you think you know who you are until you solo travel and then you question everything have you ever thought about traveling the world by yourself but you weren't sure if you could do it or if you would even like it that's how I used to feel as well but after 20 years of solo traveling through more than 60 countries my perception on solo travel has changed so if you're thinking about doing it someday then in this video I'm going to share with you 15 things that might happen if you decide to solo
travel also if you're new to my channel and you comment on this video And subscribe for the first time you'll be automatically entered to win a 350 dollar Tortuga gift card that you can use for any backpack luggage or travel accessories on their website the first thing that happens when you solo travel is you feel all of the feelings you might feel feel nervous you might feel anxious you might feel scared you might feel excited and probably a combination of things but just go with it because the
se are just emotions they're going to pass and they're going to change the very first time that I traveled somewhere by myself was to Costa Rica when I was 20 years old and I was so nervous on the plane that I actually started crying as the plane landed I can remember staring out the window at night and just seeing all of the lights go by and it was even raining and I just felt so scared and so alone and so apprehensive about what I was going to experience there but fortunately as soon as I got
there within a day or two those nerves were replaced with just excitement and Euphoria and the sense of freedom of being in a foreign country by myself for the first time another thing that will inevitably happen is that you're going to mess up sometimes you're gonna make mistakes you might get lost you might get scammed but throughout all of those experiences you're going to learn and those uncomfortable experiences when you mess up they are a few and far between and I've had them as well I've
been pickpocketed while buying Pizza in Prague I've been scammed exchanging money at the Nicaraguan border and I once bought a car that was a complete lemon in Costa Rica and had to give it back I mean these things are going to happen so just be aware that you're going to make mistakes sometimes because you're in a foreign place where you don't know the culture and you might not know anyone at first so just be prepared that there might be a certain percentage of times that you make the wrong dec
ision or you do the wrong thing in hindsight but you can always learn from that and then you'll be strong stronger moving forward and what this results in is that you develop a lot of Street smarts and you learn to rely on yourself more you become more independent you become more resourceful you become more resilient and you just realize that you're capable of handling anything that life throws at you and this can be a very empowering feeling when you're outside of your comfort zone you're in an
other country and you're having to figure things out on your own regardless of how long you solo travel for if it's for just a couple of days or weeks or months or even a year or more when you come back to your hometown or your home country after doing that you're going to have a lot more confidence that you were able to develop while you were troubleshooting and problem solving while traveling alone [Music] company here hello how's everyone today I don't have any food I don't have any food sorr
y hey so you might learn a lot of really practical skills like Street smarts navigation how to get around lots of travel hacking skills so you can use your points and save money on travel but you also might learn things that you didn't necessarily have to know before like how to check your oil or water levels in your car or figure out why your car broke down in the middle of Central America but through those experiences you also learn how to ask for help and depend on other people and when you'r
e traveling with someone else or you're traveling in a group you might go for help within the group but when you're traveling by yourself you'll be able to rely on strangers and you'll realize that traveling by yourself isn't that scary or dangerous and that everybody out there just wants to help you so for all the times that I got flat tire or my car broke down in the middle of Nicaragua if it was in front of someone's house people would always come out to help they'd help me tow my car or they
'd pull over on the side of the road or something like that and so you will find that you are able to ask for help and talk to strangers that you wouldn't talk to if you were in your hometown but you also learn how to avoid attracting unwanted attention and you learn how to protect yourself in very intuitive ways you do start to develop this sixth sense that is a protection mechanism and it's quite effective I feel like my instincts have been sharpened so much from so many years of travel that e
ven before I go somewhere I can sense if it's a good idea or not and there have been many times where I just had a gut instinct not to go with someone somewhere or to leave a certain place or leave a house and I'm not exactly sure how that works but I know that this Sixth Sense has definitely been enhanced by years of traveling the world and it hasn't failed me yet you also meet a lot of people now I've traveled with friends family members significant others I've been on group tours I've lived a
t co-living spaces and traveled with big groups of people and even though you meet people when you go on Group Travel trips there's something about traveling by yourself that makes you more open to meeting people and it gives you more chances for that kind of serendipity to kick in this can happen in the most unlikely scenarios but it can also be something that you intentionally plan so there have been times that I've literally just bumped into people on the street walking into a building or one
night when I was in Serbia crossing a bridge in Belgrade I ran into two German guys and we ended up going to get pizza and becoming friends and we're still in touch today so it can happen completely by chance but then you can also go to meetups and conferences and events and even using apps like meetup.com or looking up events on Facebook going to things like that you can meet so many other people but you really only need to meet one person to be able to access their group of friends and so rea
lly one thing leads to another but I've used a app called a small world to go to a dinner party in Berlin and I met a ton of people from around the world that way I used internations.org to join up with a group of people who are going to October oberfest and I've used meetup.com and also even dating apps like Bumble like dating and friendship and networking apps to meet people around the world so you can do that but then you can also go to a conference or a big event in the place that you're tra
veling to you can go to a digital Nomad related event but I'm just going to one thing and just making that an effort to meet people you'll meet more people than you can even be friends with along with the friends that you make when you're traveling by yourself you'll also inevitably meet a special someone or two or three and this can be something as casual as a Spring Fling or a Summer Fling but you can also meet your soulmate this way and I've met so many solo Travelers who met someone on the r
oad and they ended up getting married I met one of my long-term ex-boyfriends in Costa Rica I've met past boyfriends on a beach in Croatia while I was surfing in Bali and even in a beer garden one time in Munich so you never know when it's going to happen but you can also use those apps and going to events and things like that to meet a significant other and it's always really fun to date and have relationships when you're traveling because it can almost feel like you're on a honeymoon you might
be in a very romantic scenario you might be somewhere with a very beautiful backdrop and that can just make it more fun and exciting and sure sometimes it doesn't last and sometimes you're just passing through town and you might never see that person again but sometimes it can actually result in a very significant and serious long-term relationship or even marriage and that's one of the really fun parts of traveling by yourself is just the people you meet and the people you date but what about
loneliness this is something that is probably a big concern for you because when you're solo traveling you're by yourself a lot right but ironically I actually feel less lonely when I solo travel than I did in my normal life before I ever started traveling and I'm not really sure how to explain this scientifically but if you've ever solo traveled before maybe you can relate but it has to do with I think getting to know yourself better and enjoying spending time with yourself and also recognizing
that your decision to solo travel is a choice and so you're just kind of going on this journey with yourself and you end up having a lot more Quiet Moments and just time to think time to reflect on things and you ultimately start to really enjoy your company you start to know yourself better and know yourself more like what you like what you don't like and you aren't afraid of experiencing loneliness because you understand that it's a universal emotion that everyone can relate to and that every
one feels sometimes and you're going to feel it whether you're traveling or not I've felt lonely when I was at parties I felt lonely when I was with family and friends or when I was with a significant other feeling lonely doesn't mean you have to be surrounded by people to not feel lonely like you can feel lonely standing in the middle of New York City whether you're traveling or not whether you're in a relationship or not and whether you have five kids or not like it's something that can just h
appen because we are humans it's also a lot easier now with technology because it's easier to stay in touch with people we have social media we have face time and I know what it's like to travel without the internet and also with the internet and so that can help as well and this is about finding a balance between alone time and also social time because as I mentioned you can meet a lot of people when you're traveling and you can meet significant others and you could end up being pretty busy act
ually also with solo travel you get to experience what ultimate freedom feels like it's kind of like when you graduate from high school and you feel free for the first time because you don't have to go to class anymore kind of feels like that or when you get your driver's license and you can go wherever you want for the first time solo travel feels like that but even more elevated and you can do whatever you want to do in your day but then you also get this feeling that you can do whatever you w
ant at any time in your life and this can be as simple as you know waking up in the morning and asking yourself what do I want to do today and it could be go to the coffee shop it could be open your laptop and do some work it could be hop on a train or a plane and go somewhere else I mean I I was in Brazil one day and I just decided from one day to the next I'm going to Buenos Aires and I just often went to Buenos Aires for a month um but you know even today like just wanting to go for a walk ou
tside and film this video not having to answer to anyone or not having a schedule especially if you're traveling and you're retired or if you're traveling and you work remotely and you can set your own hours that is something that even after 20 years of traveling under different circumstances whether it was as a study abroad student or working for myself it is something that never gets old and of course you know you could have some constraints with your work or with your finances or with other p
eople that you're going to be traveling with but solo travel is this very surreal type of feeling where you just find yourself in some far-off place with all of the freedom and potential that you could ever imagine and I'm so grateful that we're living in a time where we're able to do this and especially being a woman I think being a single solo traveling female it never before has it really been possible until recent years for women to have so much freedom to be able to do whatever we want for
work and live wherever we want and decide what we want to do with our time and have that financial and location Freedom so it's something that I really cherish and even if I settle down some today I'll continue to always travel and even if I'm married or have kids I will still solo travel because I really value these pockets and moments of Freedom so much and I feel like it's such a good opportunity to just connect with yourself and what you want from life and not just from this day but long ter
m did I also mention that solo travel is really fun you can have so many spontaneous Adventures as you're meeting people and you're finding yourself in all of these different places and it gives you the opportunity to have experiences that you wouldn't necessarily have at home like I'm from Florida and I spent many years living in Costa Rica and there were times that a friend and I would just ride our four-wheelers up the Pacific coast to go surfing for the weekend and like get a hostel and just
go wherever the best waves were there was a time that I got invited to a raw cacao dance party like raw chocolate where we're just eating chocolate and dancing in the rain and I mean the list goes on even if you only solo travel for a short amount of time I'm sure that something really random and really incredible is gonna happen so you can have a lot of fun you can meet up with other people people enjoying their Adventures but then if you're solo traveling you'll also inevitably have more qual
ity time to yourself and this can be time that you can use for just journaling reflection reading but you can also use this time to pursue a hobby or learn a new skill or progress toward a goal and I think that that's something that's very underrated about solo travel it's not just about having Instagram worthy Adventures or meeting a ton of people but it's also about getting to know yourself and giving yourself time and space to know what you want out of life without all of the noise and distra
ctions and so that's something that I really cherish about the opportunity of solo travel another very positive side effect of solo travel that can happen to varying degrees depending on how long you're traveling for is that you start to know yourself on a deeper level and you start to figure out who you are outside of the influences from your home country your community your family your school your classmates your workplace and it's kind of like peeling back the layers of an onion like you thin
k you know who you are until you solo travel and then you question everything you can question your beliefs you can you can question your religion your political affiliation and this can sound like wow that's a lot but it does happen very gradually over time and I think it can only be a positive thing the more that people get out there and travel The Wider you expand your world view and the more that you question the things that you were told I often say that I spent the first seven years of my
time traveling the world unlearning so many things that I thought to be true from growing up in the U.S so I think this is a really interesting side effect of solo travel but I think it is a positive for you and the people that you come in contact with another thing that I think happens at least in my own case is that you inevitably become a bit more humble a bit more grateful a bit more laid back and low maintenance and I think that this is because the longer that you travel especially if you'r
e solo traveling the more you're going to experience that very unglamorous side of travel there could be moments when food is scarce where you don't have hot water where you don't have a comfortable place to sleep maybe you're sleeping on a floor or on a couch or in an airport you experience some hardships but then you also witness what other people are experiencing and in many cases that could be living under very dire circumstances or very extreme poverty and so I think it just makes you a bit
more conscious anxious about what other people are going through maybe have a little bit more empathy and also be less likely to complain when things don't go your way because when you travel a lot of on things unplanned things can happen and so things aren't always going to be perfect and this is something that I notice a lot when I'm traveling with other people that maybe only get to travel one week per year on their one week of vacation and so there's a lot of pressure to make it a perfect t
rip you know a perfect holiday and so you start to notice that you know if the plane is delayed 20 minutes sometimes people are going to be really upset but that's not something that is going to bother me and so that's when I start to notice those differences and I wonder if before I started traveling I was a bit more uptight about those things and less aware and then a weird phenomena that I've noticed since I started solo traveling is that you start to remember more like you start to associate
memories with places and dates like I can tell you that I broke down on my 4x4 in the middle of the rain at night on my way home in Costa Rica in October of 2005. I can tell you that in the spring of 2019 I was in Paris taking a travel writing workshop and then I flew to Vilnius Lithuania to meet with my friends Johnny and Sam and I can remember spending my birthday in Positano Italy in 2017 and when I'm back home in Florida the days and the months and the years can kind of start to blur togeth
er but when you solo travel especially if you travel full time being in different places allows you to remember these things more clearly and kind of along the same lines of getting to know yourself better when you travel alone and especially if you travel abroad you kind of stop caring what other people think when you grow up at home and through childhood and adulthood it can be very important what other people think what people and your Social Circle think what what your co-workers think and w
hen you travel full time and when you solo travel you get to know yourself very well as I mentioned and you just care less and less about what other people think back at home you become more self-confident and more self-assured and and and thinking more about the big picture and rather than how to escape the gossip Circle and another benefit of solo travel is that it can help you to blend in easier with your surroundings or to assimilate and integrate more with local culture you know the more pe
ople that you're traveling with the bigger the group and the faster that you're traveling the harder this can be to achieve to really integrate with the local community but when you are traveling by yourself you can be more approachable and you have more of those moments for Serendipity and connection with local people outside of the comfort zone of your travel bubble or your friends or whoever you're with so if you are Solo traveling then make sure to take advantage of that and strike up conver
sations with locals try to learn as much as possible about the place that you're visiting and if you're traveling with other people or in a group then just try to be mindful of that and either Escape for some alone time where you can explore by yourself or to be intentional about that being something that you want to do while you're there and get your other friends and travel companions on board but whether you travel by yourself or with someone else the important thing is that you travel and no
matter where you go or how long you stay if you travel your life will surely change so I hope that this video helped you anticipate what you might experience if you solo travel the world and if I miss anything then let me know in the comments below if you're new here I'm Kristen I make videos about travel culture and living abroad make sure you have your notification bells on so that you don't miss any new videos and I look forward to seeing you again soon
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i’m a 19 year old girl and just booked a solo trip to iceland in september, everyone i know is telling me it’s a bad idea and dangerous but i’m so excited! thank you for this video
You dont travel alone..u travel with ur self!!! Its very important! Ur self is ur friend!! Greetings from Greece 🇬🇷
Perhaps something to add to the list is that inevitability when traveling alone, you’re going to visit or witness something so amazing that you’ll wish you had someone to share it with right at that moment. I’ve seen so many of the world’s natural wonders and often thought if only there was someone with me to remember it together and re-create the excitement when reminiscing. But having said all that, I still love solo travel and will never stop.
Thank you so much for this. I am 55 and made the decision to work remotely and travel starting in 6 months. I’m not getting any younger. This was a fantastic gift.
I am 68 and on my 12th solo trip. Right now in Costa Rica. It had been 2 years since I traveled solo and had those anxiety feelings as the plane landed at night in San Jose. Every trip is different, and I have found that I can talk to pretty much anyone and much more street smart. I do carry my concerns from the US and my personal life of a long separation from my husband with me. Feelings come to the surface. I like to combine my travel with nearby yoga places in the jungle. That really helps to connect with myself and others. The randomness and kindness of strangers is every day. Loneliness at times too. New friends on other days. Thank you, Kristin!
Hi Kristin-You are right on! Solo travel is like a journey back to yourself! Fewer distractions & greater freedom! I learned to love myself without conforming!
I usually travel solo and it's easier. I don't have to be responsible for anyone else and that is a burden less when traveling alone. I don't have to change or rearrange my schedule for anyone. There are many other perks when you travel alone and for me it's my favorite way of traveling.
One way to try solo travel without it being so scary the first time is to go on your own, but on an adventure travel tour, with other people who you meet when you get there. That way you get the difficult bits like booking accommodation and getting from A to B done for you. It gives you the experience of travel and how everything works, before embarking somewhere entirely on your own the next time. It worked for me.
First time I traveled alone I was 21 and went to Mexico to study Spanish. Like you I remember being so afraid at the airport I almost changed my mind. I didn’t travel solo again until my 50s. At first I took baby steps taking a trip in my own state, then Europe and back to Mexico. It’s been life changing in such a positive way.
I've traveled every which way of solo travel for 30+ years now, living/working in 40 countries and can relate to all your insightful points. I'm not sure if it's travel or just getting older but I no longer care what people think or try to keep up with trends. In fact, I recently decided to wear the same style of black cargo pants and slip-on shoes every day, and only switch up the top. As a chef, I wore a uniform every day so it feels natural to me - frees up a ton of packing space too! The people who know me don't care...and the people who care don't know me.
I have been traveling mostly solo, ( I also love traveling with a very few friends and family members who share similar interests ) for a long time, thirty years. As a single woman it was nerve racking in the beginning, specially before cell phones and social media, like WhatsApp, which allows you to stay connected with friends and family. Now, it has become a new normal. Definitely, I always travelled to relatively ‘safe’ countries in Europe and Asia. I still don’t feel brave enough to go every place I want, since safety is my top concern. My first solo trip was to Edinburgh, Scotland. As you said, slowly I became confident and comfortable traveling by myself and it gave me a great sense of freedom and achievement for a painfully shy and introverted woman. BTW, I love your videos. ❤❤ You are one of the few solo female travelers I love to watch and appreciate your tips, suggestions etc. I am planning to retire in near future and travel long term if everything goes well. Happy Travels!🎉
Hi Kristin, I've been traveling solo since the middle of May in 2022. I've had many highs as well as lows. I've learned so much about myself; I have the resourcefulness of a lioness! Originally from Virginia; I'm in Belgrade now for a month. Everything you're saying is so so true! After traveling in a group on a study abroad to Italy seven years ago, I knew I'd never want to travel in a group again! I'm an older lady, haha! I enjoy my own company and having the freedom to do what I want when I want. I can't imagine traveling any other way. It would be nice to have dinner with someone sometimes though, so thank you for the meet up suggestions. I am braver than I ever thought; coming to terms with not "fitting in" with my old social network from high school except for being a parent, has been challenging for me. I have come to realize I must create a new life for myself and that means letting go of just about everything I thought was "normal!" It's scary! Sometimes it's really hard but more often than not I wake up being so thankful that I'm still here to have these experiences. I appreciate what I have in this moment; I do miss my son terribly sometimes. He lives in L.A. Thank goodness for FB Messenger and Viber! He thinks what I'm doing is so cool and I know he is proud of me; having his support has given me even more confidence and has kept me going on the dark days. 😌
I noticed that solo traveling for me, being away from all of my normal hobbies and past-times, really allows me to see just what exactly I miss most and wish I had, maybe just because of the isolation. Like, it's sort of a compass pointing me to what I want to do with the rest of my days. Which was really the purpose of me traveling, rather that just checking out the awesome sites.
Hi. I found your channel today. I have traveled alone twice to Europe and on several business trips. This year I was hoping that a friend could join me going to Europe, but no one wants to go. Yes, I will go alone and try new things. I subscribed to your channel. 😊
Very well covered.
Great videos! I also liked the one about Japan! Thanks a lot and Happy New Year!
Hey I really enjoy your videos! :)
Love your videos....great perspectives!!
Great video! Looking for other videos