A couple of months ago, I made a trip to Barcelona, Spain and I decided that I was going to do the trip on my own.
Sometimes, when you’re single, you wait until you’re dating someone before you take a vacation away. But I got tired of waiting for “someone” to take a vacation away with, and instead I decided to take this chance on myself to see exactly what I’m made of.
Now there may be some people who would commend me for being brave or courageous for traveling alone, but I would like to clarify that I was not truly by myself. My parents were already in Barcelona on vacation, and we were fortunate to have our extended family offer all of us a place to stay for the night. But it was during the day that I chose to forego any company and explore the city on my own and it was the most rewarding experience I could have ever hoped for.
Traveling alone in another country where you don’t speak the native language can be daunting. It requires you to step out of your comfort zone and into a new world of foreign sights, sounds, and tastes. It completely disorients your senses. And yet it also allows you to truly focus on yourself, your surroundings, and your experiences.
People who have never traveled alone often describe their first solo trip as a rite of passage into adulthood, and I have to agree. Traveling alone gives you the chance to indulge yourself fully, and take in new surroundings unfiltered by the prejudices, tastes or preferences of a traveling companion. Your schedule is entirely yours to decide. And the lack of familiar people to interact with forces you to engage much more directly with your surroundings and focus on where you are rather than who you're with. You begin to process on a deeper level and you are more willing to try new things.
Don’t get me wrong, it can definitely get lonely and unsettling not to have anyone else around for backup. But being able to get yourself out of a jam or figure out where you are when you're lost can give you a new sense of confidence and faith in your own resourcefulness. It is an extremely satisfying feeling when you realize that the person you can always rely on is yourself. You learn to enjoy your own company and to look at your life with some distance and reflect on your goals and aspirations with fresh eyes. Exploring Barcelona gave me the chance to open my mind and look at the problems I was facing in new ways, to discover the beauty in simple pleasures, and to witness the awe-inspiring world around me.