Do You Fear Traveling Alone?

Have you ever thought of planning a trip and then canceled just because you did not want to travel alone? Maybe you were scared of being mugged, getting lost, eating alone or other reasons. Well, that was me some time ago.  I had always avoided solo journeys but a time came when I had to go to Finland for some personal business. It was around April 2016 and I could not find a friend to accompany me as the journey was abrupt. I only had a few days to prepare and I was both excited and scared at the same time. Despite the fears, I decided that I had to do this no matter how it turned out.

I booked a flight from Gothenburg to Helsinki where I stayed for 3 days and went on to explore the city. To connect to the other towns, I would use trains. The train tickets were a bit expensive but it was surely an adventure.

Helsinki city

Helsinki Cathedral

To go back to Sweden, I purchased a ticket for a cruise from Turku harbor to Stockholm. The cruise was one of the best decisions I ever made.  I met some new friends and had the best time.

on a train from Kokkola to Turku (very tired)

My trip was actually very rewarding and  I got more out of it than I thought. This was something out of my comfort zone and doing it made me have more confidence and learn other things about myself I did not know. I now do a lot of solo traveling which I enjoy.

What worried me before the trip was that I had never been responsible for planning a trip by myself and I had been so scared of so many things like booking the wrong flight, missing connections, getting lost, being lonely, losing my stuff or something really bad happening to me with no one to help me.

Beautiful Stockholm Sunrise view from the Viking grace cruise

I learned that traveling alone is just as good as having a companion but in this case, you get more time to take care of yourself, you open yourself up to more challenges and you end up being stronger in a way. If you have worries about traveling alone, I promise you it’s not that bad. You just have to be well prepared, do a proper research on where you are planning to travel because not all places are the same and cultures differ, be confident and if you are confused about something just ask for help from people like the police or help desks at the stations and its all going to be ok. Let me know how it goes for you.