Traveling solo is scary, most even say it’s lonely. Leaving the comfort of friends and family and all things familiar with no idea of what’s waiting for you when you land in a different city or country is outright daunting.
Traveling solo is grueling because when something goes wrong, everything is up to you. It will leave you with the only option of keeping away from everything and everyone you know. You have to figure out everything that it will make you think that it might be easier if you had a friend around.
Traveling solo is not all sugar, spice, and everything nice because you will never really know the attitudes of other people. Some are mean and rude. Some will deliberately avoid you. Some might not even talk to you, worse, they won’t even help you when you’re clearly lost and disrupted. Some will take advantage of you, really.
It is hard to take your own photo when you travel solo. Some people will look at you with such disdain and if you’re anxious enough, it will be all the more gut-wrenching. It is even hard to eat alone. Some people will take you for granted and make you feel as if you never really existed.
But here’s to the people who are afraid to travel alone: Yes, traveling solo is scary but it is liberating because you have to completely rely on yourself.
You will have to know that when you didn’t need to learn anything more, all you need is to trust yourself and be patient. Traveling solo is not lonely because you will meet people — far too great people— from different races with far different stories.
Traveling solo is grueling, as every other travel (even with your friends and family) usually are but have a brave heart. Travel mishaps are inevitable and you just have to take a deep breath, carefully assess the situation, and try your hardest to know what’s causing your distress. If it comes to worse, talk to other people and ask for their help.
Yes, some people are mean and rude but most of the people you’ll meet are nice, trustworthy, and lovely. However, you must have a good sense of people’s hearts. Be nice so that they will not take advantage of you. Learn to talk to people, better yet, connect with the locals because most often than not, they are extraordinarily helpful and adorable. Most of them will help you solve your problem without expecting anything in return.
Talking with tourists. Phuket, Thailand 
Feeding the elephants with other tourists. Hat Yai, Thailand 
Playing with a random kid in Gigantes Island, Iloilo 
Locals offer free coffee + own production of muscavado 
In Mararison with kids going to their school on the mountain. Antique. 
Sail alone with the boys for an hour to Malalison Island 
A family of doctors “adopted” me for a day in El Nido, Palawan 
El Nido, Palawan 
Buying that random sea craft from kid in Bantayan Islands, Cebu 
Alone but never lonely and always safe in Samal Island, Davao
It is hard to take your own photos when you’re alone, no questions asked. But most of the people around you will offer to take yours, even if it sometimes –okay always– means you have to take their photos, too. Trust me, you will be more creative. If you are shy to ask other people for that favor, then be brave enough to do the complete opposite: offer to take their photos, and they will take yours. Problem solved.
It is hard to eat alone is a myth. It might be surprisingly stressful to eat alone in a restaurant but you will get used to it. After all, it is sometimes cool not to share your food to anyone else.
Singapore. March 2017. 
Singapore. August 2018.
And here’s to the people who are afraid to travel alone:
You are more than capable than you give yourself credit for. Convince yourself that it is okay to travel alone and the world is safe. You will have to chart your own course so traveling solo is not for the faint-hearted. Be brave or do not travel alone. Be your best self or do not go solo.
A quick guide:
- Have a careful plan in place. Always, I repeat, always do your research for safety purposes.
- Write that itinerary online, you can also print it for the contingency plan. Plan out where you want to go and how to get there. All you have to do is to stick to it, or not.
- Connect with the locals. Learning the local language is not necessary but knowing some basic phrases is recommended.
- Eat the place’s most recommended food and eat with your heart’s content.
- Remember that you are safe and you will never be alone.
Trust yourself in every decision you make because you know what they say — life has a funny way of taking you to places you never know existed.
Christopher Poindexter
I urge you: go find buildings and mountains and oceans to swallow you whole. They will save you, in a way nothing else can.
When I started sending a group message to my family telling them that I decided not to take my Civil Service exam and just go to Davao for the weekend, most of their reply was, “Who are you going with?” I told them I was going alone and I knew right there that they were scratching their heads with my impulsiveness.
My trip wasn’t even as courageous as it could have been—after all, I wasn’t literally by myself, or at least once I arrived in that isolated resort I booked few months before my flight to Davao.
Sometimes the best travel companion you can have is yourself, and I am a living proof of that scheme. Not that I hate company but giving yourself alone time, especially for an extended period, is a gift that you will eventually learn to relish, I’ve been told.
At 21, I was still not the woman I dreamt of when I was 19, but at least I am slowly getting there. Now at 22, I am continually empowering myself by unleashing the wonderful, irresistible, and maybe intelligent, smart, and witty person that I am which I have been neglecting in my everyday routine.
There is certain strength in being alone and life is so much better when you stop relying on others, except of course your parents, and start catching your dreams.
So the next day, I woke up early, ate at the canteen near the hotel, and hired a cab to Sta. Ana Wharf. I was impulsive but at least I did my research when I booked my flight to Davao. I was so determined to go to Dayang’s Beach resort located in Island Garden City of Samal.
The ride from the drop-off point to Dayang’s Beach Resort was rough because the road is still undeveloped but I wish it stays that way to preserve the isolated island feel of the place.
The water is so clear I wanted to go plunge directly but I calmed the inner kid in me. Good thing I already booked a cottage after I booked my flight and I was so glad I did not cancel my reservation.
Forgive me but I already forgot the name of the resort’s guard who made my stay there safe and educational. I stayed at his post until my cottage was ready and I found a father during my short stay in Samal Island.
It was a Sunday and I was alone because the other guests went home after their weekend chill, with only the guard as my companion. I did not know what I was up to but I had yet the most thrilling solo night in an island that made me realize that I can really be brave at times.
How to survive being alone: Talk a little too much; ask questions you do not know and ask questions you already know the answer; just nod even if you do not know what they are talking about because the locals talk in their native dialect most of the time; talk.. and just talk even if it means talking about world history and Hitler’s regime.
Neyziellewanders 