Quote: (11-05-2017 10:48 PM)Arcite Wrote:
I was worried the travel thing was going to come up. I actually have never left the contiguous lower 48 states in my life. The first thing that goes through my mind when people suggest travel is: who am I supposed to go with? Do people travel alone? If so, how? I don't even know where to start.
Solo travel is the best for many reasons. For one thing you get to set your own itinerary - you don't have to account for anyone when it comes to where to go, how long to spend there, or even when to eat or go to bed.
It's much easier to meet people when you're solo and you almost certainly will. You shouldn't feel aged out of hostels - as long as you're respectful no one will have a problem with you being there and people well older than you stay in places like this.
You'll learn a lot about yourself and how you maintain patience in unexpected or potentially stressful situations.
You shouldn't let (perceived) language barriers stop you from going where you want to go. It can be frustrating but you can almost always express what you want with gestures or if worse comes to worst carry a little reporter style notebook with you and draw pictures. Learn how to say "please", "thank you", "good morning", "good evening", "which way to the can" etc. in the language of wherever you're going and this along with a smile will get you pretty far.
If you're feeling hesitant to go, the best thing you can do is to make a detailed plan for your itinerary so you'll have some direction and won't feel overwhelmed about decision making. You can deviate from your plan whenever you want but it will be a start. Research the fuck out of your destination. Read Lonely Planet forums, check out Rick Steves books/public television shows, go to the travel section of your bookstore - I've used Barefoot, Moon, and Cicerone Press guides. Figure out the type of travel you want to do (European cities, mountain hiking, archaeological tours, scuba diving, sex with young Asian females) and find the resource that caters to that type. Read several guides, don't just buy them based on internet reviews - the quality within one company may vary a lot depending on the location and author.
If you have the means to travel internationally you're doing yourself a disservice if you don't do it.
I've done quite a bit of solo travel in Europe and Central/South America so PM me if you have any questions.