20 Awesome things you will love as a Solo Female Traveler

We all have that moment when we just want to pack and leave to explore the world on our own. There is nothing stopping you from taking that road trip alone or booking that solo ticket to the other end of the world. Here are some amazing reasons why traveling solo is an awesome idea.

Know yourself better
Traveling alone gives you a lot of time to plunge into your thoughts and a get to know yourself better. In a society which is so verbal and distracting, travelling gives one the time to retrospect and validate our fleeting thoughts. So a little bit of solo traveling is good for our soul, brings a sense of clarity to our thoughts and a feeling of resurgence.

Feel empowered
Travelling alone in India, as a female, brings its own share of oppositions. Once you have dealt with parents, friends, loved ones asking you not to go alone and have finally started out on your own, you will feel empowered and will be taken aback by the gush of freedom which comes with travelling alone. It is almost symbolic in a society like ours, where every decision of a woman is influenced by someone else.  

Your itinerary is flexible
Travelling alone is awesome because you don’t have to have to have a plan and can go with the flow. You have the liberty of doing things your own way and at your own pace. Your Itinerary is flexible as you don’t have to go and see the museum if don’t want to and can sit an extra hour by the lake if that’s what you like. There is no one pushing you to reach the next destination and that is liberating.

Meeting new people.
When we travel in a group, we restrict ourselves to our friends only, and that way, we miss opportunities to know many interesting people. But while travelling alone, we are more accepting towards company of new people. We meet different people with different stories, stories which are waiting to be told. We only have to break the shield and god knows whom we meet! The girl drinking coffee next to you can be a snake charmer and know seven languages, for all you know.

No fellow travelers 
Travelling alone means no anxiety of dealing with a varied range of fellow travelers, each with different personality, opinions, budget, expectation from the trip, etc. It’s up to what you want to eat and no one will question your choice of hotel. Your choices will the final word of God, and there will no opposing opinions to consider and no compromises to be made. Going solo can save you a lot of travel drama.

Ticket for one is fun
As a solo traveler, you can go to watch a play, or go for dinner alone and not be frowned upon. Your experiences are your alone and there is a joy of not sharing that only a solo traveler will understand. You can be sloppy in your hotel room and no one will nag you. You can enjoy a quiet breakfast in the corner café and read while enjoying a long breakfasts. You can dress up and go for dinner alone and you don’t have to share your dessert too! Company is overrated!

Breaking stereotypes
A female solo traveler breaks many stereotypes at once. It challenges conformity and patriarchy and motivates many other such women to do the same. It proves to the society that traveling alone in a distant town all on our own is not a scary thought anymore and many women are already doing it. The more women start doing this, the less ‘strange’ it will be.

Building confidence
Once you have travelled alone, you know that it is not always a walk in the park. But every time you get mugged, you misplace your luggage or you are stuck somewhere with no money, you come out of it stronger and that builds a sense of confidence. You know you can do it again, and you will come out of it much more confident, smarter and aware of your surrounding the next time you travel.

A traveler is a story teller
Travelling alone can land you in interesting situations and while dealing with those, you create stories. The places you have been, the sights you have seen, the narrow escapes and breathtaking moments, they all make you a story teller. And you will never be in a party making small talks again. People love tales of faraway lands and this makes you intriguing.

Traveling changes you.
Traveling alone pushes you out of your comfort zone and makes you try new things. Whether it’s trying an exotic dish, learning a foreign language, or getting over your fear of water, it constantly challenges you. This in turn changes you and makes you a better version of yourself. It also teaches you about your own limitations, shortcomings etc. and teaches a lot about yourself.

Gain Perspective 
Travelling alone sensitizes you to the different societies, their thoughts and perspective and their way of life. This makes us be more flexible with our opinions and learn the same things with multiple perspectives. Approaching the same aspects with a fresh perspective can enlighten us and teach us something new.  

Alone but not lonely
People cannot comprehend how a solo female traveller can fun alone? Don’t you get bored? Are you not scared? Don’t you miss your boyfriend?  But you don’t need anyone to have fun. Enjoying your own company comes before anyone else. And don’t be guilty of having fun alone. Show them naysayers that club-hopping in a new city all alone can be fun too.

Let your imagination go
Traveling solo in a place no one knows you give you the opportunities to let you imagination take you where it will.  The possibilities are endless and the world is your oyster. You can live your dream for a while. Millionaire from Saudi Arabia?  Artist from Rome?  A professional masseuse?  A runaway bride? You can make your own stories and have fun.

Meeting women from different places. 
Travelling alone means you meet women of different places and get to know the lifestyle, the social boundaries and the problems faced by these women.  It is interesting how women are treated differently in different countries. Meeting and learning about the ways of such women can enlighten us as well as give us a sense of compassion.

Make real friends--or find your soulmate
Travelling on your own opens you up for many opportunities and you can find a friend in the most unlikely of places. Warm conversations over a cup of coffee with an interesting person can lead to a lifelong friendship or the love of your life. It’s all about meeting the right people, irrespective of where and how you meet them

You become smarter
Travelling alone as a female makes you intuitive and smarter as a person. You learn to take care of yourself and your belongings and have a heightened intuition about trusting someone you meet for the first time. One wrong judgment here or there only makes you more careful the next time. You are not naïve and are smart enough to take care of yourself.

Friends envy you
Your friends will listen to all your amazing stories and envy you as secretly they want to live your life.  All the places and stories make them wonder what is stopping them to go for one of these adventures. This motivates many other girls like you take the plunge and travel alone.

You see the bigger picture
Traveling makes you consider things in a bigger perspective. That bicker with your bitchy friend, that rude driver who took your parking spot, these are little things which are not worth your energy.  It makes you see everything in varied perspectives because all the places you have visited leave a mark on you and impacts your opinions.

 You feel one with the world.
Traveling alone leaves you feeling that you were brought into this world alone and you can survive alone if required. You reconnect with nature, people, and yourself and feel invincible as well as vulnerable. After such an experience, you feel more complete. That ‘self-discovery’ and ‘finding oneself’ noise is not just noise after all.

 You want to do it again!
The freedom of travelling alone is infectious and will leave you wanting to do it again and again. You want to see more places and take it all in on your own. After having done it once, you feel more positive about doing it multiple times. It’s the first plunge that matters the most