson, and every new one will. Because everyone has something to say, something we can learn from. We only have to listen.
Where I have been 