Everyone loves a holiday, but not everyone loves going away with other people; maybe they don’t agree on the sort of holiday they want (resort pool side verses a sightseeing city break), or maybe they just want to go to different places or are restricted to when they can go. Some decide to wait, others (like myself) decide to go alone.
Listen to your instincts
With a little extra planning you won’t have to worry at all, but you do have to listen to your instincts; this has only happened once to me so far and is connected to one building in Hong Kong. When looking at accommodation I looked at a building called Chungking Mansions. For some reason I didn’t like the idea of staying there even though it was very cheap for a separate room; I put this down to the reviews and thought nothing more about it, but when I found the building and entered it to walk around the market all I could think was ‘Get out, NOW!’ so I did. Even now I can’t work out what happened.
I will admit there was another time I felt uncomfortable, I was walking around and tailors who advertise outside their shop approached, and if you show any signs of interest they will literally drag you inside their shop. I had thought about getting clothes made so went along with it to get a price. In the first shop the guy was chatty, but he was being pushy so I decided not to agree to anything, but a little further down the road and the same thing happened again except this guy was not as nice as the first one, I genuinely felt uneasy in that shop and had to spend a few minutes persuading them that I didn’t want to buy anything before I left.
Freedom
However, you are totally in control of what you do, there is no one to negotiate with, no compromises to be made so you can do whatever you want when you want; it’s a little extra dose of freedom and independence, and (in my opinion) much more relaxing. You find yourself being more open, as talking to strangers will be the only chance at conversation.
When you travel alone you meet the coolest people. I literally just joined a family for lunch ?
— Jessen (@emjessen) March 20, 2016
Would I recommend that everyone travels alone at least once? No. If you are interested in traveling alone, start small. Go on a city break for a few days, that way you will find out for sure if you are happy in your own company enough to be away for a few weeks in another country.
Despite having to be a little more on guard than if you have travelling companions, I would never try talking anyone out of travelling alone. The two incidents described were the only times I felt uneasy, and I have so many amazing memories from the rest of the holiday I don’t regret or resent anything that happened.
I travel alone. Because I can. Because I want. And you can’t keep me at home. #viajosola pic.twitter.com/19PZwo5RDu
— Leila (@leila_myway) March 12, 2016
