Both I have experienced on several occasions and it’s all about preference and what you want out of your trip. You might even like both. Some trips you may want to be solo and some trips you may want to be with other people.

Do you want to meet people? That is one of the first questions you want to ask yourself. If so, then traveling solo may be best. When you hear the phrase, traveling solo, it just sounds lonely, but trust me, it isn’t! You meet so many different people all the time. You might find yourself alone for some moments, but for the most part, you will be surrounded with people from all over the world with tons of things to talk about. With this said, when you travel with your girlfriend, best friend, brother, whoever, you are traveling with, you meet people as well. It just wont be quite as often. When you are with people you know, generally you stick to them. If you are by yourself, naturally you seek out more people. It doesn’t matter if you are an extrovert or an introvert, traveling alone just puts you in situations where you talk to more people.

If meeting people isn’t your priority and you’re the type of person who genuinely enjoys sharing a lot with your significant other, your best friend or whoever it may be, then obviously traveling with someone may be better for you. With this said though, traveling even with the closest of people can drive each other away. If you two have separate goals, then the trip might end in disaster! Make sure you have a talk with the person or people you are about to travel with to make sure you guys are on the same page. As an example, lets say you are taking a trip to Europe. One person loves history and wants to visit all the museums and the other person loves the wilderness and wants to go hiking all the time. Even if you are the best of friends, this just isn’t going to work out.



When you travel with people, you have to make sacrifices. This is something you will have to do or learn how to do. If you are not willing to do this, then don’t travel with people. It’s only going to upset you and your traveling partner. This doesn’t necessarily mean you are selfish either. Some people just know how they want to travel. They want to travel at their own pace, their own time and do the things they want to do, and that’s OK. This is your vacation to yourself.

Some of you might have a huge desire to travel and are too skiddish/afraid to go on your own, and you may only want someone else to go with you just so you are not alone. Don’t make this mistake! You are a strong individual and you do not need the comfort of someone tagging along with you just to feel safe. Plus that’s unfair for the other person as well. Plan ahead, be smart, and you can travel all by yourself, have a great time and still be safe!

Millions of people are traveling all over the world right now. With however you want to travel; solo, with one other person, a group of friends, just make sure the route you pick is what you want before you go. If you absolutely hate doing things by yourself then maybe don’t choose going somewhere solo. If you are the type of person that always has to be on the move, then don’t go with a group of people. Generally the more people there are in a group, the slower everyone moves.

With knowing exactly what you want out of your trip, you will better be able to decide whether or not you want to go solo or go with other people.

I bought this book for myself when I decided to travel solo. It helped me a lot! If you are a guy reading this, there are plenty of books out there for you as well!!!

If you enjoyed this article, you may enjoy this one as well on the difference between backpacking internationally and backpacking in the wilderness.

Hope this helps on your next adventure! Thank you for reading.

Sincerely,

Shelly/Livingonthedirt