Travel Tip 31
My top 3 reasons to travel solo.
I started traveling alone on a trip to France, Belgium, and the Netherlands in 2002. I’ve since traveled solo to over 30 countries and love it.
Solo travel is having a moment.
It’s not hard to find hundreds of blogs and articles about all the reasons people love solo travel. It’s definitely getting a lot of attention in the travel blog & content creator machine. Rather than rehash what everybody else is saying, here are my top three reasons that I enjoy solo travel.
1. I meet more people when I travel solo.
Rather than focus my attention on the person I’m traveling with, I put all that energy into making new friends. This is especially important to me when I want to get to know what it’s like for locals who live there. When I first started traveling, I wanted to practice the languages I’d been learning in the classroom. Traveling alone gave me lots of opportunities to practice my French and Spanish. Now it’s a way to get a more complete picture of how people live in the place I’m visiting.
2. It’s easy to change plans and be spontaneous.
With the right travel buddy, you can do this too, but I still find it’s easier to change plans last minute or make things up as I go when I’m alone. It’s also easier to join last-minute tours or get the last seat on a bus. A lot of times I can convince drivers or tour guides that they can squeeze in just one more.
I climbed the Mateo Glacier near Huaraz in Peru’s Cordillera Blanca. Since I was on a solo trip, it was just me and the guide.
3. There’s a sense of satisfaction from being able to do something on my own.
Whether I’m traveling somewhere considered mainstream, like Banff, Canada or somewhere farther off the beaten path like Chapada Diamantina in Brazil, I feel more accomplished when I manage to do something all by myself.
Have you traveled solo?
Leave me a comment below and tell me what you like or don’t like about traveling solo.
Solo travel requires a different level of safety than when you’re with somebody. Safety tips for solo travel will be in my next newsletter!
Somehow in my list below I forgot to add that a carriage ride around Lima’s Plaza de Armas is a fun activity for kids.
Article
14 Best things to do with kids in Lima
Editors rarely tell me when they publish an article that I’ve submitted to them. That’s why this article about Lima was published December 9 and I didn’t notice till this week! I haven’t traveled in Lima with kids, but I have enough friends in Cusco who take their kids to Lima that this was an easy one to write.
This is one of my favorite murals at the Lima’s Jorge Chavez International Airport.
Blogs
Lima’s best museum: Museo Larco
Bike and walking tours in Lima
If you’re coming to Peru, then you’re probably flying through Lima. This is a very centralized country and it’s hard to go anywhere without dealing with the Lima airport. If you love big cities, or if you’re coming to Peru from Europe or Asia and have to deal with jetlag, I suggest spending at least a day in Lima. (Coming up to Cusco’s altitude and dealing with jetlag at the same time can be more trouble than it’s worth).