Five Reasons To Travel Alone On Your Gap Year
Heading out travelling for the first time can be daunting. But where you might be tempted to tag along with friends safe in the knowledge you'll always have someone to talk to, think again. Travelling solo can be a whole lot of fun. Here are five reasons why you should:
Learn About Yourself
Heading out on your own gives you plenty of opportunity to learn more about yourself. Booking into hostels, arranging flights and heading out sightseeing all on your own, helps you grow and mature as a person. Being reliant on yourself teaches independence, you'll probably find it difficult after a long period by yourself on your gap year to go back to living or travelling closely alongside people again!
Make New Friends
Having no ties keeping you in places or keeping you to a certain schedule, makes travel and the opportunity for meeting new people much more fluid and open to chance. You can pick and choose who you want to travel with and how long for. You don't have to feel obliged to travel with someone on a whole leg like you would if you went with someone from home. You can meet people taking different routes too, which can put an interesting spin on your travels.
Become More Sociable
Travelling solo will inevitably bring periods of loneliness. It needn't be all negative however. Loneliness can mean that you make more of an effort to make new ties, be more sociable and invite more people into your world. You'll probably find yourself becoming much more open and extroverted on your gap year [http://www.gapdaemon.com/]. A skill you can certainly take with you back home!
Choice
Ever got tired with going to the same bars or restaurants night after night just because the person you're with loves them? If you travel alone you can make your own choices, broadening your horizons while doing so. The same goes for travel plans and choosing how best to spend your day. How often have you found yourself tagging along on someone else's plan even though you don't really feel it?
Be Whoever You Want To Be
One of the benefits of travelling alone is that no one knows you. Forget about your past, what people think of you back home or anything that people expect of you. Setting out, just you and your backpack, means you can be the person you want to be. Fancy yourself as a joker? Act how you want; travelling alone on a gap year [http://www.gapdaemon.com/] gives you that freedom. There's no one to remind you of who you are or where you're from!
Learn About Yourself
Heading out on your own gives you plenty of opportunity to learn more about yourself. Booking into hostels, arranging flights and heading out sightseeing all on your own, helps you grow and mature as a person. Being reliant on yourself teaches independence, you'll probably find it difficult after a long period by yourself on your gap year to go back to living or travelling closely alongside people again!
Make New Friends
Having no ties keeping you in places or keeping you to a certain schedule, makes travel and the opportunity for meeting new people much more fluid and open to chance. You can pick and choose who you want to travel with and how long for. You don't have to feel obliged to travel with someone on a whole leg like you would if you went with someone from home. You can meet people taking different routes too, which can put an interesting spin on your travels.
Become More Sociable
Travelling solo will inevitably bring periods of loneliness. It needn't be all negative however. Loneliness can mean that you make more of an effort to make new ties, be more sociable and invite more people into your world. You'll probably find yourself becoming much more open and extroverted on your gap year [http://www.gapdaemon.com/]. A skill you can certainly take with you back home!
Choice
Ever got tired with going to the same bars or restaurants night after night just because the person you're with loves them? If you travel alone you can make your own choices, broadening your horizons while doing so. The same goes for travel plans and choosing how best to spend your day. How often have you found yourself tagging along on someone else's plan even though you don't really feel it?
Be Whoever You Want To Be
One of the benefits of travelling alone is that no one knows you. Forget about your past, what people think of you back home or anything that people expect of you. Setting out, just you and your backpack, means you can be the person you want to be. Fancy yourself as a joker? Act how you want; travelling alone on a gap year [http://www.gapdaemon.com/] gives you that freedom. There's no one to remind you of who you are or where you're from!
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