Example: When I went abroad for the first time to Colombia, I was supposed to go with friends, but they had to cancel, leaving me solo. My original plan was to party, but going solo made me link up with other backpackers who gave me great advice, and eventually allowed me the flexibility to meet and stay with a local family in one of the poorer areas of Medellin for a few days. If I had been beholden to the whims of friends that likely would not have happened... and it was my favorite part of my trip!!
You are forced to meet new people- when you travel with a group of friends, you are likely to spend more time with them, doing things you would normally do but in a different location, than actually meeting the travelers on the road around you and the local peoples wherever you are traveling.
Example: Travelers have to rely on each other on the road. Advice from fellow travelers about your next potential stop is more accurate than any travel guide, if only because the info is fresher. If you make friends with them, you begin to build a global network.
You can live cheap- Spend as much money as you want, you don't have to go to a fancy restaurant if you wanna live cheap and just snack on a baguette and cheese for dinner (followed by breakfast, then lunch, then dinner...).
Example: At the San Fermin Festival, I was solo so I didn't have to worry if other people would be ok with sleeping in a park. Would they be squeemish? I felt ok with it so that was good enough for me.
You do lots of thinking- You are alone a lot of time, something that doesn't really happen all that often in daily life. If you want to be completely alone with your thoughts, just go stroll through a city where you don't speak the language!
Cons: It gets lonely- No matter how much you enjoy solitude, the thought of being on the road for extended periods without any continuous company to share your experiences is tough. You go through a roller coaster of highs and lows, excitement at where you are and what your doing followed by periods of the blues when you want a good friend from home.
You make, then leave, awesome friends- Hosteling is great, because most of the fellow travelers are similar minded, and its really easy to find great friends after a couple of stories over breakfast or a local drink. The hard part is, that its likely that your nomadic ways with take you apart after a couple of days. Its unlikely that you will see these friends again, and thats pretty hard.
When you get home, you can tell the stories, but not share them- You don't have the friends you met at the stops along the way to relive the crazy stuff you did that one night in Barcelona (like when you drank out the 24hr hostel bar with a bunch of Aussies and Brits to celebrate the 4th of July)... You can tell these stories, but they are yours alone.
No comments:
Post a Comment