If you’ve been a longtime reader of this blog, you’re probably well aware that I love traveling alone.
Don’t get me wrong, traveling with someone else can be great (if it’s well planned out).
And you can often split the costs of travel (taxis, hotels, etc). In fact, some of the best trips I’ve been on were with friends or dates.
Romantic trips are pretty fun too.
But here’s the thing…
If you’re reading this post, you probably are like me. I much prefer to travel alone for a variety of reasons.
It’s much easier, you have a lot more freedom, and it can be just as fun (if not more).
It’s always a blast meeting new people in new places and making new friends.
Plus, you’ll feel like a champ navigating an entire new city (often without even speaking the language).
Why Is It Weird To Travel Alone?
A lot of people in my life actually ask why I travel alone. And you know what?
Many of them think it’s weird or “not normal.”
But who cares what they think!
I guess they don’t follow big name travel bloggers! – many of which are known solo travelers 🙂
Anyways, I want to discuss a little bit on whether or not traveling alone is weird.
Why do you travel alone? That’s weird.
I hear that all the time and I can’t help but chuckle, because the majority of people I know travel alone.
Most people can’t even fathom that. And I get that from so many people.
I hear that from my older family members. And I’ll give them a pass on that because they’re from a different generation.
They didn’t come from the generation where you can summon your own personal driver with the push of a button.
They didn’t come from the generation where you can book a plane ticket to anywhere in the world on your phone and book a house from a stranger (AirBnB).
But I also here this from a lot of people my age too (maily co-workers and friends).
My guess is, there’s just a lot of people that think you need to be doing stuff in public with other people to be “normal.”
Going To The Movies Alone
I think the best example of this social phenomenon is going to the theaters alone.
When I was younger, I was afraid to go to see a movie alone (not because it would be an R-rated movie or anything like that).
I just grew up with people that would go to movies all the time together.
And it felt just sort of ingrained – like you need to do it with a big group of friends or something.
But the more I grew up, the more I realized just how stupid that sounds.
You really need to go with a group of people where you sit in a dark room in silence to watch a movie?
Pretty crazy, right?
That’s why I always laugh when people tell me they like to go to the movie as a first date.
Now THAT is weird!
Is It Psychological?
Another reason why I think people don’t like to travel alone is somewhat psychological.
And I have two theories on this.
First, I think they are afraid to travel alone. They are afraid they’ll be stranded somewhere with no help.
They are afraid that they don’t know anyone and they don’t speak the language.
And this one I can understand.
But personally, I’ve never felt like this. When I traveled for the first time, I felt a liberating freedom.
Personally, I travel to a lot of countries where I don’t speak the language. And I think that’s kind of the fun of it…being able to communicate with people through hand gestures or sounding out words like an idiot.
Another reason I don’t think some people like to travel alone (or view it as weird to do so) is because they aren’t happy with themselves.
Now I’m not saying this to knock them, but they just don’t like to be alone.
But if you can’t even be happy with yourself, how can you be happy with anyone else?
Getting Over The Fear
Overall, I would say that fear is probably the primary reason why people are afraid of solo travel.
And that’s probably why they think it’s weird that other people do it.
But if you are afraid, here are some tips I would give you.
First, do a small trip somewhere.
Maybe do a quick little fun road trip somewhere. Or maybe fly to a new city domestically and build up from there.
Then fly to a country that speaks the same language as you. For us English folk, England and the Nordic countries (Denmark, Sweden, Iceland, etc) are safe bets.
Final Thoughts
Is it weird to travel alone?
Nope! I don’t think so at all.
Maybe it is in the eyes of other people, but not to me.
Maybe I’ve spent too much time reading blogs by other solo travelers and fell in love with the “romance” of solo travel.
And I’ve never exactly been “normal” myself either.
But then again, who cares. I love solo traveling and I’ll never stop.
So when someone else tells me that it’s “not normal” to solo travel, I’ll simply respond with “normal people never accomplish anything.”
Readers, what do you think? Is it normal to solo travel? Or is it weird?
Let me know in the comments!