The Valuable Lessons I've Learned from Traveling Solo

I could still vividly recall how my first solo flight felt like. I was anxious and excited all at the same time. I was nearly left by the airplane because I did not know that I had to check-in first before I could proceed to the boarding gate. They were announcing the "final call" for all the last remaining passengers to board the plane. There's a flight number ofcourse but all the damn time, I was just looking at the freakin' ticket confirmation number/code. That's how innocently dumb I was. lol! I begged on my knees and confessed to the crew in the check-in counter that it was my first time to travel by plane and thankfully, they accommodated me.

My mom was against it but then I've often resented what I'm being told to do. I'm not proud of it but I'm just being honest. I guess, my soul always has this unquenchable thirst for adventure, what lies beneath things and what may happen if I just keep doing things that scare me.

At that moment, I just had a small budget good for local travels. I mean, the Philippines has a lot of beautiful places which can surely be such a bliss to both domestic and international tourists. How I wish everyone will be given the chance to appreciate what our beautiful country has to offer.

I was quite a struggling yet motivated traveler. I did full and part time jobs to support myself. Sometimes I can be such an impulsive traveler. One day, I just woke up and decided to hop on the bus to Nueva Ecija (a beautiful province in the Philippines) even if I had to work on a 12-hour shift on the same day. I had to come to work at 7pm and I got home at 7:30pm so I went directly to the hospital to change into scrubs. That was one heck of an adrenaline rush. lol! Then on my shift, at around 4am the following day, I had a code blue. I was totally knocked out thereafter.

Minalungao National Park, Nueva Ecija, Philippines

When I got my passport for the first time, I was so thrilled to travel outside the country alone. But you know what? You'd always get to meet people along the way and you won't always feel alone. I searched for Travel Apps in the internet that could help me in various ways. Good thing I found out about Couchsurfing so I immediately downloaded it. When I traveled to Indonesia and Malaysia, I came to meet fellow Couchsurfers for the first time. By the way, my mom doesn't know about this until now so let's keep it a secret ok? I did not lie anyway. It just happened that I was not asked so I did not bother telling her. Peace y'all :) I was really scared but I did it anyway. I'd rather be scared doing it rather than regret not doing it at all. I feel like my yearning for exploring and seeing new places never stops. It was just toned down a little by the pandemic.

Museum Bank Indonesia, photo taken by a fellow Couchsurfer I met there

Some people would even tell me, "How I wish I could also travel like you." or "I don't have the money to travel." To be really honest, I'd like to oppose to the thought that traveling is always expensive. As a matter of fact, it is one of the things that we spend money on that can even make us richer. We are again lucky to have almost all the resources so that we can travel for less. It's just a matter of how you diligently search for and smartly use these resources. I've always been a believer of the overrated quote that "If there's a will, there's a way". Live life to the fullest. Whether you mess up or continue being close to perfect, people will always have something to say anyway.

So here are some of the valuable lessons I've learned from traveling alone:

1. In every nook and cranny of the globe, there's always kindness in human form.

I could not count the times when strangers have helped me along the way. I remember when my night trip from Bagan to Yangon was cancelled because the bus had some mechanical problem and my flight from Yangon to Thailand was at around lunch time the following day. One local saw how stressed I was so he asked me what the problem was and I told him my concern. He then spoke to a man at the bus terminal most probably asking for an alternative for my cancelled trip. He then approached me and told me that he asked his friend who happened to be the driver of the other bus to pass by Yangon for me since the end route was not heading to the same direction to Yangon and his friend felt sorry for me and told me to just hop on and he'll bring me to Yangon after all the passengers will alight from the bus. I thanked him almost unendingly. Also, I stayed with quite a number of Couchsurfers who were ofcourse strangers at first then eventually became my friends.

Bagan Myanmar, before my trip going back to Yangon got cancelled. I had the opportunity to have these Burmese kids apply Thanaka to my face since the locals use it as a natural sunblock. It is also considered to be anti-bacterial and anti-fungal.

2. Solo travel can strengthen your decision-making and problem-solving skills.

I'm not saying that I'm really good at decision-making. I could say that I just got better at it when I started traveling alone. It's just that when you are all alone, you have to think and assess things more quickly than when you are traveling with friends or with your family. You tend to become more keen as well on impending danger. You are your own planner and researcher and when problems arise, you are your own counselor. And most importantly, you are your own financer so you get to budget your travel expenses more efficiently.

3. Your language/communication skills will be greatly improved.

Even if you are an introvert, there'd come a time when you'll really get to have that urge to ask strangers questions, most especially trusted authorities along the way if you happen to get lost. You'll also learn how to say Hi, Thank you, Can you please help me, Excuse Me and Bye in different languages and I think that's cool, most especially if you notice that the locals get amused by how you speak to them using their own language. Another example is that you'd learn how to politely ask random strangers along the way to take a picture of you. To tell you honestly, one of the most meaningful conversations I had was with strangers I happened to meet along my journey. I also had the chance to go out and drink with a group of high school and college students and I was amazed by their beautiful minds.

Having fun with my playmates lol, Bomod-ok Falls, Sagada Benguet

4. It will transform you in a positive way.

This may sound exaggerated but it happened to me so it can also possibly happen to everyone. It gave such a huge, positive impact on my life. I felt like I crave for traveling solo because of how liberating the experience is. It can build your confidence and you get to trust yourself and instincts more. It can heal your mind, body and soul. It will make you love your own company more. It can be very uncomfortable in the beginning but it only gets more and more fun until you get hooked to it. It will make you bolder, stronger and more empowered because you get to discover how much you are capable of doing. I mean...things which you never thought or imagined you can do have you not traveled solo. It will make you view the world in a much greater perspective and helps you to appreciate the littlest of things. It will do so much goodness to your personal growth.

5. It screams "freedom".

When you travel alone, you are your own boss. You can immediately shift plans without taking into consideration what the others would feel or think about. You can choose to go to whatever destination you want to go to. You can leave a restaurant or cafe more easily without being too shy if you don't find something that you like to eat or drink from the menu than when you are with a bunch of friends. Am I not right? You can wake up late or very early, depending on what your body tells you to do. When I decided to go pack my things and take the bus to Cambodia (which was not originally my plan), I got to meet a Chinese woman who stayed with the same host I stayed with. I asked her why she travels alone (I guess, she still does until now) and she told me that all her life, it was only through traveling the world solo that gave her the most rewarding feeling of having ultimate freedom.

YOLO-ing with my fully satisfied tummy

With the challenges that we are facing now, it's also important to think of our safety first but amidst the negativities, may we not forget to also breathe and live life. May we not always dwell inside the jail of fear and regret the things we wish we should have or could have done. We all do not know what lies ahead of us, so to everyone who's reading this, may you live your best life.

credits: Adventure In You website