What Solo Travel Taught Me About the World

“Travel is a fantastic self-development tool, because it extricates you from the values of your culture and shows you that another society can live with entirely different values and still function. This exposure to different cultural values and metrics them forces you to re-examine what seems obvious in your own life and to consider that perhaps it’s not necessarily the best way to live.” -Mark Manson.

I have been travelling my entire life. But there was definitely something different about doing it alone which terrified me. I left home at 18 and went to live on my own in France for the first time. I didn’t know the language, barely knew the culture, and knew no one there. I was so nervous I got sick a couple days after I arrived.

Even though forcing myself to travel solo was awfully stressful at first, I can say that it changes you in a way that nothing else can. It’s definitely not always fun and easy, but it is worth it.

Here’s what I solo travel has taught me about the world and myself.

Confidence

Solo travel has taught me that I am a lot more capable than I thought I was. I learned that I could take care of myself even if I don’t know the language, don’t know how the public transport works, and even when I get anxiety from speaking to strangers. I was able to push myself out of my comfort zone. I learned that I could save myself from difficult situations, and that I can handle almost anything that comes to me. I’ve had to overcome a lot, but it serves as a reminder that I’m a lot stronger than I think for when I’m going through hard times.

Minimalism

I used to hoard a lot of my stuff and felt that almost everything I had had some sort of sentimental value. I was like this throughout my adolescence until I started to solo travel. My priorities changed. I had to take care of myself, which meant keeping only the things that I need, and leave anything else so that I could travel light. It forced me to live a minimalist lifestyle which made me value experiences over things. I had to anyways, If I wanted to welcome new experiences.

Being Alone

I’m a big introvert, so I really enjoy my time alone. I rarely get lonely. Except for when I arrived in France and couldn’t communicate with anyone, didn’t understand the people, or the culture. That’s when I felt lonely for the first time. And it was horrible. No one around me spoke English and seemed little interested in speaking to me. To make things worse, I was in the suburbs, which meant that if I wanted to meet new people, I had to take a train to Paris. Not to mention I used to live in a small town and had never been in a big city on my own.

I pushed myself to learn. I took the train, and would then travel around Paris on my own, eat in restaurants alone, until I had nothing left to see and would spend my afternoons laying in the grass looking at the Eiffel Tower. And I genuinely enjoyed my time spent alone. Once I felt the confidence to go out and explore, I wasn’t feeling lonely anymore.

Making Friends

Meeting new people can be difficult if you don’t speak the same language and don’t know how to approach them. When I first arrived to France, I was not studying or working, so I didn’t know where to start making new friends. I found out people would be less afraid of coming to talk to me when I was alone. So, I learned to make friends by just going to a park or any public setting on my own.

I also met people online. I used to be really afraid of it, for obvious reasons. But with time I learned to find the right people to meet safely and in the right setting. There are a lot of other solo travellers on social apps looking to meet new people and travel together.

The World Isn’t as Scary as You Think

Don’t be afraid to travel to a new place because you hear that it is dangerous. Bad things can also happen in your home country. Not only that, but the media exaggerates how dangerous a place is. Not that bad things don’t happen, but if you learn to trust your instincts and do your own research on the places you’re going to, then it will most likely be fine. I’ve lived and visited countries that the media has deemed too dangerous to go to, and never saw any of the dangers that were mentioned.