Traveling solo seems to be all the rage these days. While you can’t argue with all the amazing benefits and rewards that come with stepping out on your own, solo travel still isn’t for everyone all the time. Sometimes, you really are better off finding a travel buddy to come with you.
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Ultimately, traveling by yourself is a completely different experience from traveling with someone else. The challenges tend to be greater, but so do the rewards. It’s all about what you’re the most suited to. Keep reading to find out what 5 signs mean you need a travel buddy, and what 5 signs mean you should travel by yourself.
10 You Need A Buddy: You Want Someone To Share Your Memories
There are lots of benefits to traveling solo, but the one thing that most solo travelers miss is making memories with the people they care about. Sure, you will always make memories when traveling by yourself, and you will meet people along the way with whom you’ll share those memories. But it’s not the same as having memories to laugh about with your friends for the rest of your life.
If you really want to create memories that will help to strengthen the bonds of friendship, traveling together may be the way to go.
9 Fly Solo: Your Friends Have Different Interests From You
It’s always easier to have people to travel with so you don’t have to take responsibility for everything yourself. But when your friends have different interests from you, you’ll usually have to negotiate and sacrifice things that you want to do. You might miss out on seeing what you really want to see because you’re seeing what they want to see. And when they do come with you to see something on your bucket list, their heart isn’t in it.
In this case, fly solo. You deserve to see and do what you want to do when you travel, rather than waste time catering to other people.
8 You Need A Buddy: You Want To Save Some Money
To be clear, it’s not automatically more expensive to travel solo than with friends. Especially if you’re focused on a budget and are staying in hostels, and your friends are the type who enjoy creature comforts, it may even be more expensive to travel with a buddy! But a lot of the time, you can save money by going with a buddy.
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This is because a lot of the costs are shared. From the taxi from your accommodation to the airport to the room you’re staying in, your buddy can cut half the cost for you.
7 Fly Solo: You Want To Meet New People
Traveling is one of the best ways to meet new people, especially if you’re looking to mingle with people who are a little different from the type that you normally socialize with at home. And traveling solo, hands down, is a much better way to form new relationships than traveling with a friend.
When you’re on your own, you will leave your comfort zone more readily to strike up conversation with a stranger. You’re also easier to approach when you’re by yourself than when you’re with another person or with a group.
6 You Need A Buddy: You’re Super Extroverted And Don’t Like Alone Time
A lot of seasoned travelers will tell you that everybody should travel alone at least once. The benefits of solo travel are hard to argue with! But even though it may be a fantastic experience for most people, the truth is it really isn’t for everyone. Some people just aren’t well-suited to solo travel and that is fine.
If you don’t like spending time by yourself and you’re very extroverted, the idea of solo travel might make you sick to the stomach. Yes, you’ll get the chance to meet new people along the way, but there will still be times when you’ll be on your own. That doesn’t appeal to everyone.
5 Fly Solo: You Want To Step Out Of Your Comfort Zone
Want to step out of your comfort zone and grow as a person? There really is no better way to do this than to travel by yourself. You haven’t pushed yourself to the limit until you’ve lost your passport in a foreign country where nobody speaks English! Even if disasters like that don’t happen and you have a bunch of apps to help make solo travel easier, you’ll still go through a lot of growth and transformation when you travel by yourself. And you’ll return a much stronger, more confident person.
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Traveling solo gets easier the more you do it, but it is still a series of challenges that can be quite scary and confronting. Facing things like that will always help you to grow.
4 You Need A Buddy: You Want A Fun, Stress-Free Vacation
Traveling by yourself can be a lot of fun. And don’t get us wrong: it can be super relaxing (depending on where you go and what you do). But generally, you’ll never relax quite as much as you would if you had somebody you trust there with you to help look out for you.
When you’re traveling solo, you’re just more vulnerable than you would be with someone else, so you always need to have your wits about you. If you are stressed from life and just want to go to a beach somewhere, drink margaritas, and party till dawn, it might be better to bring someone along so you don’t have to be the adult all the time.
3 Fly Solo: You Need To Find Yourself
One of the major benefits of traveling solo is that you learn a lot about yourself. You’ll learn how much you can handle (and it will always be more than you thought you could handle!). You’ll also learn what you enjoy and don’t enjoy, and where your limits are. So if you’re looking to really find yourself, you’ll be a lot closer after traveling by yourself.
You’ll still learn about yourself when traveling with other people, but it’s not quite the same. Because you won’t fully be out of your comfort zone, you’ll won’t see how much you can handle and what sort of person you really become under pressure.
2 You Need A Buddy: You Are Simply Too Scared To Travel Alone
We won’t lie to you: traveling alone can be really scary. Even if you’re in an English-speaking country where it’s easy to get around, it is very confronting to be completely alone where you don’t know a soul in the entire country. You’ll be in for a lot of benefits if you want to face these fears and go for it, but at the same time, it is just too overwhelming for some people. Again, that is okay.
Everybody is different. You might have a medical condition or a mental health issue that just makes traveling by yourself far too difficult. Of course, people with all sorts of ailments travel alone all the time, but if it’s too much for you, there’s nothing to be ashamed of.
1 Fly Solo: You Want To Travel Your Way, At Your Own Pace
The absolute best thing about traveling by yourself? You get to travel how you want at your own pace. You are in control. That means you’ll spend as much money as you’re comfortable with, filling your days with sights that you want to see, and staying in places that you want to stay in.
On a budget and want to stay in a hostel dorm? There’s nobody that you need to convince. Got some cash to spare and want to splurge in a resort? The world is your oyster. Traveling solo comes with huge amounts of freedom that you would never have with a travel buddy.