What Has Traveling Solo Meant for me?

“You must be brave!”

These are some of the words I am told regularly followed by an awed look.

My addiction to traveling began with my first adventure, where I quickly learned to love the world. It all started when I made travel plans with a group of classmates in graduate school for a month getaway in Italy and Egypt. Everyone flaked out of the plan as we got closer to the travel dates and I was forced to embark on the journey alone. So full disclosure, I became a solo traveler out of necessity, rather than by choice.

My desire to travel the world started after reading the book, Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace. If you haven’t read the book, it’s by the mountain climber, Greg Mortenson, who shares his incredible transition from life as a nurse to a mountain climber and humanitarian committed to reducing poverty and elevating the education of little girls in both Pakistan and Afghanistan. Mortenson, who attempted to climb K2, the world’s second-highest mountain, found himself fighting for his life in the middle of nowhere until one of the locals, Haji Ali, came to Mortenson’s rescue. The book’s title, Three Cups of Tea, was inspired by a saying Haji Ali shared with Mortenson: “The first time you share tea with a Balti, you are a stranger. The second time you take tea, you are an honored guest. The third time you share a cup of tea, you become family.”

Throughout my years of travel, I have embarked on many adventures including trekking in Southeast Asia, summitting Everest Base Camp, W circuit in Patagonia, Macchu Picchu, Rainbow Mountain in Peru, and Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. After visiting 70+ destinations in the world, I can assure you that the world is not only beautiful but also extremely safe.

As a pharmacist holding a promising career in the competitive and challenging environment in the Nation’s capital, I am often expected to perform with precision and to develop the best possible training for pharmacists across the country. However, through adventuring the world, I have learned that not everything in life warrants perfection and planning. The best trips I have made over the years were the ones that I did no planning for. For example, when I missed a bus or a train that was supposed to take me to my next destination, I have learned to quickly rearrange my plans to make the best out of my day instead of tormenting myself.

My favorite part about traveling the world is my interaction with locals. As Haji Ali stated, after multiple encounters with locals, I felt and was treated like family. With kind words and generosity, you are seldom a stranger to anyone. And you do not need to be fluent in any language to interact with locals. I still remember my barista in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. I would stop by every morning to have my delicious Vietnamese coffee and take 10-15 minutes to teach her a few English words.

So, here is my take on traveling solo:

Traveling solo does challenge you at times, but it is during those times that I found myself pausing to figure out how I could address the challenge at hand. In a way, traveling solo has allowed me to learn about the hidden skills I have.

You might make a local’s day with just a smile, a wave, and a few kind words in their language. And believe me, Google translate can come in handy. I remember meeting a few local elementary school students at the Taj Mahal, India, and taking selfies with them. Their teacher later reminded me that it was not the Taj Mahal that made the kids’ day, but their interaction with a tourist like myself.

At some point, you will need to ask for help from a local. I grew up in a culture where showing your vulnerability was taken as a sign of weakness. During my travels and when I found myself in extreme conditions, I became more comfortable showing my weakness and asking for help. After all, asking for help is the human in us. In Petra, Jordan, when my blood sugar dropped, I could not be too shy to ask for a snack from one of the local Bedouin.

You become a storyteller! The Scholar Ibn Battuta once said, traveling the world leaves you speechless, then it turns you into a storyteller. For every destination I have been to, there are countless stories to share.

My way is not the only way. If anything, through adventuring the world and seeing the practice of other cultures, you learn there are other ways of going about certain things of which we have become accustomed. Mark Twain said that traveling is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetation in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime. After so many destinations, you get a broader understanding of the world. Traveling has been a humbling experience for me since I also learned how to appreciate what I have and gained more respect for other’s ways of living, especially when visiting a developing country.

I am in charge! Over the years of traveling solo, I have become extremely comfortable making executive decisions on my own. With traveling solo, you not only oversee the decisions, but also the budget that comes with it. So, in a way, you learn how to become independent.

You are not alone! As Paulo Coelho stated in his all-time best-selling book, The Alchemist, when you put your heart into achieving something, the whole world conspires to help you. When I find myself wondering about how I can get to a destination in a country so foreign to me, I find the whole village wanting to assist. I would, however, take a bit of caution here. While in Morocco, for example, I was misled a few times, so you should trust your sources.

The truth hurts, and yes, you may get lonely traveling by yourself. If anyone tells you otherwise, they would be lying to you. I know we are all social species here and we thrive for social connections. However, with traveling solo, you learn how to become comfortable being alone and to enjoy time to yourself. Plus, with traveling solo, you will meet so many other travelers on the way and never forget the locals. I find when I am alone, I am forced to get out of my comfort zones, which makes me more comfortable talking to new people and trying new things. I have also learned when you are solo, locals are more willing to help than traveling in groups.

And finally, traveling solo nourishes the soul. As we get away from our comfort zone, where we are on autopilot doing the same thing every day, we completely switch our brains off from home and focus on urgent matters at hand in a place so new to us. I found this to rejuvenate my energy, both mentally and emotionally.