The pros and cons of solo travel

I’ve traveled on my own quite a bit over the years. Pretty much every domestic trip I’ve taken over the last three years has been alone. My 2016 trip to Europe? I packed up and went on my own after my cousin flaked on short notice. A last-minute trip to the Maldives earlier this month? A solo journey.

Coordinating travel plans with other people’s schedules, budgets and preferences is tough and sometimes you just want to go. Traveling alone can be fun (yes, fun) but it’s not always sunshine and roses. Here are some pros and cons to consider:

Pro: Total freedom to go wherever you want

As an introvert, I enjoy traveling alone. Having complete freedom over my travel plans is a serious bonus. After my family and I completed Umrah a few years ago, we all went to Dubai. It was my third time in Dubai and two too many. But I went because that’s where the other seven people in my group wanted to go.

It wasn’t that bad. I spent most of my time working in the club lounge at the Conrad Dubai while everyone else went to the mall and played in the sand, I guess. 

Ideally, I would have gone to Muscat and stayed at the Alila resort. Or maybe checked out the St. Regis Maldives, which was running a discounted award sale at the time. But it would have been a total jerk move to go “you guys hang out here. I’m off to paradise for a few days.”

My point? When you’re traveling alone, you don’t have to be considerate of anyone else and have 100% control to book the trip you want. That’s a pretty big plus.

Con: Working off zero input can be tough

While solo travel allows total flexibility, sometimes that isn’t a good thing. Why? Because you have to make all the decisions yourself, which is tough when there are infinite options.

I LOVE everything that goes into travel planning: Picking destinations, hotels, activities, restaurants, arranging transportation. These things stress some people out – I thrive on it. That’s partly because I enjoy running my ideas past other people traveling with me, getting their input (then ignoring it most of the time) and getting them excited about the trip. 

When you’re traveling alone, you have to make all the decisions yourself. It’s the double-edged sword of having complete control: You can go wherever you want, but where might that be, exactly? With zero input, it can be tough to choose.

Pro: You don’t have to worry about someone else’s budget

I don’t subscribe to the “room doesn’t matter” philosophy. A nice hotel room makes all the difference when you’ve been out sightseeing all day long. I’m all about splurging on a nice hotel. Does anyone need heated bathroom floors? I didn’t think so until I stayed at the Andaz 5th Avenue. 

The great thing about traveling by yourself is not being limited by anyone else’s travel style or budget. You can stay at whatever hotel you want and only worry about what you can reasonably afford. When concerns about other people’s budgets are thrown out the window, you can splurge on aspects of the travel experience that might seem superfluous to some.

Con: You can’t recount the experience with anyone else

The downside of those amazing solo trips is not being able to recount them with anyone else. The best part about my family trip to Asia in 2015 were the memories we made together. To this day, my mom will bring up the amazing suite upgrade we got at the Conrad Bali and all the fun things we did together in Singapore. Recounting those unforgettable experiences with other people makes them, well, unforgettable.

It’s fun to reminisce about your travels with someone else after the fact. Few people want to hear about your experiences when they weren’t there. Not being able to rehash a trip with someone else who was (especially if you’re super lazy about writing trip reports) is a negative aspect to traveling alone.

Final thoughts

Ultimately, the cons of solo travel are minor and don’t outweigh the pros. Making and sharing memories is an important part of travel. But just because you can’t find someone to travel with, that doesn’t mean you should stay put.

I’ve had people ask me “Don’t you get bored being by yourself?” Honestly, I don’t feel like I’m alone when I’m documenting the trip on social media. I get messages from friends, family and just random followers throughout my trip. I get useful tips from locals and people who have been there before me.

A couple of years ago a Twitter follower came to the rescue when I was trying to get the coordinates for the Softex refugee camp. A week later, when I was at a Calais bus stop trying to decipher the message on a piece of paper that Google wasn’t able to translate, two French-speaking followers helped me out in a matter of minutes. So in a way, I feel like I was thousands of travel companions on these solo trips and help is just a tweet away.

Traveling by yourself is not better or worse – it’s just different. While the idea of traveling alone used to sound depressing, it made me more confident in my ability to navigate the world on my own. It also provided time for introspection and gave me a chance to unwind and travel at my own pace.

I want to hear from you all: What do you like or dislike about traveling solo?

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