Is Solo Travel Lonely?

Is solo travel Lonely? This is a massive question! But I can easily answer it with one word. No. I have been solo travelling on and off for the past five years and seldom have I felt lonely. I won’t lie to you there are points where I have felt lonely, and I have a guide you can read on dealing with loneliness while solo travelling to get you through, but honestly, solo travelling is an amazingly social experience.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, solo travel is just the act of boarding a plane on your own. It’s not going to be long before you find some great company. I have met some amazing people whilst solo travelling that I still stay in touch with and consider lifelong friends.

People presume that because you are “solo” travelling you will stay “solo” which just isn’t the case. In my opinion solo travel is exponentially more social than travelling as a group or pair. Purely for the reason that it opens up so many more opportunities to socialise with and meet new people. I have travelled with an ex-girlfriend in the past, and honestly, I met barely any new people compared to my solo travelling trips.

So, Should You Travel Solo? Will It Be Lonely?

Yes and no. Obviously, there is a way to go about things if you want to meet people whilst you are travelling solo. For a start, you should definitely be staying in hostels. The best place to make new friends is in hostels, you will find the majority of people in hostels are, like yourself, solo travellers looking for new people to talk to and explore the world with. I cannot stress how important it is to stay in hostels if you are travelling solo and looking to meet other like-minded travellers. If you have never stayed in a hostel you should read my full guide on staying in hostels. Also if like many other first time travellers you are worried about hostel safety I have a guide on that as well.

So, should you travel solo? Great question! My answer is yes, definitely. Solo travel is such an amazing, liberating experience that personally I believe everybody should have the pleasure of trying at least once in their lives. You will grow massively as a person and you will shock yourself with your personal development.

But is solo travel going to be lonely? As I said previously, there are points where you will feel lonely (most probably.) I wouldn’t have written an article on dealing with loneliness whilst solo travelling if there wasn’t. But also as I have said before these moments are few and far between, you are never going to be far from a new companionship. I know that it may seem like a huge risk to take in case you don’t make any friends. But I’m being completely honest, there is no chance of that happening. I am kind of introverted and there was rarely a moment on any of my solo travelling trips that I was alone. When there were points that I was alone, I just embraced it! You really have to be an optimist when you are travelling solo. If you start getting into a negative mindset, as with anything in life, chances are nothing good is going to happen. For a more in-depth insight on why you should travel solo read this guide.

Some Easy Ways To Avoid Being Lonely While Travelling Solo.

1. Stay in hostels! – I won’t go into too much depth here about why hostels are a great place to stay, I have plenty of great in-depth posts on that already. But they really are the best place to make new friends and have a really sociable solo travel experience.
2. Go on hostel group trips. – Hostels will more often than not lay on group activities and trips for guests to take part in, they can be walking tours, pub crawls or just games at the hostel. Get involved and you’ll meet a bunch of new people!
3. Use Couchsurfing – Couchsurfing is a really cool site that allows travellers and hosts to connect. You can use Couchsurfing to meet people in two ways, the first being the reason the site was created…to allow travellers to stay with local hosts free of charge. But also secondly to use the “hangout” feature which allows other travellers to connect and “hangout” with each other.
4. Ask locals for recommendations on what to do, eat, see, etc. – Even if you don’t really need recommendations! This is a great way to strike up a conversation with a local and who knows, you could have a new friend at the end of it.
5. Just be brave and talk to people! – You really need to push yourself while solo travelling to avoid being lonely. I speak more to the introverts here. Just strike up a conversation, a simple hello, how are you will suffice, or just ask a random question! It’s a great way to break the ice and get involved in a conversation.