I have always been fascinated by open world games. Like GTA – the ones that allow you to go anywhere you want and completely disregard the mission at hand. There’s something fascinating about finding little details and easter eggs, trying to break the game’s physics by going too far in one direction, or trying to glitch out. Then there’s the eery side of exploration: the half-rendered assets, the trees that were actually just 2D, the ghost towns because no one bothered to fill them with people.
Free travel is the most elaborate open world game ever devised.
In some countries I felt like I was living life as a GTA character – minus the violence and crime of course. Geographical freedom is one of the highest forms of freedom you can experience. This, and many of the points I’ll go into below, are why I recommend everyone try solo travel at least once in their life.
The Great Abyss
When you travel alone, there are very few “social guardrails”. As social creatures, we tend to be overreliant on others for self-regulation. We also depend on them for physical safety and to catch things that we might have missed. When you jump into solo travel, you are forced to do it yourself, confront the great abyss of high isolation, ultimate freedom, and self-regulation.
It can be terrifying, going to a new place with zero support at your side. There were months I didn’t speak face to face with anyone in English. I embraced it, as leaving my comfort zone was part of the allure to this form of travel.
If you do it right of course. It can be a tremendous confidence booster. I found I was much more assertive, opinionated, secure, and much better at taking charge of situations.
Extreme isolation while so much is happening around you – people, backdrops, languages, everything situational changing at a rate humans were not meant to process – is quite a scrambling experience. You will very quickly dissociate and feel like you’re just watching a movie about yourself.
Most would see this as a negative, but If you have a propensity towards deep thought and reflection, I think you will find this to be a positive experience. You can reinvent yourself, you can take a lot of personal inventory, or address highly abstract ideas you haven’t previously been able to articulate. No better way to get rid of a writer’s block than change the setting! Now imagine doing that every few days, and you can guess how creative I was feeling by the end. I had dozens of ideas, including business ideas, and a 10-year life plan I was very satisfied with.
If you’re going through something like a profound life change or loss, putting yourself in these kinds of crazy situations will help. Certainly it will be better than rotting in your bed.
It’s WAY More Efficient
Some of the things I pulled off would have been borderline impossible with a group. I was able to “speedrun” locations, sneak past barriers to cut time, and take day trips at a crazy pace. Stuff like a KL -> Penang day trip, 4 days in Rome, Singapore in 1 day, Iguazu in one day, you get the gist. Sometimes I was spending 1/3 or 1/4 of the recommended vacation times in these areas because… well, I just didn’t need to stay any longer.
There’s a reason why tour guides exist – it’s less about knowledge and more about keeping people organized. If you’re with a group you gotta wait for everyone to take their group photos, have unrelated conversations, slowly follow the flow of the crowd. But there’s so MUCH MORE!
If you’re going with a group, you all need to agree first, and that takes time. And everyone does their own research, which takes time. Then you have to wait for people to get ready, and figure out each travel process (like going through automated immigration gates). You can’t even hop out of the taxi without waiting on people, and you can’t cram into an already full train.
And don’t get me started on packing. I can get all my stuff in my bags (backpack + checked) in 20 minutes. Big group will take all morning.
Then there’s the “administrative tasks” that become more frequent in a group. Bathroom breaks, ticket/immigration issues, someone getting lost, hunger, thirst, needing to shop for things, etc. People need a lot of stuff to be comfortable that I didn’t need as a minimalist.
No Arguments
I’m sure you’ve been there. One argument sets the trip back, but also ruins the day. Even people you generally get along with can turn into someone else during travel.
And if they’re people you generally don’t get along with – well…
For me, it turned travel from something I hate to something I love. When you’re solo, you’re always in control.
And the peace is indescribable. Travelling with others, I had bad days and good days. Travelling alone, I had mediocre days and good days, but never a bad day.
It’s Normally More Expensive
I don’t mean the total cost goes up because you have more people – duh. I mean the per capita cost often goes up.
Why? You might ask. Won’t the cost go down if people are sharing resources like accommodation and rides?
Yes, this can help and save you a lot of money. But if you’re a minimalist travelling with someone that’s not, you can typically expect per capita costs to go up.
That’s because other folks will drag you around and have a base level of comfort they need. If everyone else determines they want to go to a restaurant instead of groceries, you either have to go along and raise your costs, or break social convention and ditch the group temporarily.
Second example: If your group relies on taxis to get everywhere (because someone HATES transit), that’s going to be more expensive even after splitting costs.
And most common: people will pay entrance fees they don’t need and go to pricier locations. You will either go broke or be a cheapskate.
Tightwad Travelling 
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