Life is all about learning, experiencing new things, enjoying every moment of life as much you can. Creating a new way of living life is very important to find happiness. In the hustle and busy of our fast-paced lives there is a trend happening in the tourism industry that has been quietly gaining or growing momentum – solo travel. Travelling alone and finding a new place and people has made me interested in this topic.
Why solo travel?
Solo travel is something everyone must try once in their life. People must give their time to themselves and that is what solo travel means. It’s a life lesson to grow up self-confidence in life, to know better yourself, to become a guide for yourself. You don’t have to depend on others to go somewhere, without any others interrupting or like freely you can do whatever you want. Nature can be felt closely without any distractions. Decision making power will improve and can self-discovery of cultures.
Personal encounters with solo travel
My journey of solo travel began with the quick decision to explore one of the underrated tourism sides of Nepal which is Ghandruk. At first it felt a bit scary because I have never travelled alone.
When I started to explore that place, I found many streets, got a chance to interact with local people and in a few hours, I was like covering the beautiful place with them. I got knew how their culture is like, how they live there, what are the problems and so on. I was making all my decision myself to go somewhere, to eat somethings and I felt so independent. This was a time when I started to be known that solo travel is one of the best lifetime experiences, relaxed, independent, and enjoyable things in the world. One of the advantages of solo travel is it develops personal growth.
The presence of solo travel
Solo travel is no longer a small concept, it’s completely forcing tourism sector to modify the tourism scenery. Different travel agencies and accommodation are being recognizing this trend and working on this for the betterment of solo adventurers. Apps and other different kinds of social media platforms are helping many solo travelers to connect and motivating each other to reach the new destination.
Destination is not only the thing in solo travel; it’s a journey within. It develops self-esteem, breaking the comfort zone and maturing flexibility. You don’t need anyone’s company to travel, learn and create memories. Solo travel is exactly challenging people and showing what travel experiences looks like. Finally, it’s you and your life so you can do anything alone and that’s important in life.
Speculations on the future
Looking forward, in my opinion solo travel is becoming more and more popular. As technology and social media are connecting us universally, many solo travelers have been sharing their view and experiences of their journey and this will be going to help upcoming solo travelers in the future. I think solo travel will become a path for positive change, encouraging culture understanding.
Solo travel is one of the trending topics nowadays in the world, many people want to try that one in life, but they are scared or do not have that much belief in themselves. Nothing would happen if you never tried. Money can be earned but the time which you spent with yourself, and nature will can’t be earned. It’s hard to do solo travel at first, but nothing is impossible. You can reach a new level of point in your life for you must step out your feet and try to travel alone, meet new friends, new culture, new places, and other so on.
Solo travel is not just a trend it’s a transformative movement for making individuals’ lives more powerful, positive and fill with full of self-confidence in them. If you are a solo traveler or planning for solo travel then, remember that you are a part of transformative movement. With this I want to close this with one of a popular slogan for solo travelers “The world is your movie set and solo journey is a director waiting to be masterpiece”.
Text and photos: Pratik Pandey, second year International Tourism Management student