You have read my post on why you should solo travel, and are planning your first big independent trip. Well as much as I hate to say it, it is my obligation to give you a fair warning; there are cons to solo travel. With that being said, I would be remiss to allow these cons to deter you from the adventure you’ve started. So, for the sake of upmost disclosure, and so that you are fully prepared to embark on your first trip, here is a list of the seven biggest cons of solo travel. But don’t worry, for each point I will offer some advice to help manage, so that you can continue planning your trip with confidence.
1. No one to split costs
While some expenses are stagnant, independent of whether you are travelling solo or with a partner, others are not. Things like flights, attraction tickets, and meals are all expenses that you are going to shoulder either way. However, things like shared transportation, guide fees, private tours, and sometimes even accommodation are all fixed prices, which by travelling with a partner are expenses that are split between your two wallets. With that being said, solo travel means that you have no one to share those expenses with. This can result in your travel budget quickly depleting its funds. Don’t worry though. There are ways we can offset these extra expenses.
My first recommendation is to stay at hostels. Not only are you going to get a far cheaper rate for a shared dorm than you would in a hotel room, but you also have the opportunity to meet other travellers. Hostels are THE spot for backpackers to gather and meet one another, and guess what? The beautiful thing that you can always rely on a backpacker to do, is to constantly be moving. As the central hub of the travel scene, you meet people headed in every direction. This makes it fairly easy to find someone with the same plan as you to split costs with.
What if I’m not great at approaching new people?
Well, another amazing thing about hostels is that you share one marvelous thing with every person there. Your love for travel. This shared passion offers a perfect segue for getting to know people, and also makes it easy to navigate the conversation to see in which direction they are heading without being too obtrusive. Still not sure about meeting someone in hostels? Don’t worry. This is the 21st century, and as is the case with everything, there’s an app for that. While traditional dating apps like Tinder and Bumble are still great options for meeting people, there are also a plethora of apps specifically designed for us solo travellers. The newest one I’ve been using is GAAFL. Here you can post activities or shared transportation options, and interested parties can link up to split the costs.
2. Reduced security
“There’s safety in numbers.” This saying has been a popular phrase in the English lexicon for centuries, and well before that existed in the Latin phrase, “Defendit numerus.” The reason this hypothesis stretches back so far is because it’s a foundational truth that stretches back eons. Much like how our evolutionary ancestors gathered together in tribes to better combat the elements, the modern human still acts in much the same way. From Nations to cities, and smaller organizations and clubs, each level of society sees the formation of communities in order to reinforce our own sense of security. When travelling we abandon these communities that act as our safeguards. However, a travel partner can act as a lifeline to those connections back home. Travelling solo is like taking those training wheels off.
What does ‘Security’ mean?
Now, when I say ‘security,’ I’m talking both physical and emotional. Obviously two bodies are more intimidating than one, and is more likely to discourage any potential threats of bodily harm. But the connection to our home communities also acts as a mental safeguard as well. We’ve all heard of ‘culture shock,’ but we don’t really understand what it means. I know I didn’t until I experienced the ‘death culture’ of Tana Toraja in Southern Sulawesi. The experiences I had there left me emotionally distressed. It was in that moment that I learned that travel can trigger its own set of anxieties within a person. While I wouldn’t let these anxieties deter my travel ambitions, it’s important to understand that travel in this fashion is more than just a holiday.
Anyways, methods to build alternative safeguards to find a sense of security. First, for physical security, numbers is probably still your best bet, and I suggest taking the tips from the point above to find temporary travel friends on your adventures. With that being said, you’ll quickly learn that most places are rather safe to travel. Eventually you’ll develop the ability to distinguish the spots to avoid when alone. As for emotional security, we live in an era of some amazing technologies, such as Skype and Facetime. While international time zones may require you to do a little planning, it’s always fairly easy to connect with someone back home to reestablish that lifeline to your natural safeguards.
3. No one to share the experience with
If you travel alone, there is going to be no one there to share the experience with. Pretty obvious right? Well, what does this actually mean in the grand scheme of your trip? Sure, as I have said in other posts, it’s actually better to be alone in order to appreciate the moment. However, the cost of this appreciation comes long after the trip is over, and you have returned home. It comes in the days, months, and years following your trip. It comes when you relive your days of adventure through memory.
When you travel solo, you have no one to reminisce with. You’ll share your adventures with friends and family, but eventually they will get sick of hearing your stories, and the memories will be left to collect dust in your head. You’ll have no one to rekindle those sparks of memory that are beginning to escape your mind. Sure you have pictures, videos, and other souvenirs to facilitate your memory, but nothing will ever be as good as the memories of a shared experience with a loved one.
So what are my tips to counteract this con of solo travel? Well unfortunately I don’t actually have one. Sure you can reminisce with the friends you make on the road, but it’s not going to be the same as someone back home whom you connect with on a regular basis. For me, the self-development, and ability to experience the trip in the moment that comes with solo travel outweighs this con, but it is also where I believe travelling with a partner has its own benefits.
4. Too much independence
As I have said before, the independence that comes with solo travel is what makes it so great. With that being said, there are moments of every trip where you wish there was someone else you can rely on. When travelling alone, you always have to be on. You have to do all the planning, scheduling and have to be the one ready when all your plans go sideways. This constant need to be ready to deal with anything your trip has to throw at you can get exhausting. There are going to be days when you just want to relax. You’ll want to sit back and just go with the flow. This is when you will wish you had someone else with you to take the reins.
Unfortunately this feeling comes with the territory of solo travel, and just can’t be avoided. However, there are ways to limit the number of times this feeling presents itself. Remember, you are solo travelling. This means you have the ability to change your plans to accommodate any mood or whim. You need a break from the stresses of managing travel? Then take that break from the constant moving, and spend a few days at the beach. All it takes is simply relaxing at a single location for a little longer than you normally would. Eventually the thirst of adventure will leave you ready to get back on the road, happily embracing the familiar stresses that come with it.
5. No one to lean on when you are sick
This one goes hand in hand with reduced security, but it does require mentioning in its own right. Navigating your way through a foreign society can be stressful enough. Finding yourself alone, and navigating it feeling less than 100% makes it even more so. Speaking from firsthand experience, few things are more stressful than having to take your first trip to a third world hospital. You don’t know what to expect, and being alone you feel vulnerable. The worst part is that you need to keep a level head while you fill out all the medical paper work, communicate your needs, and provide the necessary information regarding your travel insurance. You feel panicked, and completely at the mercy of whatever medical practices the local health care deems necessary.
Here’s a quick story from my experience…
If you’re lucky, these emergency visits will occur in a main city where medical facilities are very good. For my first visit to a third world hospital I was lucky. I was in Bali, and their hospital was fantastic. Now with that being said, I have also had an experience at one that wasn’t so great.
I was on Gili Meno, an island east of Bali, and had to have staples removed from the back of my skull. After being turned away from the only clinic on the island, I found my way to a backstreet general practitioner. I walked in the door to find a dark room with three young men at a table. The power on the island was out, and we were stuck in the dark. But the three got to work, and I quickly discovered they had no idea what they were doing. Unable to monitor their actions, I found myself wishing I had someone with me that could speak enough English to communicate what was happening to me. Luckily, they managed to get the staples out without mangling my head too bad, but still, it would have been a lot more comforting to have somebody with me.
This is another con of solo travel that comes as a part of the territory, and unfortunately there is no way around it. I will say this though; although it was one of the most stressful moments of my trip, it is also one of those memories I look back on fondly with an odd sense of pride. And hey. It’s at least one hell of a story.
6. May go a long time without social interactions
For most popular destinations, this point is obsolete. If you stick to a main travel destinations, you will more than likely be able to find a backpacker hostel teeming at the rim with fellow-travellers. However, for those looking to get off the beaten path, we run the risk of going extended periods of time without having anybody to socialize with. This can be a result of spending too much time on the road, or simply being in an off the path destination where you don’t speak the language. If you do find yourself in this position, you more than likely began your trip looking for this type of adventure. However, just because you started the trip with this isolation in mind, that doesn’t always mean that reality will meet the expectations.
Now, while this isolation can be a cause of stress even if you were seeking it out, it is infinitely even more so if you accidentally find yourself in this scenario. Add the extra stress of a culture shock stimuli, and we have grounds for travel regret. This is something we want to avoid. The point of travel is to live our lives to the fullest. WE DO NOT WANT TO REGRET ANYTHING.
My recommendation for managing this con of solo travel is to avoid it all together. At least until you feel ready to confront it. However, sometimes it is unavoidable, and luckily we live in the age of communication. Again, your connections back home are only a phone call away.
7. No one to take pictures of you
While this con of solo travel may seem like a minute detail by comparison, it is also one of the biggest pains in the ass of solo travel. Again, you’re going to have no one with you to reminisce with in the future. Therefore you are going to want a lot of pictures to help jog your memory. Unfortunately this is a double-edged sword, as being alone also means there is no one there to take pictures of you.
Sure, landscapes, and pictures of your destinations will help commemorate your trip, but pictures of you engaging with the environment is what triggers those memories of what you were like, and how you felt within the destination. While selfies are easy enough, the pictures worth keeping are going to require some creative photography.
One accessory that may be worth looking into is a phone tripod. However, for those as frugal as myself(some may even say cheap), we don’t want to take up our valuable backpack space. Luckily, through strategic phone placement (typically incorporating small stones and rocks), the 10-second timer, and a quick scramble into position, we are able to take some pretty decent pictures(see pic above). Unfortunately for more professional shots, a travel partner would still be a better bet.
Comments are closed.