Over the last two months, I have spent much time travelling across the world to the southern hemisphere, ending up enjoying many new adventures in and around New Zealand.
During this trip, I have had the opportunity to spend plenty of time reflecting on various things: and one subject that came to mind was how much I actually enjoyed doing the travel bit on my own.
To me, there are significant benefits to actually travelling on your own, irrespective of whether it's a long haul flight, a lengthy coach journey or on a ferry out at sea.
First and foremost, I get to see things uninterupted when travelling by myself. I love geography and have a passion for seeing where I am, taking in the various views and scenery...without interruption!
And then researching the various places online afterwards to fill in the knowledge gaps.
Some of the journeys I have made recently have certainly been long ones: 13 hour long haul flights or 8 hour coach trips for example.
To me, its easier to do these on your own than with a companion where you have to potentially compromise on your comforts and enjoyment for so much of the travel time.
Other potentially selfish but attractive benefits are:
I can have a window seat rather than being a gentleman and giving it to a partner and then being stuck with a seat with no view for the whole journey!
I can take as many or as little photos as I want, when I want
I can fall asleep when I want
No need to engage in polite meaningless conversation to fill in time
I can listen to music or watch a video at any time
I stretch out and relax on those journeys where i get two seats to myself, making the long trips that bit more bearable
Stopping at those places that I like (and prefer) is easier and the time spent there is at my discretion rather than having to cut short a visit because we need to be at another place that I have little interest in...ooops!
This probably does sound a little selfish to outsiders and I accept that.
But for the majority of the places that I am visiting on these journies, this will be the only time that I will ever visit them. So I want to max out each visit from a personal viewpoint. It's not like I will be coming back to many of these places again in the short term future.
I also accept that there are disavantages to travelling alone, such as the lack of company.
However, I never really find that an issue.
On the many bus and coach journeys I did across the South Island of NZ, I loved having two seats to myself when going from place to place, enjoying the high up views from the coach and listening to the driver's commentry.
You then get the company from the various conversations that you have with your fellow passengers when you have rest breaks.
Plus you also get to meet other travellers at your overnight stops, whether its at hotels, hostels or motels.
To me, that's the perfect blend of solo traveling combined with company.
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