Is Travelling Solo a State of Mind?
- Solo traveller
- Feb 12, 2017
- 5 min read
In a nationwide survey of 2,000 people over the age of 60, the top regret was not travelling and seeing more of the world.
I don't suppose this revelation would be a massive surprise to most people, after all, travelling is an enjoyable and life enriching experience. Those that do not take the opportunity to do so earlier in life may indeed come to regret it later.
But too many people will either be too focused on their careers, families or simply do not have the resources to travel as much as they would like, and so it is put off until later in life. But upon retirement, or when spare time is more plentiful, there is no guarantees that this free time will be accompanied by the health and/or wealth required to travel.
I was very fortunate that an opportunity presented itself to me at a time when my responsibilities were minimal, that would allow me to accommodate my passion for travelling. But to do this at a time when those around me were working, I would have to completely rethink my philosophy on travelling solo...this was to be the start of a personal as well as geographical journey that would allow me to see so many truly wonderful places and hopefully ensure that I did not have those same regrets when I am older.
My 'Opportunity' came as a result of a voluntary redundancy situation and whether or not to accept it. It is never an easy decision to make and one that should not be taken lightly, but the knowledge that future compulsory redundancies where a distinct possibility going forward, and with no guarantees that the same package would be offered again at a later date, helped make my choice much easier for me.
Having made this decision, my first and over-riding thought was to completely clear my life and mind of all things work related. Just for a couple of months in order to relax and take stock, and only then to regather my thoughts and focus on the next step in my working career.
In the meantime I wanted to make the most of the situation and take the opportunity to do some travelling, I just need to find some willing accomplices!
My first forays were to the Greek Island of Kos with a friend, to Zurich & Basel (to try to meet up with and say farewell to former international work colleagues), and then to Washington D.C. to meet up with a former school friend that I had not seen in over 10 years.
But whilst all these trips were extremely enjoyable, they all involved the company of friends. They were all very comfortable and within my preconceived belief of what personal trips should be. I was not really embracing the opportunity to go out and explore new places by myself, restricting my options to when and where others were available. The biggest mental obstacle I had is that whilst I had been on many business trips by myself, which was a perfectly normal situation to me, it did not feel quite as normal to take personal trips by myself. Surely these were experiences that should be shared with family and/or friends? Although I loved travelling I never really had an interest in doing so on my own, I mean where was the fun in that?
The turning point for me was a trip to Moscow. I had a friend who lived in the city suburbs, who when I expressed an interest in visiting the city, had offered to join me and be my tour guide. So with what seemed like another excellent opportunity to take a trip in the company of a friend, I eagerly booked up a trip .
But closing in on the departure date, an unexpected quirk of fate resulted in me losing the services of my 'tour guide', and all of a sudden I was travelling on my own!
This may not have been the original plan, but any trepidation's I may have had were soon vanquished early in to the holiday.
Moscow is simply an extraordinary place, colourful and vibrant, full of fantastic buildings and monuments, with parks rich in the acoustics of happy families, and with history and culture in abundance. It is such an exciting and enjoyable City to immerse yourself in that I did not really have the time to reflect on the fact that I was actually on my own.
In fact I simply can’t recommend Moscow highly enough, (though I would like to see a change to the Russian travel visa process, which is extortionate in cost and out dated in procedure, especially when compared with the US ESTA for example).
The result of this first journey into solo travel, to this amazingly beautiful and vibrant city, was to immediately inspire me to extend my sabbatical from an intended 2-3 months to a period of 6 months. As soon as it was possible upon my return I had booked up five more trips from my European bucket list, all travelling solo, with the newly acquired knowledge that this can be an extremely enjoyable travel option.
And by the time I accepted that it was time to get back to the real world of full time employment, my initial period of 2-3 months of travelling, had (albeit interspersed with pieces of contract work), amazingly lasted for almost 3½ years!
My Moscow experience radically changed the way I perceived travelling solo. Of course it is better when you have someone to experience your trips with, to share the memories, but it should not be considered an obstacle if that is not possible.
Travelling is a wonderful experience, and especially if you take the time to research and plan ahead. If you travel with some understanding of what you want to see and do, of what you want to achieve and of how you can achieve it.
Also try and immerse yourself in the culture and mix with the local people this will not only further enhance your experience, but will also increase your understanding of where it is that you have been.
I only hope that I have other opportunities to do as much travelling again later in life, to see places on my Global bucket list. Whilst I can have no regrets that I did not visit places further afield this time around, as they were simply not financially viable for me, I just hope I get the chance of experiencing some of these places in the future, when I hope to have the health, wealth and opportunity to fulfil these more ambitious dreams. Dreams I can add to the wonderful memories I have already been lucky enough to have accumulated from my recent amazing adventures.
So, if you get the opportunity to travel you should do so. And if circumstances dictate that your only option is to do so by yourself, do not be put off by the inaccurate beliefs I once had that you need companionship to make personal travelling worthwhile and enjoyable.
Because when you are over 60, you do not want to be thinking back at missed opportunities as you complete a questionnaire stating that your biggest regret in life was not travelling more!
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