Solo Travel – The adventure of following the call of freedom
What makes traveling alone so special? Every time I’ve been asked this, I haven’t had a good answer ready. Sure, I could have given one of the standard answers like, “solo travelers find themselves,” “they feel so incredibly independent,” or even “they don’t spend most of their time alone anyway because they meet people everywhere.” That may all be true in its own way, but it doesn’t really hit the mark for me.
With the book “Solo Travel” I try to find better answers by telling about everyday situations of traveling that were of particular relevance to me as a solo traveler. These are experiences that may not seem extraordinary at first glance. But they are also those that came absolutely unexpectedly, that challenged me, that touched me emotionally or made me think deeply. Experiences, after all, that you have alone.
In the book, I don’t want to give any smart advice about traveling alone. The only tip I can give from conviction is a very simple one: Just do it and don’t think about it! Plan as little as possible – the rest comes by itself.
With every trip, it took me a while to get used to being alone. But once I had discovered its secrets, I wanted to get involved again and again. When loneliness turns into something good, when boredom turns into something creative, when supposed risks turn into adventures, I realize at the latest how wonderful this state is.
Traveling is a very exciting business, especially when I’m on my own. There are constantly small and large challenges, and step by step I move out of my comfort zone, which I no longer even noticed in my normal everyday life. Once I have escaped this zone, I really succeed in following the paths of freedom. I automatically behave differently than I do at home, I am more patient, I approach things with curiosity, and I let myself be guided by my innermost desires. This is the ideal breeding ground for getting to know myself better and understanding my life.
Only when I am inwardly balanced and comfortable with myself do I finally begin to perceive the world around me with real intensity. I begin to sense a magic in it that can be found almost everywhere. Whether it’s listening to the stories of travel acquaintances, observing people from other cultures, experiencing an unexpected, perhaps bizarre situation, or feeling the magical effect of nature.
But what happens when I return to my familiar surroundings as a solo traveler? There is a great danger that I will quickly fall back into a rut that I didn’t miss on my trip. On the contrary, I firmly resolved that I would fight it. Trip by trip, I got better at changing my life at home to make it more meaningful.