Should I Travel Alone or With Friends?

You might not have decided yet whether to go on your travels alone or with friends. Time to get your thinking cap on and conjure up some reasons to fly solo or with your mates. Wait a sec, we’ve already done that for you…. read on for the pros of traveling on your own or with friends:

Why Should I Travel With My Friends?

• FUN – You’re in a foreign country, trying new foods, experiencing new cultures, and partying with your friends… what could be more fun??
• Sharing the experience  – It’s all well and good doing something amazing, but doing it with your mates makes it infinite times cooler.
• Reminiscing – Reminisce with your friends later down the road (hey, remember that time we…..insert awesome / disgusting / random memory here)
• Cheaper – It’s much cheaper to travel around in a group than on your own. For example, sharing a room, splitting food bills, cab bills (if you get them) etc.
• Safety – It’s always safer in numbers right?
• Confidence – You’re in a non English speaking country, you’ve ended up in the middle of nowhere, now what?! This may freak you out if you’re on your own but with your mates it’s just another awesome chapter of your adventures.

Why Should I Travel On My Own?

• Freedom – Live by your own rules. If you like a place, you stay there. If you don’t, move on.  You can do what you want, when you want which, when traveling with friends you might not always be able to do.  Companies such as Friendship Travel specialise in solo holidays and there are many options for solo travelers 
• Meet New People – Being on your own, doesn’t mean you’ll always be on your own unless you like the solitude. Most people will be more inclined to talk to people, and in most cases you will meet many interesting (or weird) new people along the way.
• Challenge – The challenge of going it alone, climbing a mountain, or simply getting from one place to another in a non English speaking country can be a very rewarding experience on your own.
• Immersion – Traveling solo makes it easier to immerse yourself within a culture, and you can often become unnoticed and part of the background seeing the locals doing what they do in their natural environment (unlike if they saw a group of backpackers coming along with $$$ signs in their eyes)
• Ease of Booking – Getting that bus, train or flight at the last minute?  If you’re in a group, chances are it may be difficult to get something but if you’re on your own you might just be able to squeeze on.

If you decide to go with friends, you might want to think about how many you will go with. When backpacking with friends you should keep the size small, so a maximum of four friends.  This makes it a lot easier when coming to decisions on where to go, you can still share rooms, where to eat, it’s cheaper and lots of fun. If you have too many people, it is hard to keep everyone happy all the time.

Personally speaking, I’d much rather share the experience with my close friends and I often find myself drawn towards this quote from Alexander Supertramp ‘Happiness is only real when shared’. If you want a bit of inspiration for backpacking with friends – read the book ‘Into the Wild’ (or watch the film), pretty deep guys.

Anyway, regardless of whether you travel with friends or go it alone you WILL have a fantastic time exploring this crazy world of ours.

Let us know your good and bad experiences of traveling solo or with friends below, we’d love to hear your thoughts…