Travel has a way of changing people. How they live, how they view the world, and what becomes important. Below I’ve outlined four positives as a result of my solo travel.
Learning to Ask for Help
Traveling alone forced me into this. I’ve always been the type of person who tries to figure things out myself. I’ll go through Google, YouTube, or any other number of other resources before asking someone for help. To an extent, I think it’s an excellent quality to have. It forces me to learn and retain things I otherwise wouldn’t have. If I asked someone without putting in any effort, it minimizes the growth of going through the struggle. However, there is a point where it’s more advantageous to ask for help rather than continuing to run into walls after exhausting all resources.
While traveling abroad, I’m able to figure out a lot of things online. Still, there are some things where it isn’t entirely applicable. I recall one instance while at the Berlin airport in Germany trying to figure out the bus system while staring into a computer screen that only displayed options in German without the possibility for English. Spoilers for all of you, staring at the screen longer didn’t help me to magically understand German or the route I needed to take. In instances like these, I turned to someone nearby and hoped they spoke English. In this instance, they did, and I was able to go on my merry way without taking a huge detour. Things like this also taught me to not care if I look like an idiot. Believe me, there were plenty of those moments.
Becoming More Adaptable
I like to think that I’ve always been pretty adaptable, but there is something about traveling in a country where you don’t speak the language or know the landscape that makes a person pick up their game.
I feel that travel requires constant adaptation. Whether it be to the cultural norms, the environment, or different languages. On top of that, there are several moments where a small mishap occurs which would be easier to handle back home, but abroad presents a separate set of challenges.
On occasion, I’d find myself on buses where nobody spoke English and stops weren’t announced. It was just expected that people knew where to get off. I learned pretty quickly to download any potential destination’s maps and monitor my location while on the bus.
I’m on a bus and large bags of rice and chickens are thrown in there and there isn’t much room. Cool, I’m now the world’s greatest contortionist.
On another occasion, my phone went out while in Vietnam. I got back to my hostel and researched phone stores, figured out which phone I wanted, wrote down the directions to the place, and conveyed what I wanted to the person at the store without much verbal communication.
These are all minor things that back home would be much easier to deal with while in a comfortable and familiar environment, but abroad they present an interesting twist. I’m grateful for all of them as it’s taught me to better deal with whatever comes my way.
Talking to Strangers
The funny thing about traveling solo is that I had no choice but to talk to strangers. Everybody is a stranger when you’re by yourself and don’t know anybody in the countries you’re going to. It’s not that I was never capable of doing so; it’s that I’m pretty introverted and never really needed to. I’ve always been familiar with my surroundings and how things work. While traveling, it’s sort of a necessity if I’m trying to figure out a public transit system, asking about places to visit or have somebody to do something with. The beautiful thing about staying in hostels, which I did, is that most people are traveling alone, so it’s pretty easy to strike up a conversation. After a while, I got good at this, even if it was just small talk.
I made a point to say hello to locals in their native language as I walked by. Thailand, in particular, was fun because the locals always lit up with a smile when I’d say hi. It also got me a bit more familiar with saying basic words in the language. Sometimes I’d pronounce it wrong and get laughed at, but hey, I tried. Now that I’m back in the states, I make it a point to say hi to people when I walk around the neighborhood, which isn’t something I did before. Plus, it’s a lot easier to do in my native language.
Realizing How Little I Need
If you ask any of my friends or family, I don’t think any of them would say I’m materialistic by any stretch of the imagination. However, even as someone who doesn’t buy much in the first place, I realized how much extra stuff I have that I have no use for. After living out of a 40L backpack for 6 months, it became pretty evident that less is better for me. Not only from a physical standpoint but mentally as well.
I got rid of a lot of stuff before leaving for my trip, but even after coming back, I find myself gradually getting rid of more. I’ve tossed out quite a few more clothes, trophies that have been in a box for years but have little meaning, and chucking out papers I thought I needed, but don’t. I’m not looking to be the guy with just a lone chair sitting in the corner of a room, but it has become much more clear what is necessary and what isn’t.
While there are so many more positives of solo travel, these are the ones that stick out to me and that I intend to build upon going forward.