Travelling is a blessing and to travel solo adds icing to the cake. While traveling with your regular bunch of friends is undoubtedly fun; the entire experience of traveling solo and meeting new people while you explore uncharted territories is too much of a temptation to resist. In fact, it gives you an opportunity to interact with people from different cultures, and make new friends. But since befriending strangers is avoided, therefore people consider it a challenge. So, let’s go about advocating the cause and know why meeting and befriending like-minded travelers on the road is usually more fun than assumed.

1) They give you a new perspective

People you meet randomly on a trip are different from the friends back home. They come from all walks of life with different interests and hobbies than the people you know. Throughout your time together, you show each other new talents, introduce new elements that may change your perspective, and open your mind to new ideas. Most importantly, they broadened your range of friends.

2) You can be more flexible when you travel alone

Traveling alone and befriending fellow travelers on the course of the journey not only opens new horizons, but also gives you the leverage to travel flexibly. If you guys decide to huddle along, then you can. You will have the flexibility to plan your entire trip the way you want, without having to worry about anyone’s choices and desires.

3) Come over the fear of talking to strangers

You never know when you are going to bump into your new BFF. If you are the shy types and too scared to talk to strangers, you can make sure to do away with this fear on this trip. If you think someone, or a group of people, look fun to be with, go ahead, introduce yourself and strike up a conversation. This can feel a bit awkward, but if this doesn’t go down well it’s pretty certain that you will never see them again. However, you will regret never knowing this really fun bunch. You might end up being invited on the surfing trip they are taking the next day rather than having another day of wandering alone.

4) To better your social skills

Many people who want to test their social skills can do that by deciding to travel with an unknown group of people. Sometimes, they get to learn so much out of it that this might become a life changing event for them. It also helps you grow your network. So, muster the courage to travel alone, and it’s likely you’ll be doing more of such travel in your lifetime.

5) Learn about different cultures

This one is of course pretty obvious. Just imagine that instead of sitting in front of your laptop and ‘Googling’ local trivia; you can actually have a very stimulating conversation with a fellow backpacker coupled with their original anecdotes. These intellectual stimulations last a lifetime, and help you shed your inhibitions about the world at large.

6) The more the merrier

Backpackers are all eager to meet new people, so it’s really easy for them to make friends. If you don’t try to meet anyone while traveling alone, you tend to get bored very quickly. Once you’ve made some friends you get to hang around with them, until you, or they move on to the next destination. Sometimes, this is for a few days, or even for a few weeks. Other times you’ll travel with them for a while. Here, your social relationships tend to be shorter, but still more intense. Once, you arrive at the next destination, the process of making new friends starts all over again.

7) United in the desire to seek the world

Fellow travelers, especially solo ones, will be more likely to join you for a meal if you’re alone, instead of a couple or a group. Some of the travelers you’ll meet while traveling alone can even turn into lifelong friends, and you might end up planning your next trip together. You already share something major in common, a desire to see the world. But even if you never speak to that person again, you know you had a friend for the trip, and people often end up being the highlight of the trip. When you’re already traveling with a friend or partner, you tend to stay inside a bubble of being wholesome, and you don’t get to know other travelers.

8) Traveling removes your inhibitions

When we meet other travelers on the road, we leave the shit of our lives behind and focus only on the wonderful things that are about to come. There is no bitchiness or gossiping, judgment or misplaced expectations. There are no problems to weigh each other down or baggage to hide.

9) Learn from each other

For someone who could not tell mussels from oysters, I remember how a conversation with a fellow traveler in a local food market in Hong Kong led to a very satisfying and enlightening lunch. Whether it’s about rolling a great cigarette, or learning how to bargain at a local shop, your fellow travelers can always teach you something useful. And undoubtedly you could return the favor too. They are people with the same problems, so you rely on each other for solutions. It is the kind of relationship in which opinions are valued and stories are always new. In addition to being there for one another for that short span of time, you take back memories which last you a lifetime.

10) Make friends partying

Head to a bar alone and strike up a conversation with someone – there’s nothing weird about this. You might just find another traveler looking for some company. And if this doesn’t work out, you would know that you tried! The chances are that by the time you step out, you would have your very own group of newly-found travel buddies.

So celebrate the companionship on the run and just let go!!

Shubhra

After spending almost 3 years creating buzz around brands, I decided to quit the world of PR and pursue my true calling which was all about traveling and yoga. If not planning my next trip then I could be found cooking up a storm in the kitchen. Though born and raised in the hillside town of Dehradun I am a beach bum at heart.