BootsnAll Travel Community

It made me realize how much I had been missing. And luckily now, stuck at home working and trying to scrape together meager savings, it makes me realize those things even more.

My first trip alone started out with a companion when I was 17. We had an argument so I continued on alone. Since then I have travelled with companions and alone. Now I travel by myself because when you travel with others you tend not to spend time meeting as many of the local people and that's why I travel. I love meeting new people and getting into the culture.
One exception I love travelling with circuses and carnivals but that is whole 'nother world.

I took my first solo trip last summer. I was pretty nervous about what to expect because I always traveled with someone. Meeting new people and the total freedom to do what you want when you want are definite pluses. I was also very surprised by how many people one can meet, locals and fellow travelers alike.
I actually look forward to travel solo again.

I went to New York alone for a week last March - not the biggest adventure destination or most distant voyage, but "adventurous" and "distant" enough for my solo-ness to surprise people at home.

I don't know if I'd call it "life-changing", but if anything, the trip made me much more confident as a traveller. Prior to going to NYC, I had a morbid fear of airports - losing luggage, not going through the right lines, etc. Now I am especially more confident in that respect.

I remember my first trip, I was really scared of the airport as well. It was so massive and I had no previous experience of airports to tell me how it all worked. I was there hours early and still scared I would end up at the wrong departure gate somehow.

My first trip was 10 days in Berlin. I had bought a pocket guide that listed the sights, but no LP. I didn't even know LP existed. Beforehand I had been cautious about travel and just planned to stay in Berlin for 10 days. But after I had been there a few days I became confident and decided to travel around a bit. Having no guidebook I just picked out various German Towns and cities I had heard about in history class, so I went to some odd places - but it felt good to have chosen them myself.

It was lucky that I chose Germany, since it is one of the friendliest countries I have ever been. That first trip gave me confidence that I could travel alone. I also heard the word InterRail for the first time, which opened the door to future travels. I had been pretty reserved as a person, sticking closely to the friends I knew. Travelling alone forced me to be more open and speak to new people. As a result I became much more confident in talking to strangers and meeting new people.

My first solo trip was in 2000. I had traveled previously with a friend and we booked a last minute trip to Italy. I paid for my trip in full and she decided at the very last minute not to go. I had a dilemma - cancel or go or get another companion. With 3 weeks till departure, no one was able either because of work or money or time constraints. I decided to go for it and it was the BEST decision I have ever made in my life thus far. It was a great experience and has led to other solo adventures, including a 10-week solo backpacking trip through SE Asia and Australia. The biggest change for me at the time was self-confidence. Now it seems the world is such a small place once you get out there.

I might goto Atlantic City in a couple of weeks. Not a distant place, but it can be very creepy! But I just like to get out of the city now and then.

My first real solo trip was my first trip outside of the U.S. I did a summer abroad program in Salamanca, Spain and then traveled around western Europe. It was a huge lifechanger for me after growing up in the south.

I had to take care of myself, regardless of the situation. Mom and Dad weren't going to bail me out and my friends were thousands of miles away. But I think I learned more about believing in the kindness of strangers than I did about independence. I met some really amazing people on that trip, people who taught me things I'll never forget.

The day my nephew was born, I started his Europe fund. I can't imagine him not having the same type of experience in college.

I think that the point has been made through many of the reminiscences above that to travel solo is not to travel alone. Indeed, by travelling solo you will probably meet a lot more people, both locals and fellow travellers, than you would meet if accompanied by someone else, someone familiar.
And you will find support networks within the ranks of those you meet as well.

quote:

Originally posted by Marisa:
I learned to appreciate everything I have and not take things for granted.

Couldn't have put it better myself and won't add any more for fear of ruining it.

quote:

Originally posted by Groo:
I think that the point has been made through many of the reminiscences above that to travel solo is not to travel alone. Indeed, by travelling solo you will probably meet a lot more people, both locals and fellow travellers, than you would meet if accompanied by someone else, someone familiar.
And you will find support networks within the ranks of those you meet as well.

Yeah, I agree. When you're alone that bubble around you bursts. My first long trip helped me improve my English. Second one showed me the beauty of South American women and the Portuguese and Spanish language. I discovered the advantages of single travel and fell in love with them. Since then it's not easy for me to find a partner anymore and do any plans which would involve both of us. Since then nothing beats my passion for mountains and trekking is my prime activity. My values changed a lot.

February 8th 2004 the day my life changed forever. As I stepped on to the American Airlines flight that would eventually get me to Melbourne Australia via LAX and Nadi Fiji, I would start my lifelong dream of traveling. Before going to Melbourne, Australia when people asked me "Where would you go if you could go anywhere?" I always said "australia." I think I picked it because to me as a young kid, that seemed like the farthest possible place away from my home on long island. My grandmother was an avid traveler and hearing her stories growing up really made me want to see the world. I mean sure since I was an athlete and traveled extensively throughout the USA growing up, I never really went abroad.

In 2004 I started in Australia and as I sit here writing this, I have been to 32 countries in my short life. Traveling solo to Melbourne to study abroad in College, not knowing anyone, going to a place that seemed so far away growing up, changed my life forever. I always travel solo, and have met up with people in several places, but generally it is alone. Traveling solo forces you to adapt to your environment, tests who you are as a person, and at least for me, showed me exactly who I am and who I can be. It all sounds cliche and it might be, but this is from the heart. For anyone on the fringe about traveling alone, do it! If you are not outgoing, talkative, personable, traveling alone will certainly change that. It will force you make adjustments and change your life. If you are all of those things above, then you will have a blast and no worries.

Josh

Reading this thread I was going to say that my first solo trip was a long weekend in London in 2003. My previous recent travel had mostly been with a long-time boyfriend with whom I'd broken up the year before. I'd relied on him to do a lot of the planning. My other type of travel was chartering sailboats with groups of 6 to 18 people. I'm not counting semi-annual road trips to visit family 350 miles away.

The London trip proved to me that I could enjoy transatlantic travel on my own. As others have said, I felt empowered. I've always been a loner, so being able to do whatever I wanted when I wanted was great. On the other hand, sometimes having company spurs me to do things that I don't feel like doing in the moment, but end up enjoying.

But Eppyboy's mention of going abroad to study reminded me, back in 1984 I traveled solo from home in Southern California to New York City for a summer program at NYU. It was a huge step for a girl raised by her mom (dad died when I was nine), with brothers who were out of house by the time I entered kindergarten. I hadn't had much opportunity to travel, but there I was landing at JFK.

I met people from all over the country, reveled in the totally alien, urban landscape, and learned as much about myself as about the publishing industry I was there to study. And I went home after six weeks in the big Apple with a career plan and goals that I actually followed over the next few years.

Prior to that I hadn't been able to visualize what my future would be.

My first solo trip abroad made me realize that I prefer traveling alone. I savor every moment so much more deeply than if I were with someone...and this is coming from someone who has been with their partner for almost 15 years. It's like when I go to museum. I want to feel free to linger in front of one painting for 15 minute if I so choose....Is this selfish? Well, I guess the secret is meeting back at the hotel in the evening and then share stories, impressions, photos, stones and leaves I picked up....

If I had checked a crystal ball before I left for my first solo trip (a year in Australia) there's not a hope in hell I'd have gone.....
I faced some of the biggest challenges (e.g. serious 2 month long illness) of my life whilst alone on the other side of the world about 15,000 km from my family...and survived. I didn't have any epiphanys about who I was or what I wanted to do with my life but I did learn no matter how shitty it gets, just keep on truckin!
......but I'm so glad I did go! It taught me that if I can get through those couple of months I can get through anything. Apart from the crappy times, the rest was worth it (and even the crapy times were too I suppose!)

My first experience of solo travel was at age 17 (almost 18). It was my first time on an airplane. I was so excited. I was traveling to France. I had been in college a year, so I was used to being independent in one sense, but this was very different. I didn't sleep the whole flight, I just watched out the windows.

I hadn't made any reservations for my first night in Paris. I hadn't been very realistic in this. Here I was arriving in a foreign country in the middle of June (tourist season!) without any place to stay and no one with me. Naive to say the least. So I spent the first day with a new found friend who took me across Paris to a hostel where there was no room.

So all alone I headed back into town where I found an agency that would give you shared hotel rooms for a fee. I was so scared that night - I could barely eat anything. At midnight I was lying in bed when I strange woman entered the room to share it with me. Fortunately she was nice.

The next morning feeling better, I wandered down the street and got a pain au chocolat and felt much better. I had people to meet later in the day, turned out they were several trains away. There I was trying to navigate subways, then suburban train stops and finally getting out into the french suburban countryside.

That's when I realized that courage doesn't mean that you feel like you're in control, instead courage means doing something even though you're completely scared. That was an empowering moment when I realized that.

I believe all travel is life changing because one always has new experiences. But it is true that when you're solo, you have more reflection time so that self-awareness comes sooner.

Here's what I wrote in my travel journal from my first solo trip, just over a month in Uruguay and northern Argentina:

"As another BootsnAll-inspired reflection over the trip as a whole, I'm going to think out a response to the thread on "how has your first solo trip changed you as a person?":

-To begin with, on a more superficial level, I speak better Spanish, I've now been to Argentina and Uruguay, I've stayed in youth hostels (oddly, I don't think I had ever done this except that time in New York City in eighth grade), and I've seen and done a lot of new things.

-I'm definitely more confident. I've always had kind of an odd personal conflict over this; I value freedom and independence more than anything else, but in practice I let my shyness get in the way. Having been totally, utterly responsible for myself for a month- taking taxis, ferries, buses, and planes, making reservations, finding hostels, buying food, meeting people, managing my money, deciding what to do each day- has taught me that I really am capable of taking care of myself.

-I've realized that friendliness is more important than I thought. Being around family or friends, where I get a steady stream of conversation and interaction, it's hard to isolate and recognize the importance of friendliness with strangers. In a place where I'm totally on my own, even just a short chat with a shopkeeper or a friendly nod exchanged on the street can make me feel a lot better about everything. There's no reason not to have both- friendly interaction with friends AND with strangers- and there's every reason to believe that my life would be better for it. I plan to be a lot nicer- not more outgoing, necessarily, but nicer- when I get home.

-I haven't really had any big, life-changing revelations on this front, but this trip HAS helped me recognize some things that are important to me at home and look at them more objectively. One specific example is the way Matt invites me to do things with him in Vermont and his friends, Chad and Jeff in particular, go out of their way to be nice to me. I've realized that I really appreciate this. Some of the best times I've had in the last few years have been with them (the party at Jess' place, camping, sledding in the backyard with Matt and Michelle) and especially considering I don't have much in common with some of my own Vermont friends anymore, this saves me from having nothing at all to do when I'm at my parents' house.

-I have a renewed thirst for adventure. I'm excited to go camping (I leave, incredibly enough, in a week), I'm excited to go to New Zealand, and I'm excited to plan new and awesome things to do- hike the Long Trail or the American Discovery Trail, bike the length of New Zealand, come back to South America for some serious adventuring... I guess I always thought that solo travel would be super challenging, to the point where I'd need to "work up to" more adventurous undertakings, but I've found that this isn't the case at all. I feel like I have more energy for things now. It probably also helps to be reading Viven (although I hate the way it's written... "Canessa is mean, Nando's really ugly, Vizintín is hugely fat, Delgado's a slimy thief, at least half of them are lazy, every last one of them is a big whiner, etc etc") because, as dumb as this sounds, it does remind me that life is short and you start dying the day you're born. Once you accept that, you can either cry about it or get out there and try like a madman to fit in all the stuff you want to do in the time you get.

-On a somewhat similar note, I've found that I'm interested in all sorts of things. School- high school, university, really all kinds of institutionalized education- has a way of robbing me of whatever interest I have in the subject at hand, and I find myself looking for shortcuts which will allow me to learn absolutely as little as possible. Being out in the world, on the other hand, kindles in me an excitement for all kinds of knowledge, cultural and scientific and historical and anything else you can think of. The list of things I want to look up has been growing since I arrived, and now ranges from "exactly what did Pancho Villa do, anyway?" to "what are the precise rules of football and what's the international scene like in terms of popular teams and all?" and "so how do you conjugate verbs with vos?" And I've realized that being interested in things is a lot more fun than not caring about them."

^Arre: cool. Sounds like it had a big impact on you.

quote:

How did your first solo trip change you as a person?

I started as a girl, came back a dude.

I just got back from nine months in New Zealand about 4 weeks ago. I think the biggest thing that's changed is the density of my liver.

Seriously though, I think being in New Zealand was so much like home. Nothing too unusual...I've never had too much of a problem of being by myself--I went to college in a different state, without any friends, without any issue.

I'm sure my trip to China this fall is where I will really see what I'm made of.

quote:

Originally posted by Jester:
^Arre: cool. Sounds like it had a big impact on you.

Yeah, it really, really did. In addition to what I listed above, it also raised my self-confidence a lot (which is definitely helped along by the fact that at least one person every single day told me how "impressive" it was to be traveling alone as a single 19-year old girl, which was very much a self-esteem boost!) and completely sold me on the idea of solo travel. I've gone from being apprehensive about the whole idea to almost never wanting to travel with a partner or group ever again.