If you Google "solo travel," the first three answers are pretty revealing. Is it weird to travel alone? Is solo travel boring? Does it get lonely? Unless you own a pair of harem pants or a YouTube channel called WaNdRlUsT , going off on your own for an extended period can be intimidating. Most people never try it. Like a dinner party without a companion, pull it off with aplomb and you'll feel like the protagonist of a stylish film. Fail it, and you'll spend the entire time thinking about something mildly embarrassing you said a decade ago.
These doubts plagued me in January of this year, when I decided to take a three-month sabbatical to travel alone in Ghana and Colombia. My contract had allowed me to take this leave for six years, but due to a lifelong devotion to indecision, I did nothing. I've always sought the excitement of far-flung destinations—Vietnam, India, Uganda—but often for only a fortnight and always with a companion who can drive, read maps, and make all the difficult decisions.
However, unless your circle of friends consists of dukes, Instagram influencers, and octogenarians, you'll wait a lifetime to waste 12 weeks on someone. After two years of happily living on my own, I'd become more confident in my own company, and—at the risk of sounding like Julia Roberts in Eat, Pray, Love—some positive changes in my personal life had invited me to disconnect from my friends, family, and work and exist with myself for a while. I felt like struggling, I suppose, embracing risk and novel situations.
I'm not alone in my newfound desire to go on a solo adventure. Tracey Nesbitt , editor of Solo Traveler , believes that lockdown has made people impatient. "The idea that the option to travel can be withdrawn at any moment makes travel decisions more important now," she says. "Some people are focusing on visiting destinations they've put off for years. Not having to stick to a schedule or wait for someone else are all aspects of solo travel."
Jenny Southan , who runs travel trend forecasting agency Globetrender , says the tone of solo travel has changed. "Solo travel has most often been associated with student backpackers, but there are changes that are giving it a new twist, especially when it comes to digital nomadism," she says.
I met a lot of lonely people traveling and working while I was away. I took my Mac because I thought I could write or watch Netflix on imaginary lonely nights, but I did neither and instead felt its weight in my backpack and its association with a life I was running away from. I dreamed of giving it to someone or throwing it into the sea.
After landing in Accra, Ghana's capital, I was so captivated by its intensity, friendliness, and dynamism that I had no desire to rest. I met some interesting people at my hostel with whom I was able to chat, but I quickly realized that I wanted to discover the country on my own. In a place like Ghana, you're never truly alone anyway.
After a few days, I was able to enjoy the hustle and bustle of Makola market, where I sat on the floor eating fufu, partied with young Ghanaians in rundown bars in the more western Osu district, watched boxing, and got robbed of £20 in the poor Jamestown area. Soon, I had about 15 Ghanaian phone numbers saved in my contacts, from Vogue fashion designers to a teenager I met on the street who insisted on calling himself Pressure Lord . I traveled the country on fantastically chaotic tro tro trips, always the only non-Ghanaian on these dilapidated minibuses filled to the brim with cargo ranging from entire families to bags of ginger. I spoke to as many people as I could and learned from taxi drivers and farmers about the difficulties of life in Ghana.
On the more isolated west coast, I went on day walks through beaches and villages, encountering only boys with machetes and fishermen. Confidence, spontaneity, and an obsessive need to taste every food I saw gave me the community and lessons I was looking for. If you meet a group of friendly masons on a village walk and they invite you to eat banku and drink gin with them, it's considered rude to refuse (many Ghanaians want to share their fantastic food culture, often with the wonderful phrase "You're invited").
If you're at a soccer game in Colombia and some heavily tattooed ultras take a shine to you and want to take you around their city on the back of their motorcycles, do it. One night in the southeastern city of Cali, some acquaintances at the hostel decided it was too dangerous to join a huge salsa street party. So I went alone, made some friends (via the Google Translate app) , and learned to salsa (very badly) until the early hours.
If you're not hoping to expose yourself to things you don't understand or aren't comfortable with, and instead connect and learn from the people who live where you're visiting, what are you looking for? If you're alone, a small dose of calculated risk is necessary, simply because you're not at home staring at Gmail . But that's the point.
I traveled to three areas of Colombia that the British government considers dangerous and advises against visiting. After doing some research, talking to locals, hostel owners, and other travelers, I found kindness, community, fun, and beauty in all of these "red zones." Although Ghana, and to a lesser extent, Colombia, are known for their welcoming people, in my experience, most people around the world are hardwired to be kind. A question I was often asked by travelers to Colombia was, "Is Ghana safe?" Which seems like a silly and rather prejudiced question. Why would it be less safe than Colombia? Unless it's in a war zone or under the control of terrorists, how can a country be generally safe or unsafe? What is your definition of safe?
Mr. Dwayne Fields is an explorer and TV presenter preparing his Disney+ show, The 7 Toughest Days on Earth . He echoes my thoughts on bonding while traveling solo. "If you were to believe the newspapers, you'd think everyone in this world is out to get you," he says. "Ninety-nine point nine—I can't say nine enough—percent of people are decent. They just want to get by, make a living, raise their kids. We all have so much in common. If you act suspiciously, you won't be well received. If you're warm and show some vulnerability, most people won't take advantage of it. Most of the violent things that happened to me happened in London."
That's not to say bad things don't happen when people travel alone. I had my phone and money stolen on my last day in Colombia—a minor incident, a valuable lesson, and something I could have avoided if I had been more careful. I met many happy solo female travelers during my trip, but I know some of them may have their own safety concerns. Southan had a few negative experiences when she went Interrailing at 19.
"In Paris, a group of young people tried to attack me. You have to learn how to get out of that kind of situation quickly. Women have to be especially smart when traveling solo. That said, it's so much easier to stay in touch with friends and family today. Back then, I had no cell phone, no Google Maps , no way to pay when my cash and traveler's checks were stolen, so there were some things that made solo travel safer."
I recommend companies like Much Better Adventures to solo travelers who want to go on trips with others. For added peace of mind, Pat Riddell , editor-in-chief of National Geographic Traveler , believes in doing your homework. "It's much, much easier than when I first started traveling in the 1990s," he says. "The resources available today are endless. If you choose your destination carefully, do your research, and stay vigilant, the risks are much lower."
Hostels are a great way to gain local insight and insider knowledge while traveling and make instant connections. They cost a fraction of the price of a hotel, yet their private rooms often offer the privacy and comfort you need.
Due to the nature of their inhabitants, all the world's hostels exist in a parallel pocket of space and time that doesn't adhere to the laws of Earthly physics. Conversations flow at an incredible pace, and they all go exactly like this: "Hey, how are you doing? How long have you been traveling? Where are you from?" (Germany. It's always Germany.) "Cool. I'm leaving for the jungle tomorrow. It takes two days to get there, and we're doing an eight-hour overnight trek. Want to join us? Great! By the way, what's your name?"
I've made vows with people I met in a hostel for 10 minutes that were more solemn than those I've made with my own family members. You'll be best friends with these people for five days, and despite the adrenaline-fueled promises and social media connections, you'll probably never see them again.
“You’re never alone for long,” Southan says. “When you stay in hostels, you’re always making friends. In many ways, it’s the most communal way to experience the world.” Fellow gringos are a lifeline, but they also provide a welcome dose of reality. There’s nothing like hanging out with a man who lives 15 minutes away from your parents to shatter the illusion that you’re doing something exotic. That’s a good thing. You’re not Mr. Anthony Bourdain . You’re not Mr. Bruce Chatwin . You’re a slightly lost man with some savings and a comically large backpack.
I met people traveling alone to recover from breakups, who had abandoned their apartments and jobs and were simply seeing where they landed, with no real plan. There were people who had just graduated from college and were making the most of their youth. And then there were scraggly, raspy men who, after drinking three beers for breakfast, were simply avoiding real life—and had been doing so since about 1974.
Southan notes that solo travel is open to everyone, regardless of age or motivation. “I think it’s interesting now to see how older generations are hitting the road alone, perhaps after a divorce, when the kids are away at college, retirement, or after a bereavement,” she says. “Often, solo travel is therapy, recovery, a rite of passage, or a kind of pilgrimage.”
I identify with the idea of therapy or catharsis. Rather predictably, my experience has made me a more confident, happier, and more understanding person; I know I shouldn't rely on anyone. "When you're alone, you have to be completely self-sufficient," says Fields . "You learn a lot more about yourself than if you were with other people. We need to be alone, and that's so hard to come by in the society we live in. In a large group, it becomes a tourist trip rather than an experience. Going solo feels unique because you're not witnessing what's happening to anyone else."
Illustration by Mr Frank Moth
Text Mr Tom M Ford
