Why I Solo Travel

This isn’t something that even crosses my mind at this point but it has come up in conversation a lot this year and I realized that I have never written about this. So here we are: why do I travel solo?

As of December 2024, I have now been to 62 countries (I use an app that counts this by UN countries/member states so Kosovo, Macau, Taiwan and Hong Kong are not counted in this number). I have repeated a number of countries and on some of my trips, have met up/traveled with friends or family but if I were to venture a guess, I have solo* traveled to ~50 countries (*more on the asterisk later)

First and foremost, I solo travel because if I had waited for someone to be able to join me, I would have never gone on the vast majority of my trips. If we just look at where I traveled to by myself this year, I would have missed out on visiting the Faroe Islands, seeing the Northern lights, cruising through Iceland, Norway, Greek Isles and attending the Olympics along with so many other adventures and places! Not being able to get PTO approved or ended up not being able to commit to trips to a whole slew of other reasons for why others were not able to join me. I couldn’t or wouldn’t allow for things not working out for others to be the reason for why I didn’t go somewhere.

And many times, I didn’t even ask if anyone could or wanted to come along.

I book and go on the trips because being solo isn’t a hindrance for me. I have hiked, biked, camped and skied by myself so it’s never been an issue to go on a solo adventure within my so called “normal life in Colorado”. I had done all of these things even when I was in a long term committed relationship so it’s always been really natural and important for me to be able to do things even if no one else was able to come along. This made it pretty easy to do it in a bigger context and venture out in the world and start solo traveling. I had also learned that I enjoy the solitude of my own company as much as I enjoy the pleasure of having others around to share the experience with.

Most importantly, I have never felt like I have missed out because I was solo. Things were never less awe-inspiring because there was no one else to share in reveling in nature’s beauty or man’s ingenuity. In fact, there are so many things that would have never happened if I had been with someone else traveling especially this year and I am so grateful for those opportunities and experiences – many things were once in a lifetime and somehow, I got to live them all.

I have discovered that travel isn’t just about checking off saying I have seen or been here or done this – travel for me is as life is for me and connections are what gives my world color and meaning. This is the *asterisk, the funniest part of solo travel is that often, actually probably a majority of the time, I haven’t been solo. I have made friends staying at hostels and also while taking walking tours and on group day tours to when I was out eating lunch/dinner. I have struck up conversations whilst waiting in line and ended up exploring the attraction with people. Sometimes the interactions are brief but more often than not, true connections are formed and I have met up with many people months or years later. There are so many times that I have ended up in deep and soul baring conversations with people that were strangers a few hours before or become such fast friends with someone that others called us out as liars that we had just met. That is the nature of my solo travel.

When I first went out solo traveling, it was to challenge myself on a months long journey through South America. I found not only strength and resilience that I hadn’t needed to tap into before but also a reservoir of humility and grace that surprised me even more. The greatest thing was discovering that if you are open to the universe, that the right people can come into your life at the right time if you can put yourself in the right place…so solo travel helped me in my journey of healing and discovery whilst expanding my mind and horizons – then and still continues to this day.

This isn’t to say that there haven’t been times (and there have been many but I have also traveled A LOT) when I did feel lonely. One thing that you start to understand more when solo traveling is that there is an ocean of difference between solitude and loneliness. And sometimes that would be prompted by seeing a group of friends or even a couple enjoying a romantic evening or when I got the worst UTI of my life the first night of a Virgin Greek Isles cruise…but I learned to take those moments in stride and use them to evaluate what I was really experiencing. Sometimes I would realize that I wanted to be alone and needed the solitude to confront what I had been avoiding. And other times, I would use that feeling to motivate me to connect to others. If I needed to feel more stable or grounded, I would reach out to friends/family/something that felt like home. There were a number of time when what I needed was someone around me that helped remind me that my life was pretty good and to be in the moment, enjoying wherever I was in the world.

I do think that everyone should try doing something solo and traveling if you can afford it as it does allow you to grow in ways that you would never otherwise. And also remember that there’s a lot of ways that you can solo travel. I book and go completely on my own from flights to lodging to activities. Staying at hostels or booking a group tour/day trip can help you connect with others if you go this route. Or you can go solo but go with a travel company in a group for the majority or all of your trip. Or go solo for a day or two then meet up with friends. But I also understand that solo travel is not for everyone and that’s okay. My mantra of “know thyself” is especially apt for traveling – you do you.

Let me end with this: I have heard that I am so brave for solo traveling – especially since I do it so often and to some of the places I have ventured and I want to remind you of two things. First, I am still a little nervous before each trip….most of the time, it’s the butterflies that are part excitement and part eek what will this trip be like? but sometimes, I am hit with the thought of “maybe I shouldn’t have gone on this trip alone” – and remember that being brave isn’t the absence of fear – it’s the doing it anyways in spite of your fear so I forge ahead.

But moreso, I have really come to appreciate how I can go out and do these things solo and take on risks because I know that I am being cheered on and supported by such a crazy deep and wide circle of support. I really do feel like I am luckier than I have any right to be…it’s such a privilege and honor.

So if you feel like you don’t have that, let me return the favor and help cheer you on – there is so much out there – I would love to have you discover your beautiful life, this beautiful world.