Hi guys!
Last January, around this time of the year, I packed my bags and went on a plane to Sri Lanka. Because traveling alone was one of the things that always seemed like something I wouldn't do because it scared me, I decided to do it. Booking my ticket was the easiest part. I had a nice glass of wine on a summers day and fixed in 5 minutes total. But once I got on the plane to travel through Sri Lanka for one month, that was when it got real. Let me tell you about the ups and downs and the other stuff I learned while traveling solo.
1. Take good care of your health!
After 2 weeks or so I got really sick and needed to go to the hospital. I met a few girls who were so nice to me and took me in a tuktuk to the nearest hospital. I got some medication and the advice to take a lot of rest. Looking back I realized I wanted to do too many things in a short amount of time. I forgot to look after myself and ignored some of the signs my body was giving me. So I got sick, and trust me it sucks. I took things easy for about a week, but that was also because I felt absolutely miserable. At moments like this all you want is someone you love near you to look after you. What I learned from this is that you shouldn't ignore the signs your body is giving you. It's important to look after yourself and stay healthy along the way!
2. You can do whatever you want.
When you're traveling alone you can be as selfish as you want. Want to spend all day on the beach, go ahead. Want to climb a mountain, let's get climbing. And want to do things you've never done, go for it! When you're all by yourself, there's nobody to look after. When you're traveling with friends or family, you always have to take account of each other. You decide where you are going or what you all want to do. But, when you're alone the choice is yours. You can spend your days the way you want and I found out I really liked this.
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After climbing this mountain i did nothing for 3 days, because my legs where so sore!
3. Meeting new people is easier alone.
While traveling alone, I found it way easier to meet new people then when I was traveling with friends, family or my boyfriend. I found myself more open to talking, eating and traveling with people I didn't know and I have had a great time with people of whom I do not even the name anymore. But of course your friends and family are the ones that know you for who you are. Even though you can meet great people along the way, it's still going to be different. One time I found myself among some people but realized I actually felt kind of lonely still. Because I realized I could do whatever I wanted, I packed my bags the next day and moved on to another place. Of course when meeting new people you probably aren't going to be best friends right away. But if you realize you're in a place where you don't feel quite right, it's also no big deal to move on.
4. Less is more.
If you travel for a longer period of time, you will find that you do not need as much stuff as you might have thought before. I had a backpack with a fair amount of clothes, but I did not wear or use some things. Because I had already backpacked before I knew what kind of stuff I really did not need and what could come in handy. Yet you will always find stuff on the bottom of your backpack that will make you think “why did I take this”. No problem, you can always get rid of it. Maybe it’s hard to get rid of stuff in the beginning, but it’s easier to travel with less stuff then too drag it around. In the end the memories you make along the way are worth so much more!
5. It's not as scary as it seems.
Too a lot of people, including me, traveling alone seems kind of scary. Because I’ve already done it, I now know how it is. But before I left I caught myself on thinking negative thoughts about my journey. "Am I going to find vegetarian food", "Am I going to meet any people", Am I going to be safe" and "Am I going to feel lonely" were some of the thoughts that ran through my head from time to time. But I found out these where all unnecessary fears. I found a lot of vegetarian food and I met a lot of people. Sometimes I felt a bit unsafe and a bit lonely, but it turned out to be all right in the end.
As long as you take care of yourself, listen to your body and make sure you don’t put yourself in unsafe situations you are going to be all right! In my opinion it’s one of the best investments you can make. You learn so much about yourself and other people and cultures. You’ll gain some life experience and a lot of memories and you learn to live with less and appreciate what you have at home.
Have you ever traveled alone? What did you learn or what stops you from buying that ticket? Let me know in the comments!
I hope you enjoyed reading and see you back next time.
Lots of love,
Marleen.
Travelling alone is the best! because the most important thing to me is freedom.
True that! You're as free as a bird when traveling alone right :)
Thanks for your advice the truth is that sometimes it seems a bit scary but I think it must be a unique experience to be able to move wherever you want
It is! Have you ever traveled alone?
No and I think it's because of fear but I've always thought about doing it
Trust me, it's worth it! Maybe one day
If I liked it very much you shared it
traveling is a very fun thing, so we can feel the freedom and beauty of this nature, with full of experience and pleasure you are very satisfied.
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Thanks! I did so too, when i came home i appreciated my family, loved ones and my own home even more than before. it puts things in perspective
funny how that works isn't it?
It’s is :)
Very interesting... !!!
Thanks!
Yeah , especially when engrossed with some thing that brings with it excitement. We forget the signs.
The bit about being free and making more friends is actually true. I find it easier to interact with new people when i am without my girl
Exactly! I just wanted to do and see so much that i forgot to take a step back sometimes. But it's a lesson learned right :)
Yeah, one just has to put health first :)
Exactly! Stuff becomes less important. It's your body you got to take care off cause that's the one thing that's going to take you further
Wow! Very interesting! Look my blog, upvote and follow me, if you like this @sushek94! I post in the blog photos from my travels, and different beautiful photos ;) All photos are taken by me)
Thanks! you have some very nice pictures i see! Keep up the good work :)
'When you're traveling with friends or family, you always have to take account of each other. You decide where you are going or what you all want to do' - this also works well at music festivals.
Hahaha absolutely true! But i don't see myself going to a music festival alone for some reason
Hair so beautiful!
Thank you very much!
My pleasure
Just curious, What made you sick? Food? water? A virus you caught on the plane?
This is a pretty inspiring post all things considered. Here on Steemit, I see people living all kinds of lives. Lives that I never thought were possible. Traveling, eating exotic cuisine, full time blogging...seeing someone get up and travel the world because they decided it would be fun is pretty amazing. I’m married and have a family so my life is a bit complex in that regard but I hope one day I can experience the bit of crazy I see every day on the Steemit platform.
It was a virus that make my tonsils swell up ( my neck looked like a balloon haha) and gave me a fever. The doctor told me it was also probably a lack of rest.
And thanks! People indeed live so many different lives, it still amazes me sometimes too! I think it's less easier to do this stuff when you have a family. But still it's possible. Once your kids are out of the house maybe it's your time! My parents just went to New Zealand together to travel through the country with a camper for 6 weeks.
Lack of rest can certainly have an effect on the immune system.
Yeah your right though. I’m only 25 and have many years to explore the world. My wife and Would absolutely love to travel - we actually never got a true honey moon (we were married in October). It just wasn’t in the cards.
At some point we Can take a nice vacation and call it our honey moon!
Then you hopefully got lots of time left! Congratulations on your marriage. Of course it depends from country to country on how many days you can go on a vacation, but instead of going a few months, a few weeks sounds like a good honey moon too!
Absolutely! And thanks..
I think these kind of things really just take a certain attitude and drive to make it happen. We hold ourselves back in the vast reality.
That’s true! It’s hard getting out of the comfort zone sometimes, but also a shame to live with regrets. I hope you’re going to have a nice honey moon!
Thanks so much @reisronddewereld!
You seem to have enjoyed your solo travel. 👍 It's fun traveling with family or friends but it's also a different (in a good way) to travel alone. I especially love the long bus rides when I travel alone. It makes me think and reflect on life all the while looking at places we pass by. What's the best part of traveling alone for you?
I did indeed! I really enjoy traveling with friends or family too, but this gets you more out of your comfort zone. I liked the bus rides really much! You can see the country while driving through it and indeed think and relax. I also really liked getting to know different kinds of food and flavours and having long walks on the beach!
That's great. I also enjoy taking long walks on the beach (and anywhere else for that matter). It's the idea of going somewhere (or nowhere) and not just staying that makes me travel some more. Just checked your other posts and I'll be reading your travel blogs. I assume you're still traveling? (regardless if solo or not)
Nice! I like that part too about traveling. all though i also like to go on vacations and stay in one or two spots for a while. At the moment i'm not traveling but looking for a job. Got to safe some money to go again :)
That sounds nice as well. Good luck on your job hunting and on your next travel. Will look out for your next post. Steem on!! See you around.
Thanks a lot! See you around :)
Thanks for sharing these lessons you've learnt from travelling
My pleasure!
This post was pretty dope. I’ll definately show this to a friends thinking about traveling alone !
Thank you :)
Great article!
Thanks!
The only thing that scares me from travelling alone is that I will be too lonely. As I don't blend in easily with new people.
But I will definitely gather courage and try it sometime in my life, at least for once.
One thing I have noticed about your post is that you have spent about 31 sbd to get an upvote from minnowbooster, and that equals to about 180$.
Wasn't that a bad move considering you will make less than 40$ in this post.
Just saying.
Yeah i know what you mean. I had the same before. But i kind of got to learn how to spend time all by myself and also learn to appreciate it. There will always someone you'll match with along the way :)
And to be honest, i never really got time to figure out how it all works on here.. might sound a bit silly but a friend of mine told me about minnowbooster and from that time i just started putting sbd into minnowbooster to get higher upvotes. Would you mind explaining me something about it?
well I think you should calculate it first the next time you use it on your post.
Try to use less sbd's like 3-5, it will give you better returns, or use multiple bots like @randowhale @booster etc. This way, you are just losing money every time you use that much amounts.
The best way to learn is to try and test it with smaller amounts and see if you are getting any profits or not.
Thanks for the info! I think I should read some more about it as well! In the end I do it because i like the writing!
That's great, you are good at writing.
I loved your travel post, keep it up.
Thank you!
A really encouraging post.. You are right about the Scary part. I have traveled a lot but not alone, maybe I am scared too.. But have to try to go alone next time... This will definitely be an experience... Thanks for sharing... Have a nice day.
Cheers.!!
Thank you :) If you ever got the chance to go alone, i'd say go for it!
Yeah. Thanks for the motivation. Following you for more.
Thumbs up.!!
Thanks!
beautiful place.
Excellent crossing. Remember that from each experience you learn something positive. You also need to take risks.
very good contribution congratulations.
Thanks. I agree. There's always going to be ups and downs!
Plus you have more time to observe local life.
True!
The idea of travelling alone scares me. But this gave me better perspectives. I'm giving it time, but soon, I'll jump out of my comfort zone and book that ticket to my dream destination. :)
Nice! I hope you have a great journey!
A beautiful trip although alone with a trip can add knowledge and experience Postingan interesting @reisronddewereld
Thanks!
Nice post! I’m going to Sri Lanka in a few months. What was the best thing you’ve seen/done there!?
Hey there Steef! I've written some posts about Sri Lanka you might want to read. Climbing the Adams' peak defenitely was a great experience, but on the on the other hand i also really enjoyed the southern part. If you have the change try to pay a visit to Anuradhapura or go on a safari :)
Thanks for the reply! I will check out your posts about Sri Lanka.
Amazing story! It almost make me book a flight to leave tomorrow to "I don't care far away at least" ALONE!
Must be amazing to plan your own time and do whatever you want.
Ahhw thanks! It's really nice indeed! Go for it :D
Great post ! I can definitely agree, meeting people is easier when traveling alone. Love that picture of Yangshuo btw!
Thanks for sharing your experience
Thank you:)
Great post. I'm traveling myself in much the same way so your article resonates nicely... in vietnam now... tot ziens!
Oh nice! Have a great time in Vietnam! If you have the time you can read my post about Vietnam. I'd really recommend Ninh Binh and Cat Ba!
Travelling, can give us enjoyment in our life . But we must take good care . @reisronddewerld
I hope you will accomplish what you want in your adventuring :)
Godbless
Thank you! We should take good care indeed :)
Help me out , follow me please and upvoted :(
Travelling alone is one of my biggest fears. After reading your article I wonder if I should give it a try. :)
I was scared of it too, but i'm really happy i did it. I'm not sure if i would do it again really soon because i also like company but at least i don't have regrets now :)
I totally feel you! I like company, too and I like spending time with my friends and family. But, if I decide to go on a trip alone, I'll let you know about my experience.
Please do! I'd like to hear it :)
Inspiring post, Traveling alone can be fun, should try sometimes....thanks for sharing your experience @reisronddewereld
Thanks!
Great post!!
Thanks!
The journey, not hindered by uncertain reasons, for the journey is the beginning of all beauty. As a result your trip is very beautiful where you get to your destination.
Exactly! It's not about the destination but about the journey right!