Why you should travel alone in your 20s

Let me tell you why you should travel alone in your 20s, in short:

• Learn about other cultures, views and opinions (open up your mind 😉);

• Form new friendships;

• Once in a lifetime experiences;

• Explore different sceneries;

• Personal growth;

• Do whatever you want, whenever you want. No need to compromise.

Will you ever travel to your dream destination if you keep waiting for other people to join you??

No. Now let me eleborate on....

Why should you (solo) travel the world?

• Learn about other cultures, views and opinions.

While growing into an adult, there are certain influences from your environment that shape you into the person you will become. Think of your friends, culture, religion, traditions and (maybe one of the hardest to admit) opinions of your friends and family.

When you travel you will meet people from all over the world. You will experience different cultures and traditions, and can learn about the meaning and purpose these serve to the ones celebrating. You will most likely meet people with different views on the world than your own. People from different backgrounds, cultures and values will have all sort of different opinions, which is interesting to hear and compare to your own. You break free of your own little bubble and learn different ways of viewing certain topics (or lets get deep here.. 'life').

What I also loved is that travel is for all ages. In hostels age lays mostly between 18 and 30-something, but I have met older travellers. I myself was 22 when I started solo travelling. I was surrounded mostly by people in their end twenties/start 30's and I loved talking to people a bit older than me. With a bit more life experience and wisdom (only sometimes 😜), they were able to sometimes give me really good advice or share experiences about life that helped me evaluate my own life and look at things differently. For example, something a travel friend in Tenerife once said to me when I talked about some recent issues I had with a friendship is

"Life is a train journey. You will meet people at the train station, these people you may call your friends. But you both won't stay at the same station forever. Sometimes they go onto a different train and you will not see them anymore. Or maybe, if it is meant to be, you will catch a train and suddenly meet them again at another station. "

So, in this analogy, the train journey symbolises your life journey, while the stations symbolises the different fases of life. Sometimes a friend "takes another train" and you grow apart. Or you might both be at a very different station (aka life fase) and you loose sight of eachother. Sometimes you can even wave at them while they travel off to a different station, you will feel that you are drifting apart. But if it is right, you will meet them again at another station (reconnect). Also, most likely at every station other people will hop on the same train as you and share the ride for however long. This symblises new friendships that are formed during (different stages of) life. Some people stay on the train longer , others a bit shorter. Some friends are "long term friends' and some friends will stay for a shorter period of time.

This way of looking at it helped me a lot at the time. Although I have very solid, long lasting friendships I did grow apart with some of my childhood friends. I have always been really scared to "loose" friends. Now not as much anymore. Although it is still not fun to stay at the station and see a friend catch a different train, it is part of life. I do not only look back on a 'loss' anymore but on a bunch of great memories, with amazing people.

• Form new friendships.

So.... About those amazing people. I have met some really great, like minded people while travelling. We shared awesome life changing experiences and it formed a bond. I feel like a lot of travellers are adventurous, passionate about travelling (obviously, lol) and very open minded. For me, this is a good base to start a friendship. Although you will also most likely never see a lot of your travel friends again, it is also not uncommon to end up with some of the best, long lasting friendships.

I met a girl in Cairns in 2022 and we stayed in touch ever since. I even met her again in 2025 in Singapore! I stayed at her house, she showed the country and I had the best time ever!

Another friend I met in 2022 also in Cairns (lol, good city to make friends apparently 😉) Im also still in touch with. We talk daily and visited each other a few times already (she came to my place in the Netherlands and last winter I visited her beautiful home town Münster!

How amazing to keep making memories and (re)connect with your travel friends. A big plus to have a place to stay and someone local to show you around to get the even more local travel experience.

• Once in a lifetime experiences.

YOLO! Can I still say that now a days to be cool or will you be able to guess my age by now?😜 But honestly... You only live once, why not live life to the fullest while you're at it. Experience new things, see new places, go a little out of your comfort zone and learn from it. But also.. enjoy. There are so many things I did while travelling I would not have done if I stayed at home, so mandy beautiful memories to cherish. For example I snorkled the great barrier reef, swam with whales, whalesharks, reef sharks, mantarays ant turtles on the Ningaloo reef, saw some of the most beautiful beaches and hiked through the prettiest nature scenes in Australia, Zwitserland and Italy.

• Explore different sceneries.

As just mentioned, when travelling you will see a lot of different sceneries. Nature wise but also housing wise. Housing situations, buildings, churches, infrastructure, it is all very different wherever you go.. I think it is fascinating. If I have never left my home country I would have never seen so many beautiful sceneries!

• Personal growth.

Cliché but really true. Because for a lot of people, solo travel is out of their comfort zone, you will learn a lot. Best things to learn is that you can trust yourself with anything. You can travel acorss the world solo, so you can take on a lot in life. Minor setbacks will seem a bit less worse after you have conquered the world on your own. It builds confidence, trust and responsibility with the relationship with yourself. Because you are responsible for your own happiness and can influence this a lot. You are in control of your own action, emotions and are responsible (and capable, you just learned😉) of fulfilling your own dreams!

• Do whatever you want, whenever you want.

Another reason on why you should travel SOLO. No need to compromise. You plan your day, you do whatever you want to do, you are in control. To take this a step further, this is an attitude you can also apply to life in general (which I did, and learned it from solo travel!). In life, you are also in control of your own happiness. If you want something, you can (should!) make that happen, no need to wait around for other people. Otherwise you might never go to your dream holiday or do the other thing you have been dreaming of.

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  For me, solo travel gave me the experience and courage that indeed, you can do a lot of things by yourself. You are very capable of doing, organising things by yourself and you can rely on yourself.

  But.... How do you get to that point?? Isn't it really scary to solo travel?

How do you find the courage to travel solo?

Two pro tips: 1. Divide it in to smaller steps and take action (action= motivation, not the other way around). 2. Just do it!! (no spon, lol). I will eleborate on this with: .....

My personal experience

You might remember this moment vividly... Your first class presentation. What was it about? Do you remember? At least I do! I enlightened the classroom with information about the koala. My nine years old self loved to get more knowledge about this cuddly looking animal. I researched for hours on end to answer the most commonly asked questions: what does a koala eat? And where does a koala live? The answer of the last question is.... Right! Australia!

Now we have arrived to the main subject of the blog (post), in case you were wondering what all that gibberish had to do with solo travel. Because.. Guess where my I went on my first solo travel?? Right! Australia. Ever since that moment of my koala presentation research, when I first heard about the country, I had been drawn to it. I knew for sure that one day I would visit that fascinating country.

2022, the year I finally saw a wild koala!

When I was around 18 years old I started specifying my plans. I started watching youtube videos, reading travel blogs and making mental notes. There were a lot of questions I had to answer and things I had to "fix" before travelling alone to the other side of the world. What part of Australia did I want to visit? What time of the year is the best to travel? How long would you need to travel for? What form of transportation would I use? Do I need a credit card to pay? And which credit card has the cheapest currency exchange? What sim card for my phone do I need,to make calls on the other side of the wo---- STOP! So many questions. I would get overwhelmed, not knowing how and where to start and would stop planning. So many questions, so many information online and my own tendency to putt a lot of pressure on myself ("everything has to be perfect") made it almost impossible to fulfill my dream. That is where I would advise you to follow the nike slogan.. (no spon, I wish hahahah ;-)) "just do it". Just get started. Even if you convince yourself you will start on your travel plan for two minutes, you are likely to trick yourself into working on it for longer.. Every minute being one less minute away to fulfilling your dreams, one little step closer to your goals.

Small steps- Big goals

Another great example of "smaller steps" you can take, is booking a little trip just to gain confidence. For example I booked a little "test vacation" to Tenerife, with a surf training program. So again, "smaller" steps to ultimately come closer to the big goal.

And than after that, I was ready for that the "big goal". The frist solo trip was an amazing experience for me (and I bet it will be for everyone!). I learned so much about the world, different cultures and also myself. I met some amazing people and had some of the most mesmerising moments of my life. You can find a lot of articles about these experiences, the things I learned, the fun things I did and the wisdom I gained in this blog. .😊

Where to travel alone in your 20s?

From my experience, some of the best destinations for solo travelling are: Australia, Indonesia, Thailand, Portugal, Spain and Italy.

But what is a good destination for your (first) solo travel might not be the same as for another. So here is how to decide where to solo travel fist.

1. Somewhere a bit closer to home.

Because the first solo trip might be a bit scary, I would always choose a destination a bit closer to home. So at least you can feel a bit safer, knowing home is not too far away and you can (worst case scenario) easily go back home if solo travel is not what you expected.

2. Somewhere safe.

Obviously, go somewhere with a not too high crime rate, not too many cultural or politcal differences as your home country , at least for the frist trip. This requires a lot more planning and is probably even more out of your comfort zone than solo travel already is.

3. Somewhere with good public transport.

To be honest, just makes your travel life a bit easier!

4. A popular destination.

Might surprise you, because the word "touristy" is mostly used as a negative word. On the contrary, I think it is actually nice for your first trip to go somewhere touristic If a place is touristy it means it is 'designed for you!' Easy to get around, find information (cards, signs) and lots of things to see and do. Also way easier to meet other tourists aka (solo) travellers!

All of the above mentioned destinations fullfill the four requirements. Especially the East-Coast of Australia is a real backpackers oasis.

Isn't solo travel lonely?

Short answer: NO. You have plenty of opportunity to meet people. And need to realise that it is on you, if you want to meet people just make an effort and you will! It is super easy to meet people if you sleep in hostels. The simple conversation starters of "where are you from, where are you travelling, where have you been? What are some good things you recommend in this area?" (follow up on the last question with a : want to go together? And voilá, you might have made a friend!).

When travelling but not sleeping in hostels you can meet people via facebook groups, whatsapp groups (Dutchies in Australia, for my fellow Dutchies) or even just out & about! I always use the clasic: should I make a photo of you" as a way to get in touch and make some friends!

As said before, I am a very introverted person, so these things are a bit out of my comfort zone but I can do it. If I can do it... I'm sure you can too.

But, are there absolutely NO CONS of solo travel?? .....

Cons of solo travel

As much as I am a fan of solo travel, I am even more a really honest person. I can admit solo travel does have its downsides (for some) and it would not be fair if I would not mention them as well.

• Your loved once are not close. Although this is also a good learning experience, it might be hard sometimes not being able to fall back on a friend or family member. Especially more difficult to stay in touch if you are in different time zones.

• You might feel lonely sometimes.

  I experienced this especially when I was travelling very fast from place to place, staying 1 or 2 nights in each city. This was too short for me to really (want to) make friends, so it did feel lonely sometimes. It can also learn you to be more comfortable alone though, so I do see a positive as well!

• You do have to research, book and just fix a lot of stuff by yourself... But no worries for this one I have the perfect guide for travel planning.

  
  

Because the downsides do not live up to all the benefits of solo travel to me, I would recommend anyone to try it at least once in their life. What if it sucks? Well than at least you have tried and know it is not for you! But the other option is that it does not suck and you will make some of the best memories of your life, see cool places, meet amazing people and gain so much wisdom, life experience and self confidence!

Convinced that solo travel is for you?

Read here how to plan a trip. A step by step guide with everything you need to know about planning your first solo trip!