“Travel is like an endless university; you never stop learning.” If you have a Pinterest board or ever scroll through Facebook, you’ve heard this quote from Harvey Lloyd.
As cliche as it seems to have become, there’s truth behind the over-use. Whether you travel around the world or in your own backyard, you learn something new…either about the location or yourself.
Solo traveling is all about finding out who we are, conquering our fears and moving forward in life. It’s not just about “discovering yourself,” but figuring out your strengths, without the influences and comfort of familiar people around us.
Here are a few self discoveries I’ve made while traveling solo, and I’m guessing that you might have made some of these as well…
I Have an Inner Compass
I believe I was born with an innate sense of direction. Sometimes all I need is to take a quick look at a map and I’m off. Or even sometimes I just have a fleeting memory of where I’m heading back to.
When I arrived in Kiel, Germany, for my study abroad, one of the staff members from the University took me from the student center to my dorm/apartment, 2 miles away. En route, we started talking about the World Cup game that would be taking place that night. He mentioned that a lot of students would be heading to the cafeteria to watch the game, and since I was new and didn’t know anyone yet, I might want to consider watching the game there.
Sounded good to me!
The driver waited for me to drop off my bags in my room, then took me over to the cafeteria where I watched Germany dominate the game, along with thousands of new friends.
After the game was over and everyone was spilling out into the quad area, I was keenly aware that I had no idea where I was. I had my bus pass, but had no idea which bus to take, how often they came, or which stop to get off at.
I’m not sure where I found the strength after bouncing around Eastern Europe for the week prior to arriving, but I shrugged my shoulders, plugged in my music, and took off walking.
I wasn’t exactly sure where I was heading, but I just knew that if I kept walking a certain direction, I would end up at my dorm/apartment.
And wouldn’t you know it…I found it!
While I was in Europe, I managed to find my way to the Freiberg LDS Temple, Auschwitz, my hostel in Krakow, and a slew of other places in the Czech Republic without so much as a quick picture of a map in a foreign language to guide me.
Looking back, this might not have been the smartest way to get around, but I didn’t have access to wi-fi on the regular and my only GPS was the sun and a force that pulled me forward…luckily in the right direction!
I Can Take a Selfie Like a Boss
Let’s face it – when you travel solo, there are a lot of times that nobody is around to take your picture. I recently wrote a post about why I take travel selfies, rather than relying on passers-by.
Give it a read…it’s pretty funny and filled with not-too-flattering examples.
While I was in Germany in 2014, I managed to become a pro at selfies, mainly out of necessity. Even now, when I’m with other people and we’re trying to get a picture of our group, I will inevitably be handed the camera.
I Can Roll With the Punches
Often when we travel, things have the tendency to go wrong. When we travel solo, we are constantly thrown into situations that aren’t exactly comfortable. I’ve come to realize that I am able to let things roll off my back. Instead of having a freak-out, wasting all of my energy on crying, or finding someone else to blame, I just let it go (cue “Frozen”). Life is too short to stress about those little big things that we can’t control.
To save money on a trip, I thought it was a good idea to book an overnight train to take me from Prague to Krakow. Instead of having to book a night in a hostel and then a train ticket, I reserved a bed in a sleeper car and congratulated myself on my thriftiness.
I wound up in a room with 6 bunks protruding from the walls, taking one of the bottom bunks as I would be exiting the train much sooner than everyone else, with my destination being Auschwitz. After I got settled in, 5 more Americans entered the room, happily announcing that we were going to be bunkmates, and stored a LARGE crate full of alcohol.
Awesome.
I was planning on sleeping the whole way, but they had other ideas.
I soon fell asleep on my couchette, my head on my neck pillow, hugging my messenger bag, and using my backpack as a footrest.
I kid you not, my bunkmates woke me up every half hour, asking me if I wanted to take shots with them. I politely declined the first few times, and then by 2am, I became a little more forceful in my declines.
No matter how I put it, they woke me up the following half hour later and offered me a bottle of something. As we approached the time I thought I would be getting off the train, the conductor let me know that we were 2 hours behind schedule and he would come get me when we got closer to Auschwitz (apparently I was the only person NOT going all the way to Krakow).
What was supposed to be a relaxing, 8-hour night ride through the beautiful countryside of the Czech Republic had turned into a virtually sleepless 11 hour waiting-fest.
Even back then, I just giggled about it, shrugged, and figured it was all part of the solo traveler’s journey. What could I do? If I wanted to get angry, what would happen? I would have been in a bad mood, probably gotten overheated with anger, and missed out on the sunrise over Lesser Poland.
Had I cried, I would have looked foolish, beaten myself up over it later, and had a puffy face in my pictures for the day.
My Self-Confidence Can Move Mountains
By putting myself in all sorts of new surroundings and situations, I’ve realized that I am awesome. I can do anything. I can push myself up a mountain. I can cycle around a city that was designed to destroy bike tires. I can communicate using hand gestures and facial expressions. I recharge by taking solo trips, no matter how long or far I go. I can do hard things. Period.
I Can Make Friends Anywhere
People are inherently good, decent, and respectful.
Sure, there are wackos that make life difficult for everyone, but they’re not the norm.
No matter where I travel to, I will never be truly alone (well, unless I find myself on a deserted island). I was on a bike tour in Krakow, Poland with 2 Irish families. Our tour guide led us around town, past the castle, along the river, and finally to Kazimierz, the Jewish quarter. When we got to Kazimierz, it began to rain a little bit. Not a whole lot, but enough to add a layer of excitement. Well, after an hour, it was really coming down and we were nearing the end of the tour.
As we were dropping off our bikes at the shop, the sky opened up and rain poured down. We all ducked into the pub next door, seeking shelter . When we entered the pub, we didn’t know a thing about each other…but that didn’t last long. For the next 2 hours, we chatted like old friends, snacking on pub food that I can’t remember. I marveled at how easy it was to open myself up to making new friends. To this day, we still keep in contact, and remember the time we all had to duck into the pub to escape the rainstorm in Krakow.
Have you ever made any self-discoveries with your travel experience? What were they?
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