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Why My First Solo Travel Experience Was Even Better than I Expected
Going alone can be both empowering and enjoyable!
In my early twenties, after teaching English in Korea for 13 months, I set off on my first backpacking trip through a very small portion of Asia.
For about six weeks, I traveled through parts of South Korea, the DMZ (the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea), Macau, and Hong Kong.
Though it wasn’t necessarily your typical “backpacking” trip, in that I wasn’t literally living out of a backpack and making the road my home, it was still a very new and different experience for me.
As a young woman planning to travel alone for the most part, many people had questions for me. “Are you scared?” “How will you get around by yourself?” “What about the language barrier?” “Is it dangerous?”
While these were all questions I asked myself before setting off, I knew deep down that I would be okay on my own.
While it might not be easy, it was something I wanted and needed to do for myself. Had there been a friend willing and able to go with me, my experience would have been much different.
But looking back, I’m glad I went by myself. I took the time to appreciate each place I saw more because I was…
