What’s Holding You Back?
You want to solo travel, but have a hundred excuses why you are still at home
A Personal Note
Solo Travel Life has been quiet for the past few weeks. This has been due to family reasons, including moving my 98-year-old father to a residential care home and working with other members of the family clearing his flat, all some distance from where I live. Things have settled now, and I am back to writing. My thanks for your understanding.
Now, about that travelling . . .
“It is easier NOT to travel solo, than actually do it. Right?”
WRONG!
It is the easiest thing in the world, to sit at home, watch a new film on Netflix and dream about that solo trip you have always wanted to make. You have been planning it in your head for years, while the list of must-watch movies on Amazon Prime, Netflix, Sky and others continues to grow and distract you.
This is just one excuse for not leaving the house and travelling solo. Here are some more - with reasons why those excuses are so weak and really don’t exist.
“I am too old to travel solo”
Rot. My father travelled solo from the United Kingdom to Argentina and picked up a ship to Antarctica. Yes, he was with others on the ship, but was travelling solo.
On arrival at Antarctica, he boarded a Zodiac, travelled to land, and physically hauled himself onto the ice of the only continent he had never visited.
My father was 80 years old. Too old to travel solo?
“I am too young to travel solo”
If you are under about the age of 18, then yes, you may have a point.
Over 18, you have no excuse. Your first solo travel may not be that big year-long world trip, which can come later. At around 18, you have been glued to your mobile cell phone since you were old enough to pick it up.
Is the thought of your phone not working in some remote part of the world such a worry that you would rather stay at home?
Face the situation and go - you are never too young to solo travel.
“I am not sure what my ‘Trip of a Lifetime’ is yet. I need to think more”
Back in 2000, I was travelling with a group rather than solo. I sat next to an experience American traveller on a plane out of London, bound for Mauritius and then onward to the Comoros Islands.
The American had travelled to some truly remote parts of the world, including places such as Mellish Reef, the South Orkney’s, and Kerguelen Island. I said to this well travelled man “This is my trip of a lifetime”. He looked at me over the top of his glasses and said, “No Nigel, this is your FIRST trip of a lifetime”.
That single sentence has stuck with me for almost a quarter of a century. He was absolutely right - from that moment, the Comoros became my first trip of a lifetime.
Since then I’ve chalked up some more unusual places, both in a group and solo, including Ofu Island (American Samoa), Rarotonga (South Cook Islands) and Rodrigues Island (Indian Ocean). Had I not planned a first trip of a lifetime, and met the American, I would not have made several others trips of a lifetime. And I’m not finished yet.
The question is - are you still sitting thinking after all these years - or booking the ticket for the first leg? If you are sitting - you will almost certainly never go.
“I’ve Never Travelled Solo Before”
Yes, you have! Whether you have walked alone into your local town, travelled 100 miles on train, or driven for a couple hours alone - you have travelled solo. A longer solo trip is just like several small ones back-to-back.
“I Might Get Lost”
If you fail to get lost, then you haven’t really travelled.
Modern day mobile phones with half a dozen map apps are all very well but switch them off and just explore. Yes, you may become lost somewhere in an unfamiliar town or city, but that is the beauty of travel. You will find places you didn’t know about and see some unexpected wonders.
And if you hanker for finding civilization again, turn the phone back on.
“It is a Real Hassle Getting Visas’
Yeah it can be sometimes.
The secret here, is pre-planning. Check ahead of time whether you will need a visa for a particular country. This will depend on your own nationality and visa agreements between your home and the destination.
Some visas can be applied for in advance and may require sending your precious passport by mail, or visiting an embassy and waiting several hours for the visa to be issued.
Other visas are simply granted automatically when you arrived off an aircraft. In some countries, you will have to complete forms when you arrived at remote border posts and wait for several hours.
Whatever the case, visas can be a hassle, but without them, you will miss some of the greatest wonders of the world. It is worth investing a little time.
“I Don’t Have Time This Year - Maybe Next”
Then you will almost certainly never go. Poor excuse.
“I Can’t Travel Because of my Job”
How poor is your world-life balance?
Here is a phrase I learned while visiting American Samoa. “You live to work - we work to live”. It is so true.
How important is it in your job, to earn the profits needed to pay the boss? The more profit you make, the better off the boss becomes, while you (may) receive a small promotion or small salary increase.
Who are you working for for? You, or your boss? Take a guess . . .
How about taking a risk in life? Quit your job, travel solo or go with someone else. Do it on a budget is money is tight - stay in hostels not four-star hotels. Use the bus, not a plane.
Then when you return home, find a new job. Or, find the new job first and quit the old one - but take two months away to travel before you start the new one.
Too many people think that they live to work - so consider the American Samoan view.
“I’ve Travelled Enough”
Unless your passports are bulging with visas, plus numerous entry and exits stamps taking up every page, you haven’t travelled enough.
My 98-year-old year old father was still travelling when he first set foot on his final continent, Antarctica, at the age of 80. He continued to travel for another 10 years.
Three years ago at the age of 95, he decided that he has travelled enough. But he still looks at the cruise brochures that drop through his door thinking “that would be an interesting one to do. Perhaps I could…”. All that hold him back today, is being 98.
How many years do you have until you reach his age and decide enough is enough? Quite a few at a guess.
‘I Don’t Speak Any Languages”
Nor do I and I’ve visited around 30 countries where English is not the first, or even the second, language.
Not speaking another language is a bit of a feeble excuse in the world of Google Translate and a dozen more apps that help you communicate. If you speak English, unless you really off the beaten track, there will be locals who can communicate with you. And you’ll pick up some handy phrases as you continue your solo travels.
I used to work with a well-travelled boss, who had learned two phrases in more than 30 languages. “You have beautiful eyes” and “My friend will pay”. Both served him well.
“I Have a Bucket List for Solo Travel Later in Life”
Are you sure this isn’t a ‘Can List’ as in ‘Kick the Can Down the Road’?
By all means create a bucket list but starting ticking off some places to make room for more.
“Solo Travel Isn’t Safe”
Nor is crossing the road.
OK, so Syria, North Korea and currently Ukraine, are not the safest places to travel and none come highly recommended. Much the world is safe and open for travel. Clearly, taking sensible precautions is important, but you do that in parts of your local town or city, avoiding the trouble spots.
That means you are already most of the way there mentally for safe solo travel. Just take care crossing that road.
“I’m Afraid of Flying on My Own”
Are you sure it isn’t a fear of crashing? What are the odds? R-e-a-l-l-y low. Statistics show that travelling by car is far more dangerous.
Flying alone can be a little daunting the first couple of times. Will you work out how to check in? What happens if your bags do not arrive?
If flying is a real problem, then use overland transport or take a boat. It is perfectly possible to visits more than 150 countries without the need for a plane ticket.
“I Like Home Too Much”
Back in the early 1990s, I was travelling solo in the United States. I had been to a business meeting in Columbia Ohio and had planned a couple of weeks driving before flying back to Europe.
Early one evening, I arrived at a motel, coincidently, in another Columbus this one in Indiana, where I discovered two girls in their mid-twenties, chatting across the motel reception counter.
Being British, I am used to the question, why I am in their small town. This was followed up by “Where are you headed?” I replied, ”Not sure, I’m making it up as I go along, providing I make it to Atlanta in a couple of weeks.”
The look on the face of the girl behind the counter was priceless, as she said “Wow, Atlanta! I’ve never been out of state”. The look on my face must have been just as priceless - the state line was 25 miles away. I’ve often wondered if she ever ventured those 25 miles.
For her, and possibly her friend, home was clearly too comfortable. Sad really. I trust you are not the same.
“I’ll Get Homesick”
Yes, you will. So do I on a long trip. It is quite natural to miss family and friends, but don’t make that an excuse to never travel anywhere solo.
If you analyse what family and friends say to you “You’ll be lonely” or “In a week you’ll be homesick and come home”, that isn’t what they are saying.
What they are telling you is that they will miss YOU and they do not want you to go as THEY will be the ones who are lonely. It is too easy to be sucked into this one, living other people’s lives.
But yes, there will be times when homesickness will set in. With today’s technology though, you are seldom more than a WhatsApp video all away from those family and friends.
Excuses, Excuses
The secret is to turn an excuse to stay at home, into a reason to travel. Just go!
Safe travels!