Are you ready to travel alone? These are the signs

I started to travel solo in September 2022. If you want to learn why I started to travel solo you can check my solo travel story. Solo travel is one of the best things I have ever done and it changed my life for the best. If you’re reading this blog post, then you’re probably wondering: “am I ready to travel alone?”. I will go over some considerations that can help you decide if it’s time for you to try solo travel too. This post contains affiliate links. When you make a purchase I may get a small commission at no extra cost to you. Find out more here.

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Solo traveling for the first time can be really scary. Especially for female travelers. You might have safety concerns, might be worried about language barriers, or just be anxious about navigating a foreign country by yourself. All these fears are valid and I promise you, I had them too. Most likely every single solo traveler had these fears.

But you can overcome these fears and make your dream of traveling the world a reality. You are brave and amazing, and I am rooting for you! If a few of the reasons below resonate with you that means you’re ready for your first solo trip.

Table of Contents

You have a deep desire to see the world

the honest truth about solo traveling: me sitting in a hotel room smiling, with a cup of coffee in my hands

You want to travel and see the world. You’re tired of seeing on social media other people traveling all over the world and living their best life. Why can they explore this world and not you?

You probably always had this feeling deep inside you (I know I did). But for one reason or another you kept burying it inside and other things in your life took priority (I’ve been there too).

Well, not anymore. Now it’s your time to embark on your solo journey, explore different cultures, and form new friendships all over the world. There are no more excuses. No more postponing travel plans. You’re determined to make it happen.

You are sick of waiting for people to join you

One of the main reasons you haven’t traveled solo so far is that you were always waiting for family members or your group of friends to join you. But people get busier and busier as we age. Maybe your friends are married or have kids. Or they work demanding jobs and can’t take a lot of PTO to travel. Same with family members. So those trips never come out of the group chat.

Not anymore. You are sick of waiting for people to join you. You become your own travel companion. It’s time for exploring new places and meeting new people.

You want to explore a new city or country at your own pace

Traveling with people definitely has its perks. You can share the cost of a hotel room or of a meal. You can share the experience with travel buddies. And you have someone to take pictures of you during the trip.

However, traveling with other people can also be really annoying. Maybe one of you wants a vacation to relax while the other one wants to visit every tourist attraction. Or one person is an early bird and the other wants to sleep in.

There are so many situations when you need to compromise when you travel with someone or when you end up arguing over little things. And you end up not always doing what you want to accommodate the other person traveling with you.

Not when you solo travel, though! You get to do whatever you want whenever you want. Complete freedom and joy. It is the best thing ever! You can explore a new destination at your own pace. Eat whatever you want. Wake up whenever you want.

It’s so much fun to put yourself first and have a good time. One of the many advantages of solo travel. Now I joke with my friends and family and tell them that I don’t know if I can travel with them again after experiencing solo travel.

You are comfortable with getting out of your comfort zone

Your first solo adventure, well really any solo adventure, will get you out of your comfort zone. You have to take care of everything that is related to the trip: finding cheap flights and booking them, booking the hotel, making sure you wake up on time to catch your flight, navigating public transit in a new country.

Everything is on you. Plus, you also have to avoid common scams and make sure you’re safe at all times. And you’ll have to eat by yourself in restaurants and try to speak to people in their local language.

You need to be comfortable doing these things. Solo travel will teach you how to be a great problem solver since you need to take care of everything yourself.

You no longer care so much about what people will say

selfie of the author while on a solo trip

I used to care so much about what people said about me if I traveled by myself. Will they judge me? Pity me? Will they try to stop me? It was one of the main reasons I waited so long until I went on my first trip solo. So if you’re having the same thoughts it’s totally normal.

But I came to the conclusion that I don’t care what people have to say about me. If they are not supportive, then I don’t want them in my circle to begin with. Why do I need to limit myself and not make my travel dream a reality because of what people have to say?

And it turns out that all the important people in my life were very supportive of me traveling solo. They understood why I’m doing it and they had nothing negative to say about it. I actually got a lot of compliments from people who told me that I am inspirational for doing what I want to do.

So book that solo trip and don’t focus so much on what people think. We don’t have much time on this Earth, so do what makes you happy. Try new things, explore new cultures, and just have fun.

You are focused on personal growth

If you’re focused on personal growth and development, then you’ll love solo travel. It’s a great way to learn more about you. You’ll learn what you like and don’t like. You’ll visit countries with different cultural norms and different ways of living. So you’ll open your mind more and judge less.

By interacting with a lot of people from different parts of the world you’ll figure out what’s important to you in life. What your purpose is, what you want to focus on in life. So when you come back to your home country you’ll be a newer and improved version of yourself.

You want to meet like-minded people

It’s so important to be surrounded by people who get you. If you don’t have a lot of people at home who understand your travel passion, then I guarantee that you’ll meet many like-minded people during your solo travels. And you’ll make lifelong friends.

Even though you travel by yourself, you will still meet people. You can join a day trip, a group tour, or various activities while you travel. It’s a great opportunity to meet many great people from all over the world. Some of these people will be just friends over the course of that trip. But you’ll click with some of them and they will turn into friendships that will last a lifetime.

How I met one of my close friends

the honest truth about traveling: my friend ioanna and I met on a day trip to Segovia and Toledo — ^{My Greek friend, Ioanna, and I}

I met Ioanna, a fellow solo traveler from Athens, in Madrid during a day trip to Segovia and Toledo. We are both introverts and while we were waiting outside the tour office we were looking at each other thinking “oh, she travels solo too, maybe I should chat with her”, but we didn’t do it.

We only started chatting on our way to the bus. After saying “hi”, we found out we have the same name but we are from different countries (I’m the Romanian Ioana, she’s the Greek Ioanna), we decided to sit next to each other on the bus, and the rest is history. We clicked from our first conversation and we spent the entire day together, talking about life and travel, and our stories.

When we got back to Madrid we gave each other the biggest hug and we both said that meeting each other was the biggest highlight of our trip to Madrid. It so happened that I had a planned trip to Athens in a few months and we were reunited in Athens soon after we first met. Even though we don’t see each other that often, we have a connection that transcends borders. As I was saying, fate, right? Two people in the right place at the right time.

You don’t believe all stereotypes

You hear so many things in the media about a lot of countries. This country is dangerous, the other country is dirty. And so on and so forth. I think that it’s so important to be open-minded when it comes to countries we haven’t visited before. And to never buy into all these stereotypes we hear about in the media.

That’s the beauty of travel, it teaches you a lot, and it helps you become a better human being. So if this is you, and you want to see what a country is like firsthand, then you’re the perfect fit for solo travel.

You enjoy your own company

the author standing next to a pink tree on a solo trip

Do you like spending time with yourself? You know, the little things like taking yourself on a coffee run, going to a concert by yourself, spending an afternoon in the park with a good book. Are you comfortable with doing these things without other people? Or do you always need to have company?

If you always need to be surrounded by other people and you can’t imagine doing things by yourself, then you’re not quite ready to travel solo. If you actually enjoy spending time with yourself, then you’ll love solo travel.

I feel like media, social media, and movies always present this narrative that you need a significant other or a bunch of friends to be happy. That you’re not whole otherwise. And I disagree with this narrative so much! You are whole and have everything you need inside of you. You don’t need a relationship or constant external validation to be happy and content.

I love spending time with myself. And it’s so special to do this while you travel solo. You can take yourself out for a nice meal, you can visit a tourist attraction you used to dream about, you can go shopping and gift yourself something that will remind you of that trip. As strange as it might sound, I am my own best friend. So if you have the same relationship with yourself, then book that solo trip. You’ll have the best time.

You want to boost your self-confidence

Solo travel does wonders for your self-confidence. You have to do everything by yourself. Did you get to the airport and there’s a problem with your flight? You figure it out. Do you want to buy a souvenir from a local mom-and-pop shop and you don’t speak the language? You figure it out. Are Acropolis workers on strike the day you visit? (This actually happened to me when I was in Athens.) You figure it out.

You solve every single problem that comes your way during your trip. And this realization that you can do anything by yourself is going to boost your self-esteem so much. You’ll be unstoppable after a solo trip. And you’ll be able to apply this attitude to all areas of life. No work problem or relationship issue will remain unsolved. You’re a rockstar!