Should you travel solo or with a friend?
Traveller, adventurer, author and film maker Alastair Humphreys helps you decide if you should travel with a friend or brave going alone…
06 August 2011
On most of my travels I have been on my own. But I have also had many great experiences when travelling with a friend. So which is better?
Here are a few thoughts to help you weigh up the pros and cons and decide which works better for you…
Advantages of travelling with someone else:
- It’s safer.
- It’s cheaper: you can share rooms, taxis etc.
- It’s less stressful: you share the haggling with touts and answering the same questions a million times from curious locals. You can keep an eye on each other’s bag while one of you nips into a shop or toilet.
- Shared memories to reminisce over when you are old.
- Someone to laugh with.
- Less daunting and scary heading to strange and unknown places.
- Less gear to carry: you can share the weight of the tent, guidebooks, medicines etc.
- Easier to ignore the weirdo on the 24-hour bus ride who is determined to sit next to you and tell you their life story.
- Travelling is less boring and lonely.
Advantages of travelling solo:
- The trip is more of a challenge.
- You meet more people.
- There is less bickering.
- You can do what you want when you want.
- It can be more exciting.
- Less time talking about Eastenders: you’re more immersed in the experience.
- You realise you are capable of more than you imagine.
- Great for self-confidence.
- Less faff and trivial discussions about what flavour jam to buy.
Solitude. - Strangers are kinder to you.
- Freedom, I mean real freedom.
- Arriving in a place where nobody knows a thing about you is liberating.
- Greater sense of achievement.
- More peace and quiet, time to think, read, write, take photos.
- Easier to tell outrageous lies about your adventures in order to impress girls…
My over-simplified solution is that travelling with someone else is more fun but going solo is more rewarding. What do you think?
