Traveling Solo: The Best Decision I've Made

"Well I really don't think you should be traveling alone."

"You are going to get kidnapped and sold into human trafficking if you go over there!"

"You have no idea the cultural context you will encounter over there. I would NOT recommend you go to Europe alone."

"Aren't you worried about the terrorist groups over there?"

"Your parents are crazy. I would never let MY girl go over to Europe."

"You're a young girl, you can't do it by yourself."

These are all things I had told to me before going to Europe. Some, even being from people I didn't know. Most of it I just let roll off my back. But not gonna lie, some of those comments got to me. People, honest to goodness, made me feel incapable. Ignorant. Stupid. And just plain crazy for making the decision to travel Europe alone. I remember actually crying on the phone to my sister Beth because of some comments that someone made to me, THE DAY before I left. And let me tell you, the decision to travel alone was not one I was keen on in the beginning. My first thought was that I could have someone else tag along with me after Brayton and I parted ways. (Brayton had two weeks of vacation during which we planned to travel together, then she had to get back to Northern Ireland for school, so I had another two weeks on my own). It turned out that none of the people I asked could go with me, but so is life. Going to Europe is a huge commitment and a large chunk out of your bank account, so I completely understood.

That left me to myself.

I decided I would travel the first two weeks with Brayton and then go back to Northern Ireland, chill out in her dorm, and hang out with her when she wasn't in class. I was never satisfied with this decision. In fact, it made me feel very discontent. Why would I want to spend all this money to travel Europe and just stay in a dorm room for two weeks? I had no other option. Or so I thought.

It was Brayton who first suggested to me that I should travel on my own for the remaining two weeks. Was that a thing? Why yes I know it's possible, but that's got to be so boring! Traveling alone? There's no one to share in the beauty and fun experiences with! I shut down the idea at first, but it was always tickling the back of my mind. This way, I could go to so many more places and see so many more things! I researched traveling alone, and found that it was much more common than I thought. In fact, people did it all the time! There were even blogs dedicated to solo female travel. I was in. The anticipation of my trip was filled with much more zest as I researched all the places I would get to go by myself. Traveling alone no longer seemed scary or boring, but fun and exciting! A chance to bask in my independence. To truly discover myself.

A few months later, I found myself hopping on a plane to begin the journey of a lifetime. I was blessed to be able to travel two whole wonderful weeks with my best friend. We traveled five countries together, ending our amazing trip in Paris, France. It was there we parted ways. She took a plane back to Belfast, Northern Ireland, and I was off to catch a train to Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland. After saying goodbye at our hotel in Paris, I sucked in a nervous breath and thought, "Well this is it." I said a quick prayer, asking God to protect and bless my journey on my own, and I was off.

There is a certain exhilaration to encountering new things on your own. My first accomplishment was navigating the Paris metro to get to the train station. To some this may not seem like an accomplishment, but to a girl from a 750 person town in Nebraska where there are more cows than people, it was huge. My confidence was high as I made it to the Gare de Lyon train station. And so began my adventures alone.

I traveled to Switzerland to Barcelona to Ibiza to Ireland. And had the time of my life.

Here's all the things I love about traveling solo:

1. You get to do what truly interests YOU. If you go with a companion, no matter what you always have to take into consideration their interests and places they want to visit. While this has its advantages such as going to places you might not have gone to on your own, traveling with someone else quite often results in compromise in which you may have to give up some of your top spots. Traveling solo means the world is all yours! :)

2. You get to be on your own time schedule. There were times when I was traveling with Brayton that she wanted to sleep in when I would have rather woke up earlier to go do something. When you travel alone, you get to completely make your own schedule. And that means, no waiting around for another person.

3. It is so exciting! Maybe it's just me, but I love having the independence to experience and do things on my own.

4. You learn so much about yourself. You may have heard that traveling alone really develops you as a person and I really believe this is true. I had a lot of time for self reflection and lots of opportunities to learn about myself. I think "knowing who you are" is very valuable. Learn to enjoy your own company, to love yourself.

5. It builds self confidence. I read a quote that states this fact so well, "As you travel solo being totally responsible for yourself, it's inevitable that you will discover just how capable you are."-unknown

And the thing I love most about traveling solo is:

6. Meeting new people! Yes you can of course meet new people while you are traveling with someone else, but being on your own almost forces you to talk to other people and make friends! Sometimes when you go with a friend, you just get caught up with each other and don't quite have the need or desire to meet other people. Being on your own is a great way to meet others. I met so many wonderful wonderful people while I was on my own and even got the chance to travel with them. I got invited to places that I probably wouldn't have experienced on my own. I met people from all around the world which is just so cool. I got to learn about their culture, try new foods, experience part of their travels, and develop friendships. One of my favorite nights while being "on my own" was having supper with my hostel mates in Switzerland. We talked and laughed for hours. Even though you may be on your own, meeting new people makes it so that you don't have to be alone.

Of 10 days traveling on my own, I only had one bad day. It's bound to happen at some point. It was my first day in Barcelona, Spain. I had a blast the night before going out with my hostel mates, but woke up tired and not really knowing what I wanted to do that day. Barcelona is so big that it was kind of overwhelming to decide what to do. I decided to start my day by going to the Boqueria Market which looks like this,

It's an indoor market that sells just about any kind of fresh food you could imagine! The colors and smells were just spectacular. It was also quite cheap! One of those delicious looking smoothies you see above cost only 1 euro!

Anyway back to the story. On my way to and from La Boqueria I felt very alone. Like I've said before, cities aren't really my thing. I was completely fine being on my own in little ole Switzerland which is such a tranquil and quaint place, but Barcelona was a different story. Barcelona is huge and so touristy. There were hundreds of people walking to the Boqueria in one small area. I'm fine with visiting cities but being on my own was just a little too much for me. I felt super alone and being exhausted from the night before sure didn't help. I was kicking myself for not asking if I could spend the day with a Slovakian couple I met the night before. I decided to get on a ferry that took me along the coast of Barcelona. The waves must have soothed me because I ended up falling asleep during pretty much the whole thing. That was an expensive nap haha. After putzing around, I decided to take an overnight ferry to the island of Ibiza because the ocean is my happy place. What better way to lift my spirits than be surrounded by gorgeous beaches?

I ran into some difficulties trying to book my ferry as a result of this thing called siesta. I'm sure you've heard of it. What I didn't know, is that siesta is a very real thing. Pretty much every business closes down for a couple hours during the afternoon, probably to catch up from partying the night before :b. So I did a lot of walking before I finally was able to book my ticket. The ferry departed at 9:00 pm and honest to goodness I didn't even know if I was in the right spot. Spain is a little more difficult with the language barrier. All I managed to get from the ticket lady was that I was supposed to catch the bus "over there" at 9:00 pm. Thank goodness I can understand un poco Spanish. I saw a few other people waiting outside the ticket place a little before 9:00 and figured I was in the right spot. Some policemen came up and checked this sketchy looking dude for his passport... and soon came to me, speaking only in Spanish. I gathered this was their method of "security" before we got to board the bus to drive on the ferry. Much to my relief the bus finally arrived and we drove a very long ways, seemingly to me in the wrong direction away from the port. But we finally made it. So that whole thing was an adventure.

That was my only "bad" day. And looking back, that "bad" day was actually pretty good. Apart from feeling super lonely, suffering from major lip sunburn, and not knowing what to do with myself, I did get to experience some cool things.

And because of that bad day and my decision to go to Ibiza, I discovered this paradise. So yeah, I'm not even mad :).

One semi-not-the-greatest day, but nine amazing days traveling on my own made for an awesome trip. I am so thankful I conquered my doubts and traveled on my own. I learned so much about myself, other cultures, and just about life in general. As che as it is to say, I feel like I truly discovered who I was. I had the opportunity to make decisions completely on my own. I got to experience things that truly inspired and interested me. I met some incredible people from all over the world that I may get the chance to visit someday. I learned valuable things about our world and the people in it. I got a longer time to do what I love best: traveling. I got to be me.

There may be people who tell you that you can't. Shouldn't. Or are just plain stupid for doing for traveling by yourself. I say, don't listen to them. Traveling Europe solo is generally very safe. So many people do it. It may not be acceptable in America but when you actually go over there and experience it for yourself, you will see that it is completely normal, acceptable, safe, and even encouraged. Sure you can run into some problems, but so is life! As long as you use common sense and take safety precautions you will be fine.

So to all of you out there wanting to travel alone or perhaps wanting to travel but don't have anyone to go with, I say GO FOR IT. Don't let anyone tell you that you can't, because oh honey you can. I did it. And I've never felt so accomplished in my life. It's so hard to describe the feeling you get after taking an amazing trip and knowing you did it all on your own. It's indescribable.

Don't tell yourself you will go travel as soon as you get a partner or as soon as one of your friends comes along. If you truly want to travel, get out there and do it. I did.

"Don't be scared to walk alone. Don't be scared to like it."-John Mayer