Traveling Solo

Have you ever traveled alone for some time? Or simply you have better time with already known people? In this article, I will talk about my impressions of solo traveling!!

It's becoming quite trendy to do so, with mottos like "you don't know yourself until you travel alone" and similar YOLO stuff... well... It can be true but at the same time if you have better time travelling with friends then you are not a "tourist not a traveller" or "typical traveller" as some articles want to point out, you simply travel happier ;)

The thing is, while travelling, do it in the way you have more fun, I have travelled solo 5 times in my life, all of them were great moments and I will speak about them later, but my best travelling moments have been sharing them with friends in a relatively big group (like Transsiberian railway or Mongolia trip)
It really depends on the people and if somebody tells you that you are not a real traveller until you travel alone, simply ignore it, he/she is an idiot.

Hostels like this are perfect places to meet new people!

But why did I travel alone then? Well, after reading this you will understand me, people who know me are aware that I'm a very active person, and I can't resist a great travelling deal if I got the right number of holidays available, but sometimes, friends simply don't want to go and, before asking people who you know a bit already and you are sure that they won't be the best traveling mates then... better travel alone than with the wrong company!

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PROS

• You set the times!
• You choose where to eat!
• You choose how much to spend!
• You don't need to see something you don't want to!
• You are more eager to know new people!
• You set the pace, maybe you prefer to eat in 5 min and see 3 landmarks more rather than going to a touristic restaurant!

CONS

• If something goes wrong, you will feel quite alone
• Drinking alone is weird
• Going alone to discos is weird
• You can't comment stuff with somebody during visits (big issue here)
• You can get bored easier
• You need to manage everything

But as you can see, Pros are better than Cons, so, now I hope that reading my experiences will help you to understand this!

First time I ever traveled alone was in Dubai, and it was quite a shock for me. After my trip to Russia, Mongolia and China, I needed to come back to Spain, but instead of choosing the 400€ China-Madrid with Moscow stopover, I obviously choose the China-Dubai for 200€ and a later Dubai-Barcelona flight for another 220€, with 28 h between them!
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So that gave me enough time to see Dubai in one day (you can get a really good glimpse of the city in just 24h) and just needed to pay for 1 night in hotel (4* Hotel with rooftop swimming pool for 40€), so in total, tours+hotel+food it was an extra 90€ cost instead of flying to Madrid through Moscow... but I saw Dubai for literally 90€, so totally worth it! Also, being alone in Dubai made me skip senseless shopping and heading just to tourist attractions or even doing the desert tour!
​Check the Dubai Cheap Guide for more info!

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Second time was not literally a solo trip, a friend was hosting me in Dresden and I needed to go from Bratislava, so, instead of going directly, I decided to stay 1 day before in Dresden and 2 after it in Prague. So, technically, I was in a hostel with unknown people and every morning I was traveling alone to nearby towns such as Czesky Krumlov or Plzen as you can read in this article.

​But every afternoon and night I was meeting my friends from Prague (who needed to work during morning) so it was a funny combination. That trip gave bith to the Bohemia Guide, check it out!

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Third time is an obvious one that I think no one would let it pass, I got an offer for 10€ go/back flight to Malmö (Sweden) for 4 day, perfect considering that Copenhagen (Denmark) is just 40 min away from the airport! I asked many people to come with me, but I had already finished my exams in May but most of people still didn't (it was beginning of June) so I booked a big youth hostel and I went to the adventure for 4 days!! The experience? Awesome, just by joining Free tours or having breakfast in the hostel you can get to know many people traveling alone as well, not minding to group with other people! And that's how you end up going in a group with people from New Zealand, Chile, USA and Australia while enjoying the awesome city of Copenhagen!

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As I said before, I finished my exams earlier, and had nothing to do. Since tickets were just 30€ I decided to go to Zagreb from Bratislava! It was just a 2-day break, so, mostly I went there to rest and check an "unknown" capital of Europe, but the best was the unexpected way back... somehow, I ended up in Pecs (Hungary) and thanks to a friend from a previous trip, I was hosted by her friends (she was not there that time) in their dorm... well...
​I arrived around 10pm and when I came there they greeted me with an awesome dinner and drinks! And that's the beginning of an incredible unexpected night going out until 5 am with a really awesome international group with people from China, Nigeria, Jordan, and Finland!! That's by far the best experience I could imagine when traveling alone!

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In my last weeks in Bratislava, I really wanted to see every touristic place of the country (I needed to get the guides ready) so, two times I went party and after it, instead of going home, I went to train station at 7 am to take a 5h train to pass the hangover and appear in the mountains, or seeing an amazing castle such as Spis. In the afternoon, I simply headed back to Bratislava for more party/traveling! (Remember that I had free trains inside the country!)

So, my final verdict? Traveling alone can be really funny, BUT, it can go wrong terribly! Remember always to stay safe when traveling and that I went to really safe countries and cities, personally I will always choose a trip with people, but If there is an awesome (and cheap) opportunity like I had... instead of staying home, simply book the ticket and go!