Travel Tips

The disadvantages of travelling alone

There are many travellers who love travelling alone. There have been so many solo travellers who have documented their experiences and it is for a lot of people on their bucket list to travel alone at least once. Though there are many advantages of traveling alone such as an immersed travel experience where you truly understand the people of the place you are visiting, their way of life and the culture. However, there are disadvantages and quite a few cons to travelling alone as well. Here are a few common ones.

 

  • Dining out- Very often, especially if you are travelling in the east restaurants and diners provide food for only a group of three or more. The portion of food that is available for any item on the menu is always for a group of people or a family. You will at the least require another person to join. Though there are places in the west such as cafes and other local eateries where you can get food that is in the portion for a single individual, in fine diners you may face a similar portion problem.

  • Another very underrated comfort that you will obviously not have the fortune of, while travelling alone is someone to watch your bags. Though most solo travellers travel around with a bag pack there are certain cases especially when you are going to be travelling for a long time that you may need to carry an extra bag. Not having anyone with you will obviously require you to carry your luggage everywhere you go and also will require you to maybe trust a stranger to keep watch for a while which is very risky.

 

  • Probably the most important and evident disadvantage of travelling alone is undoubtedly safety. When you have strength in terms of number of members it obviously puts you in a better position when it comes to any kind of trouble or problems you might face while travelling. Travelling during the night for a woman or man is a lot more comfortable if done as a group. You are less likely to be mugged or attacked in any unknown place if you are traveling in a group than traveling alone.

  • You may lack a differing or opposing perspective if you are traveling alone. Yes, you will meet a lot of local people while traveling but unless you make friends with other tourists who have come to visit the place you will have only one outsider’s opinion to that place. Which is your own opinion. Travelling with a group of people gives you an understanding of how other people are viewing or understanding the place they are visiting for the first time too.