Most of my travels that that are at least one week are me doing it solo. Partly it was I didn't have any friends who would and could go on a vacation for one or two weeks straight.
- To be fair, when I went to Europe, I stayed at my friend's place in London and we did get a chance to travel to Bamberg together with him and his friend. They brought and showed me around Bamberg, Nuremberg and Würzburg. I also visited friends at Glasgow and got a really good private tour of Paris from a mutual friend.
- And when I went to the States, I visited and occasionally stayed at friends'.
For shorter trips, which are for 3-4 nights, it's the opposite. I tend to travel with at least one other person because they are more people who are more open and available to travel for shorter trips.
I could spent days travelling across Europe or the US alone than a day at the islands alone. I'll label myself a loser for the latter. Hahaha. That's why I have yet to go to the islands on the west coast, like Perhentian or Redang. I have yet to find the company to go with.
But there was one time when I did go with another friend For 2-week trip back in 2015. A friend found out that I was wanting to go Istanbul and Cappadocia, so he wanted to come with. It was a different experience altogether.
Here some takeaways.
- The upsides of solo travel
- You can follow your own plan or itinerary - you decide where to stay, eat, visit or how long to stay in bed.
- You spend lesser time taking pictures. In a group, each person wants to take turns to take a set of pictures at one spot.
- You could cover more areas or places than when you're in a group.
- You just have to worry about your own taste buds or the kind of food that you want. I personally would want to try the local food. Some people would still look for Malaysian food when abroad. I don't mind Malaysian or Asian food for that matter (if we are outside of Asia), but only after severals days of going without.
- The upsides of travel in groups (of more than one person)
- You have other pictures other than selfies.
- You have people to talk to during your trip. Unless the people who you are with are more immersed in their phones or the social media 😝
- You can split the hotel bills since you can fit at least 2 people in a room
- Security-wise, you can watch out for each other. Alhamdulillah, I didn't get experience any problems. The main concern is always the pickpockets. I tried to place my cash and backup credit card in different places, but the problem with that is I tend to forget where I put them :D. When in Paris, I had to be aware of the friendship scam - don't stick out your arm to them. When in Granada, I had to watch out for the gypsy scam.
- Each person has different ideas of travel - like shopping, sight-seeing, eating, or just do nothing and taking it easy
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