Is travelling alone weird?

Juan8

Basically I'm in my early 20s and all I want to do in my life is to travel and see some of the world, or else immigrate completely, I hang around with a 4/5 close friends who to be honest are going no where and don't even want to travel never mind have the money for it or in one or 2 of their cases they just really can't leave, or at least immigrate, I've started to get the feeling of being so trapped in this country that I'm contemplating immigrating alone or just starting to visit random European cities by myself every couple of months by myself, is this weird/commonly done or should I just go for it? Thank you for your advice in advance

DoYouEvenLift

I've met more people travelling alone around Europe than groups of friends in hostels I've stayed in. In fact, the last hostel I stayed in with friends everyone else there was solo travelling and we seemed like the odd ones for being in a group. I don't understand the stigma around solo travelling amongst some Irish people, it screams of absolute ignorance and sheltered lives to be honest so you shouldn't care what anyone here thinks about you doing it because most likely they'll be the kind of people who only go to typical holiday spots such as Spain and also complain about there being too many Spanish people and people mostly speaking Spanish. You'll more than likely make some great friends and contacts from all kinds of backgrounds. A lot of them meet each other in hostels and continue doing their own thing and meet up again in new cities when their paths cross again, one guy from Australia I talked to in a hostel told me he'd become close friends with an American guy and that he helped him trying to get a job in America so he could move over there for a while.


Tl;dr - go for it!


Always stay in hostels unless you're looking to have a few quiet days break to yourself since meeting so many new people can tire you out a bit. Some great cities you should visit that are great for solo travellers from what I've heard from countless solo travellers are Krakow, Prague, Berlin, Budapest and Split. These could all be part of your first trip. Enjoy.

Juan8

DoYouEvenLift wrote: »

I've met more people travelling alone around Europe than groups of friends in hostels I've stayed in. In fact, the last hostel I stayed in with friends everyone else there was solo travelling and we seemed like the odd ones for being in a group. I don't understand the stigma around solo travelling amongst some Irish people, it screams of absolute ignorance and sheltered lives to be honest so you shouldn't care what anyone here thinks about you doing it because most likely they'll be the kind of people who only go to typical holiday spots such as Spain and also complain about there being too many Spanish people and people mostly speaking Spanish. You'll more than likely make some great friends and contacts from all kinds of backgrounds. A lot of them meet each other in hostels and continue doing their own thing and meet up again in new cities when their paths cross again, one guy from Australia I talked to in a hostel told me he'd become close friends with an American guy and that he helped him trying to get a job in America so he could move over there for a while.


Tl;dr - go for it!


Always stay in hostels unless you're looking to have a few quiet days break to yourself since meeting so many new people can tire you out a bit. Some great cities you should visit that are great for solo travellers from what I've heard from countless solo travellers are Krakow, Prague, Berlin, Budapest and Split. These could all be part of your first trip. Enjoy.

That's honestly the best thing you could have said to me mate and the above part explains my friends perfectly, If they were to go anywhere it'd be of 3/4 places that everyone else they know go to or that we've already been to, I'm going to look into a 10 day inter rail and just go for it and if I like it keep doing it, thanks for your advice mate, exactly what I wanted to read

DoYouEvenLift

Juan8 wrote: »

That's honestly the best thing you could have said to me mate and the above part explains my friends perfectly, If they were to go anywhere it'd be of 3/4 places that everyone else they know go to or that we've already been to, I'm going to look into a 10 day inter rail and just go for it and if I like it keep doing it, thanks for your advice mate, exactly what I wanted to read

Just make sure to include Budapest and Prague in your trip. Honestly just stick to the more Eastern parts of Europe, they're much cheaper and you'll meet much cooler people who know their stuff since most tourists blindly go to the typical tourist traps like Paris and Rome because they're the only European cities they know of since the hear of them in movies and school. Plus places like Budapest will allow you to go to parties you'll be amazed by, stay at one of the party hostels like Vitae or Grandio and make sure to go to the bath parties - they're basically pool parties with hundreds of people, if you go during Summer you'll get to go to the biggest one.

Juan8

DoYouEvenLift wrote: »

Just make sure to include Budapest and Prague in your trip. Honestly just stick to the more Eastern parts of Europe, they're much cheaper and you'll meet much cooler people who know their stuff since most tourists blindly go to the typical tourist traps like Paris and Rome because they're the only European cities they know of since the hear of them in movies and school. Plus places like Budapest will allow you to go to parties you'll be amazed by, stay at one of the party hostels like Vitae or Grandio and make sure to go to the bath parties - they're basically pool parties with hundreds of people, if you go during Summer you'll get to go to the biggest one.

I've just started to plan it out and have some small questions, but you seem to be the bloke to ask, I'll be sticking to the east anyway because as far as I see it I'll see the likes of Paris and Rome in my life eventually anyway (hopefully) I'm looking into a 10 day flexi pass and thinking to doing a route like Prague Vienna Bratislava Budapest, my questions are though when do the 10 days start? As in if I fly into Prague is that the beginning of my 10 day pass or does that not start until I get on my first train? Another is if I arrived into a city on the last day of my pass can I stay as long as I want once I'll be flying home from there? Other questions would be do you pay for single train tickets or is every train you get covered by the pass (I feel that ones a stupid question), how much would you need each day in these types of cities and how much would a nice hostel cost per night and do you book them in advance or just show up on the day? Thanks for your answers

DoYouEvenLift

Juan8 wrote: »

I've just started to plan it out and have some small questions, but you seem to be the bloke to ask, I'll be sticking to the east anyway because as far as I see it I'll see the likes of Paris and Rome in my life eventually anyway (hopefully) I'm looking into a 10 day flexi pass and thinking to doing a route like Prague Vienna Bratislava Budapest, my questions are though when do the 10 days start? As in if I fly into Prague is that the beginning of my 10 day pass or does that not start until I get on my first train? Another is if I arrived into a city on the last day of my pass can I stay as long as I want once I'll be flying home from there? Other questions would be do you pay for single train tickets or is every train you get covered by the pass (I feel that ones a stupid question), how much would you need each day in these types of cities and how much would a nice hostel cost per night and do you book them in advance or just show up on the day? Thanks for your answers

I've no idea about interrailing but it's probably easy to find out anything you want to know about it on the site(s) for it. Use whichever is cheapest, but it may be cheaper to just fly to the first city and then use buses from there because some of the buses over there are absolutely beautiful (TVs on the back of every seat, WiFi, plug sockets, toilet, tea & coffee etc.). If you budgeted €50-100 for each day you'd have more than enough and wouldn't spend that every single day unless you were eating at expensive restaurants and binge drinking every single night, especially since some cities are much cheaper than others e.g. a beer in Budapest can cost as little as €1, but you'll predrink for cheap at hostels anyway. A nice hostel could be ~€10-20 per night but stay in the dorms because they're the cheapest and best way to meet other people staying there. You should book hostels in advance because it's just best to have the actual travelling and accommodation sorted for peace of mind, the last thing you want to be doing when hungover and travelling to a new city is worrying about where you're going to be staying for the night.


Use hostel world to find reviews of the best hostels and also use their map as well as Google maps to find which hostels are in the best location, it's best to pay a little extra for a central hostel since otherwise you'd end up spending more on taxis/trams/metros getting in and out of the centre.


It'd be best if you closed this thread and opened a new one in the travel forum or asked a mod to move it since there are lots of posters on here with serious experience and advice to share. Europe's a perfect place to get a taste of travelling as well since a lot of cities are so well setup for transportation that it's hard to get lost and not find cool places to visit. Even if you did get lost you could just ask anyone on the street where a McDonald's is and go there to use free WiFi and go on Google maps (although soon enough you won't even have to do this since Google maps is gonna work offline, there's really no excuse to get lost anymore lol).

Juan8

DoYouEvenLift wrote: »

I've no idea about interrailing but it's probably easy to find out anything you want to know about it on the site(s) for it. Use whichever is cheapest, but it may be cheaper to just fly to the first city and then use buses from there because some of the buses over there are absolutely beautiful (TVs on the back of every seat, WiFi, plug sockets, toilet, tea & coffee etc.). If you budgeted €50-100 for each day you'd have more than enough and wouldn't spend that every single day unless you were eating at expensive restaurants and binge drinking every single night, especially since some cities are much cheaper than others e.g. a beer in Budapest can cost as little as €1, but you'll predrink for cheap at hostels anyway. A nice hostel could be ~€10-20 per night but stay in the dorms because they're the cheapest and best way to meet other people staying there. You should book hostels in advance because it's just best to have the actual travelling and accommodation sorted for peace of mind, the last thing you want to be doing when hungover and travelling to a new city is worrying about where you're going to be staying for the night.


Use hostel world to find reviews of the best hostels and also use their map as well as Google maps to find which hostels are in the best location, it's best to pay a little extra for a central hostel since otherwise you'd end up spending more on taxis/trams/metros getting in and out of the centre.


It'd be best if you closed this thread and opened a new one in the travel forum or asked a mod to move it since there are lots of posters on here with serious experience and advice to share. Europe's a perfect place to get a taste of travelling as well since a lot of cities are so well setup for transportation that it's hard to get lost and not find cool places to visit. Even if you did get lost you could just ask anyone on the street where a McDonald's is and go there to use free WiFi and go on Google maps (although soon enough you won't even have to do this since Google maps is gonna work offline, there's really no excuse to get lost anymore lol).

I'm going to try get booking tomorrow and see how it goes, I'll definatly be using the dorms anyway as that seems the best way to meet people/find other things to do, thanks for all your help, much appreciated

DoYouEvenLift

Juan8 wrote: »

I'm going to try get booking tomorrow and see how it goes, I'll definatly be using the dorms anyway as that seems the best way to meet people/find other things to do, thanks for all your help, much appreciated

Don't even bother telling family or friends you're booking and doing this until you've it all sorted and are going for absolute 100% sure. Some of them will only talk sh!t and call you mad and put down the idea which could make you feel bad and put you off but when you're on the trip and finish it you'll be glad you did it because it'll be a learning experience. Solo travelling is one of the biggest ways of leaving ones comfort zone because it's a complete shock to the system but that'll help you grow. You'll learn and realise you're able to be completely independent since you'll have organised and booked everything, paid for everything, actually gone out and did something completely out of the norm, forced yourself to rely solely on your social skills to meet new people and enjoy yourself. As soon as you get home you'll be itching to organise the next trip.


Don't get too caught up in taking photos or videos of everything, you're only there for a few days so take as much of it all in while you're there rather than experiencing everything through a screen - pretty much anything you take photos of can be found on the internet already anyway for down the line when you want to remember places you've been. Have fun!

Juan8

DoYouEvenLift wrote: »

Don't even bother telling family or friends you're booking and doing this until you've it all sorted and are going for absolute 100% sure. Some of them will only talk sh!t and call you mad and put down the idea which could make you feel bad and put you off but when you're on the trip and finish it you'll be glad you did it because it'll be a learning experience. Solo travelling is one of the biggest ways of leaving ones comfort zone because it's a complete shock to the system but that'll help you grow. You'll learn and realise you're able to be completely independent since you'll have organised and booked everything, paid for everything, actually gone out and did something completely out of the norm, forced yourself to rely solely on your social skills to meet new people and enjoy yourself. As soon as you get home you'll be itching to organise the next trip.


Don't get too caught up in taking photos or videos of everything, you're only there for a few days so take as much of it all in while you're there rather than experiencing everything through a screen - pretty much anything you take photos of can be found on the internet already anyway for down the line when you want to remember places you've been. Have fun!

Yeah I was just thinking there about what my mother would have to say, she's the dramatic type who'd think I'll be murdered in a dodgy hostel or something else that's ridiculous and would never happen, Think I'll just keep it quiet from everyone to be honest and just randomly disappear for 10/12 days haha and nah I'm not a photo/video kind of guy anyway a couple pictures of the main attractions in each city would do me,

FizzleSticks

This post has been deleted.

When I went travelling by myself (only around Spain, so not very interesting), at least 60%+ of the people I met while staying in hostels were travelling alone. Many people prefer it, actually. You get to do what you want, when you want without worrying about how someone else feels. I'll all for empathy, but when I'm travelling I want to experience things, so bothers me when I'm with people who don't.

Juan8

Yeah I'm defiantly going to go for it, can't wait around on people forever like, thanks for the advice lads

jopax

Hi op,

I went traveling alone in my early twenties and it was the best time I ever had.
I found that because you are on your own you will make more of an effort to interact with different people, whilst if you have someone with you its easier to not make an effort.
I definitely think you should go for it, it will be such an adventure and the time to do it is when your young with no responsibility.
I hope you go & have a fantastic time!

Rubberchikken

travelling on your own isn't weird. thousands of people do it all the time.
if you're interested in travel, then travel - there's no better way to see the world:)

your mother will worry. they do. just try to keep in touch when you're travelling. a txt daily (or every second day) will keep her mind at rest.
enjoy:)

Juan8

So I've mapped out my route and decided that I'm going to fly into Budapest and stay there 3 nights before taking my first train to Bratislava (3 nights) Vienna (3 nights) Ljubljana (3 nights) and then taking my final train to Zagreb (3 nights) where I will fly home from, I'm going to book and pay for my hostels in advance so I was just wondering if anyone would have an idea of how much cash I'd need for the 15 days in total? I'm thinking €1000 that I've heard from one or 2 will be plenty but just want some other opinions

DoYouEvenLift

I'd swap out Vienna with Prague, honestly. Prague's much more friendly to solo travellers and there are party hostels there and great pub crawls.

Est28

Hey OP,
I'm a bit older now but at around 19/20 I was in exactly the same position. My buddies were great for pints but trying to plan a trip or an event anywhere was a nightmare, they were just homebodies.

A few years on now but I've been all over. I ended up emiigrating myself a few years ago.

Anyway, I started off as you mentioned. Book some random flights, like literally watch for cheap flights ahead of time for a weekend and just go.

The whole inter-railing thing is great. I took another company which sort of scheduled a bus trip. Basically, I just had to show up on the morning for the bus and they'd take me off to the next city, the resst of it you do as you like in any city for a few days.

Anyway, yeah, long story short. Go for it.

It's not weird. You'll get the odd idiot who does nothing but scratch his arse making remarks that doing something alone is weird but look at what he's doing? Nothing!

Get up and go, live your life. To be honest I prefer it now if I'm actually going somewhere to do something specific or have things I want to see. Going with a group is a nightmare trying to get everyone to agree, get up and go, do the same things, eat at the same times.

I take a road trip up the Montreal the past 4 years now for the Formula 1 weekend. Twice I went alone, and twice I brought people. The trips alone were by far so much better. I don't even know why, but alone, you just meet people, or they talk to you. In a group they don't. And then while I had planned to go there specifically to see the F1 racing, the lads I brought just wanted to drink all night and sleep all day. Ruined the weekend for me. I love a pint but if I wanted that I'd have stayed home and drank in town with them. This weekend was specifically to go to an event which they had no interest in. If you just go yourself you can literally do anything you want any minute of the trip, change a plan, change your mind, sleep in, get up earlier, hop a bus/train somewhere, go to the shops, big or small there's a lot to be said for being able to make your own plans spur of the moment because in a new city things catch your eye all the time or plans change.

mosstin

Juan8 wrote: »

So I've mapped out my route and decided that I'm going to fly into Budapest and stay there 3 nights before taking my first train to Bratislava (3 nights) Vienna (3 nights) Ljubljana (3 nights) and then taking my final train to Zagreb (3 nights) where I will fly home from, I'm going to book and pay for my hostels in advance so I was just wondering if anyone would have an idea of how much cash I'd need for the 15 days in total? I'm thinking €1000 that I've heard from one or 2 will be plenty but just want some other opinions

3 nights in Vienna? Not sure I'd want that. I really wouldn't book every hostel in advance. Very often you can get to a city, meet a group of people and take a train to the next small town. By booking all of your hostels in advance your trip is rigidly set, leaving no time for the serendipity that all great trips have.
Enjoy your travels regardless. You'll love it.

Juan8

Yeah I'm going to swap Vienna to 2 nights and the reason I'm leaving Prague out is I know I'll end up on a holiday there eventually so I see it as a waste of a city in this trip if that makes sense, I'm just wondering what are the fees for trains because I've heard you have to pay reservations on most aswell as having your interrailing ticket? How much are these? Also do you book trains in advance or just go to the station on the day? This is my first time doing something like this so I'm utterly clueless ha

mosstin

Every question you could possibly think of about interrailing should be answered here. Man in Seat 61 is fantastic. If you're gonna start travelling, part of it is doing your own research - all part of the fun.

telecinesk

I did inter-railing way back in 1991, was an eye opener. Its good for the head, and also 10yrs later I ended up living in central europe. funny how stuff happens, and yes you make the oddest friends on the journey. totally do it. Also, y Vienna, hmm 2 days enough, prague is nice, but im close to it so some bias, but your route to budapest is fun, seat reservations can be got in station ,just show them your interrail card and pay for suppliment, even upgrade to first class, its not THAT expensive. Also it has aircon,and it gets hot here in summer.. Budapest can be 35c easily, watch out for your personal belongings only. That was a major thing, so y meet people and go with it. I love Croatia too, oh man, any excuse id go again.

Y , enjoy, trust me.. .) Id no regrets for sure.

Rachiee

Travelling is much better in your own you get to decide where you want to go what you want to see and you are more likely to talk to locals rather than stay insulated in your friend group. Do it

captainfrost

It actually depends on your destination, like paris now, from my experience going alone is not that adviceable, infact in 2's sometimes may not be enough.

Lucuma

a friend of mine once said to me 'life is too short to miss out on things because of fear of doing them alone' so true! **** it life is for living. loads of people travel alone nothing weird at all about it. have a ball!!!

Berserker

DoYouEvenLift wrote: »

I'd swap out Vienna with Prague, honestly. Prague's much more friendly to solo travellers and there are party hostels there and great pub crawls.

Can't agree with that. Vienna is an amazing city and it is a "must-visit" in European terms. OP, don't understand what all the fuss is about regarding travelling alone. Some of my best trips abroad have been solo trips.

thegreatgonzo

OP, are you booking everything in advance? You might find you want to stay longer in some places or meet people going to other places you might want to go with.
Also, I know this may not be possible for you with work etc, but can you go for longer? It sounds like you'd really like to. I've often traveled alone and if being alone is what's stopping you from taking a longer trip then take it from me you'll have much more fun if you have more time and can be more more flexible with your plans.

LegacyUser

Hi, I have travelled a couple of times on my own and it's great! I never had friends that wanted to travel with me, so I've been going it alone. Only trouble is I waited till my late twenties to start. Don't wait for anybody, just go!

gogeta7

No

Dave!

Not weird at all. Decide what kind of travel you want to do, make a plan (or don't), and go for it.

Are you going for the cultural side of things, to see historic buildings, etc.? Maybe make up a list of what you want to see. Then go.

Are you going just to clear your head, be alone with your thoughts, do some writing maybe? Nothing required – just go.

Are you going to meet new people, go partying, have some fun experiences? Probably do some research around which hostels are the best where you want to go. Then go!

Have fun

melissak

Absolutely not wired at all. It is an excellent way to go as it forces you to chat to strangers or be bored. I always by nature a shy person but a year spent travelling alone when i was 21 did me the world of good. Have fun

Juan8

Been some great advice in here, thanks to everyone, I'm off in August for 3 weeks hopefully it's great

Berserker

Juan8 wrote: »

Been some great advice in here, thanks to everyone, I'm off in August for 3 weeks hopefully it's great

Enjoy it. I'm sure you'll have a ball. I am sure that I speak for many on here when I say that I am not jealous of you, not in the slightest!!!!

Just a little Samba

I have travelled around the planet, usually alone and the freedom it gives you is amazing.

Travel alone, stay in a mix of hostels and couch surfing and do whatever the hell you want whenever you want.

Couch surfing is brilliant because as well as meeting lovely hosts there are social groups all over the world who do coffee meet ups, nights out, tours of cities, group adventure activities and so on.

It's my single favourite travel resource. When I go exploring as I am want to do I prefer to couch surfing even though I can afford to stay in hotels as often as I want.

I'll stay in a hotel maybe one night out of 10 as a little alone time but that's about it.