6 Reasons Why You Should Travel Alone Once

I consider myself pretty fortunate when it comes to traveling and seeing the world. I have been on several group trips, a couple mission trips, and an independent research adventure. Each of these experiences have helped me learn about myself and the world around me. It wasn’t until I got out of my comfort zone ad went on a trip to Belize by myself where I truly got to enjoy a country on my own and do what I wanted to do. After my time there I truly believe everyone should travel alone once in their lives and here is why:
 

Volunteered with locals building
a green house.

1. Amazing People and Stories

One of the greatest things about traveling alone are the people that you meet. When you travel with a partner or a group, you lose out on the opportunity to force yourself into meeting new people. When you travel alone, I noticed that other people traveling alone will flock to you because they are sharing the same experience as you and it is less intimidating. I can’t count the number of amazing people and friends that I made on my trip that I still am keeping in contact with.


2. Great Food

I love to try new foods and eat at the hole in the wall places that all the locals enjoy. Every time I tried a new place to eat, I always asked the locals what was the best thing on the menu. I had great experiences with this and was even invited by some locals to come and try food at their house for dinner!

3. You can do what you want

When have you gone on a trip where there were activities that you disliked and all you wanted to do was just leave? Well when traveling alone the only person you have to deal with is yourself. It allows you to be flexible and choose what exactly you want your experience in another country to be like.

I went and visited a farmers
 market one morning

4. You grow to be independent

You are your own decision maker. By traveling alone you will become more assertive because you are forced to make the decisions on your own. Once you start practicing, it becomes easier for everyday life. It also makes you realize that when you are traveling alone, there will be problems along the way where you will be forced to step up and make another decision best for you!

5. Get out of your comfort zone

I was able to learn a lot about myself and the attitude that I had towards my life. I reorganized my priorities and was able to grow personally which has made me grow in to the person I am today. I know that this experience can be rough for some people but in the end I was able to say that I traveled on my own and did my own thing.  

6. Work on checking things off your bucket list

As cliché as it sounds, I was able to check a lot of things off my bucket list that I had on there when I was traveling. I made sure to visit all of the tourist sights, yet still intermingle with the people that I had made friends with. Overall, the bucket list is a powerful tool that will make you want to cross things off yourself because you navigated through the system on your own.