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The magic of traveling alone

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Re: The magic of traveling alone

#11

Post by iforgotpassword »

Aachen wrote: post #6
racked wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you ask me, it's when you start talking with the people in the area you're staying in. It's very freeing to have a fresh start in a new place.

About what? In what circumstances? Walk up to people tending their front yard and strike up a conversation? At bus stops? I've tried at least the latter but people generally aren't up for it in western Europe at least This advice article could be a whole lot more concrete

Striking a conversation with someone at a bus stop is likely interrupting someone who has to be somewhere, so will stay rather shallow.

Try parks, bars, college campuses, maybe museums.

Re: The magic of traveling alone

#13

Post by Svip »

Back in '17, I took my car across the Atlantic to the US, and drove coast to coast and back again for a total of 10 weeks. The majority of the trip was spent driving alone.

My original plan had been 12 weeks, but coming around the 7th-8th week, as I was driving back to the East Coast, I was hit with a severe sense of home sickness, so I decided to cut my trip short.

It was a great trip, and I met a lot of people on the way. Also met my now wife -- though, ironically, on the last day of the trip.

I will recommend these sorts of trips, particularly to younger people before they settle down. But - as pointed out elsewhere - remember to talk to people. Still made me feel home sick; and exhausted from the constant bombardment of new experiences.

Re: The magic of traveling alone

#14

Post by BrandoElFollito »

blowski wrote: post #8

The “magic” seems little more than not having to compromise, allowing you to be selfish without the guilt of hurting others. With friends, the magic comes when the holiday has finished and you start saying “remember that thing on that holiday!”. The worst form of loneliness is only having memories nobody else shares.

> The worst form of loneliness is only having memories nobody else shares

It depends on people. I have plenty of memories I share alone and I am happy to do so. I am not nostalgic so the "it was better then" does not work for me.

I am much, much more interested to sharing the present with people, i.e. meeting them for the sake of meeting and not doing extraordinary things together.

Re: The magic of traveling alone

#15

Post by sussexby »

Travelling alone for me has yielded two massive benefits:

* I see more than I am expecting as I meet more people. Solo travel is lonely and you want to speak to others, when you do you get new experiences. Theres nothing stopping you talk to people when you travel with others but the yearning for interaction isn’t as strong. Ex: meeting someone in Beijing and going for a proper local breakfast eating things I’d never imagined.

* It challenges me to overcome my comforts. I’ve experienced far more by pushing my boundaries beyond what I thought possible. Ex: cycling the US Pacific Coast and needing shelter/resources and accepting the help you can get only to find kind people, new experiences and great local recommendations.

Almost every time I share stories at least a couple of stories come out of times I have travelled solo.

Re: The magic of traveling alone

#16

Post by mettamage »

I met interesting people, which is why I travel solo. Whenever I see someone with an interesting style or energy, I tell them. It usually leads to nothing. Sometimes it leads to magic :)

Definitely a fun way to become a bit better at dating too!

Re: The magic of traveling alone

#17

Post by zelphirkalt »

deafpolygon wrote: post #12

Travelling alone sounds like a dream. But I'm an introvert on the ASD, so... I'm probably the exception.

However, if you do travel alone, you might be proud of the fact, that you managed to do that, despite being an introvert and all that. Speaking from experience. You might not share or talk about it afterwards as much as others, for whom it comes more naturally, but you might have some great memories and feel at least a little bit enabled by having done it before.

Re: The magic of traveling alone

#18

Post by satvikpendem »

surfsvammel wrote: post #5

I spent years travelling alone for work. I grew bitter. I hated it. I started to hate travelling. Some years later, I decided that I wanted to be able to enjoy travelling alone. So I did, for 30 days, in France. I made rules for myself: - Don’t stay in the same city more than two nights. - Go do all the touristy stuff, eat at all the restaurants, etc, that I would do if I was not alone. - Speak to people. It was the…

I think it's more so your business travel experiences that caused you to hate it initially, not the solo travel itself. I've used similar rules, sometimes, and other times I didn't, both were good. For example, I stayed 5 weeks almost exclusively in Seoul last year and it was awesome, I met many people I simply would not have had I only stayed there two nights. I also discovered a lot more of the city and over the weeks I was able to feel myself living more like a local. Very interesting experience.

Re: The magic of traveling alone

#19

Post by satvikpendem »

Aachen wrote: post #6
racked wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you ask me, it's when you start talking with the people in the area you're staying in. It's very freeing to have a fresh start in a new place.

About what? In what circumstances? Walk up to people tending their front yard and strike up a conversation? At bus stops? I've tried at least the latter but people generally aren't up for it in western Europe at least This advice article could be a whole lot more concrete

Where would you normally talk to people in your home city or area? Would you talk to strangers tending their yard? Or would you try more sociable places like cafés and bars? So too with solo travel and conversing, people are generally the same everywhere. They'll be on their guard if a stranger comes up to them at a bus stop or in front of their lawn, but they'll be much more approachable in social areas.

Re: The magic of traveling alone

#20

Post by satvikpendem »

blowski wrote: post #8

The “magic” seems little more than not having to compromise, allowing you to be selfish without the guilt of hurting others. With friends, the magic comes when the holiday has finished and you start saying “remember that thing on that holiday!”. The worst form of loneliness is only having memories nobody else shares.

I've made lots of friends as I traveled, so much that when I meet up with them in a different corner of the world, we do indeed reminisce about our previous adventures.
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