Everyone has the urge to want to visit new places around the world. There are benefits to traveling with a group of friends and there are benefits to traveling alone. Both give you the opportunity to enjoy new places, meet new people, and learn about different cultures. So is it weird for a guy to travel alone?
No, it is not weird to travel alone if you are a guy or a girl. The key thing about traveling alone is that you will have no companion to fall back on if something goes wrong. The benefit of solo traveling is that you can do whatever you want at your own speed without having to compromise with your traveling companions.
In this post, we will go through whether it is weird for a guy to travel alone. So let’s get started!
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Is It Weird For A Guy To Travel Alone?
While it is not weird to travel alone regards whether it is a guy or a girl. There are a number of benefits to traveling alone as well as disadvantages or concerns to traveling alone.
These are the key benefits of traveling solo along with the main disadvantages.
Freedom To Do What You Want To Do
Firstly, since you are not traveling with a travel companion or with a group. Which gives you the freedom to do what you want to do. And you can be as flexible as you want. From deciding the time to go and do something and not having to find out when is the best time and interests that suit your travel partners.
You can make your agenda based on what you would like to do. And you do not have to compromise with someone who says, “I want to see or do”.
Chance To Meet New People
Traveling alone gives you a chance to meet new people that you would not meet otherwise. It forces you to step out of your comfort zone and develop the confidence to talk to strangers. Plus solo traveling can get lonely if you do not make friends.
While this develops and builds confidence to talk to new people but it will also improve your communication skills and can be hugely beneficial when you return home.
You Do Not Have Any Travel Companion If Something Goes Wrong
The downside of traveling alone is that if something goes wrong you don’t have someone to fall back to. For example, if your cash and credit cards get stolen you have no one to give you cash to help you get by while you fix the problem.
Or if you were in an accident, a travel companion comes in useful to contact family members and to provide support.
Avoid Unwanted Attention
When traveling alone you need to avoid drawing the attention of thieves and scammers. Other than being aware of local etiquette and customs, you should not wear anything flashy or expensive. And not using your mobile phone in public as there are expensive devices.
How to Plan Your Trip?
When traveling alone you need to do a little research along with some budgeting. Planning a trip can be fun and give you a sense of control that will help you to budget and have more fun.
Here are a few steps to plan your trip.
Choose The Place You Want To Visit
Firstly before you start, you need to decide where to go. This may seem like the easiest part of your planning but it is an important part. You need to ask yourself a few questions such as.
- Where do you want to visit and is it within budget?
- Will the destination be easier to plan yourself?
- Can you participate in hobbies or stuff that interest you?
Research Flights And Dates
You need to decide on the dates and destination. Once you have the dates decided on the next thing to do is use a flight compression site like Skyscanner to find the best and cheapest flights available.
You can also use hotel sites like booking.com to see what is available in the place you are traveling to. This helps to give you an idea of what is available and the cost.
Plan The Trip Budget
After you have completed your research you should be able to put together a reasonable budget. This is an important step as it will affect the rest of your trip. You need to factor in flights, hotels, meals, activities, and more.
Create Your Itinerary
With your budget and you know what to do, you should be able to create an itinerary. You can schedule which days you will do each activity and rest days. You can figure out if you need to make any reservations in advance.
Have A Plan that If Something Goes Wrong
Things can go wrong when traveling on your own. You need to plan in case something goes wrong. So have a plan in case your cash and credit cards get stolen. And have a copy of your passport online in the off chance you lose it.
And check in with family members regularly along with travel insurance.
USEFUL TRAVEL RESOURCES
Book Accommodation
Booking.com has a large range of properties from hotels, hostels, guesthouses, and resorts where you will find the best deals. Airbnb and Hostelworld also have a good range of places to stay at good prices.
Booking Flight
Skyscanner is a flight search comparison website that searches millions of flights all at once. Ultimately it is the best flight comparison website online at the moment.
Booking Transportation & Things To Do
Rome2rio and 12Go are useful to plan how to get anywhere by searching train, bus, car, and ferry routes. Especially useful in countries like Vietnam or Thailand. While Klook is great for exploring things to do in each place.
Travel Insurance
Travel insurance is cheap and more than likely you will never need to use it but you will have peace of mind if something does happen, you are covered in case of an emergency. World Nomads have great customer service and competitive prices.
Check out our resource page for the best companies to use when you travel.
Wrapping Up
Finally, it is not weird to travel alone. The key thing about traveling alone is that you will have no companion to fall back on if something goes wrong. The benefit of solo traveling is that you can do whatever you want at your own speed without having to compromise with your traveling companions.
And that’s it for now! I’d love to know if this guide on whether it is weird for a guy to travel alone has helped you. Let me know if you have any questions and let me know if there is more to add.