ADVANTAGES VS. DISADVANTAGES OF TRAVELING ALONE

Since my flight, I was able to notice advantages and disadvantages of traveling by myself versus if I was traveling with a friend or my family.

Advantages

1. During the planning of the trip

You get to choose everything from A toZ. You’re able to choose which countries you want to visit, which cities you wanna go to, where you want to sleep, what you want to do, where you want to eat, what you want to eat, how to budget accordingly to your preferences. By traveling alone, you really get to plan YOUR trip, not oblige to people’s wishes, but really fully trip a traveling experience that you will remember as being yours, since you establish the budget and everything. For my trip to Spain, more specifically to Barcelona, I had planned the activities I wanted to do and the key things I wanted to visit. Arrived there I really planned day-by-day what I would do and where I would go depending on the weather mostly.

2. At the airport and on the plane

When you travel alone you only have to worry about yourself and no one else other than yourself. Not everyone is well organize, soil you're traveling with someone who isn't you have to make sure they brought everything necessary such as they money, they ID's, they passport and anything that will be needed for the trip. Also if that person isn't used to traveling, you will have to remind them of the "rules" to pass the border security such as the ones regarding containers with liquid, food, and other things that might be refused by the guard. Also, if the seats on the plane are not next to each other it might create a slight issue because you won't be able to enjoy the flight next to your family, your friends or your boyfriend/girlfriend. When you're trying to catch a connection flight, you have to make sure not to lose sight of the person or people are traveling with

3. On the trip and after the trip

When you travel alone you really get to go with your own flow and not have to follow anyone else's. You wake up and can do whatever you want to do on this day, either go out and visit, go to the beach, go downtown, or you rather stay in bed, it is all up to you and only you. Alone, you don't have to listen to anyone's request, you get to pick and choose what you want to do with your days. You can also choose what your budget of the day will be, if you want to spend a lot on food, on activities, on shopping or steer clear from spending unnecessarily. You go by and fully experience the life of the native of the country you visited, what I mean by that is, you orientate yourself, you take the metro, you take the bus, you take the tram, or you take the train, in short, you really live like a citizen of the country or more precisely the city. I didn't use Google Maps, I asked a person once to help me find my way when I felt like I was going the wrong way, otherwise I thought it was important for me to embrace being a Spanish girl for a week. If you visit a country that doesn't speak the same maternal language as you, it allows you to practice the said language as I did in Spain. My Spanish was a bit rustic, so I ad to dig through my brain and practice; I was happy when I was understood, and people complimented me on how much words I knew and how well I was able to communicate. :) Regarding after the trip, you get to treat everyone you care and love with little gifts you got them, and you get to bore them will your stories from your trip and anecdotes of things you saw, lived and experienced.

Disadvantages

1. During the planning of the trip

When you are planning a trip with other people you get to listen to what everyone has to suggest regarding the different destinations that will be visited. However, when you are alone you have to do everything yourself, from the decision of the countries and the cities to where you will sleep to what you will do. You don’t have the privilege of using people’s knowledge to your advantage. When you travel with someone who already knows the country or originates from there, they will have a good base on where to go and what to do, but when you plan alone you have to pick and choose and hope for the best. You have to search in books or on the internet the top things to visit in the city of country you will travel to. You can ask people in your entourage who have already visited where you plan on going and suggest them to recommend you places to go, things to do, restaurants to eat from. 

2. At the airport and on the plane

While waiting for you plane to board it can be long, when you are accompanied, the wait is less long and more bearable. You can enjoy a nice conversation with your travel buddies instead of draining your phone’s battery or your tablet’s battery by texting, being on social media or playing games. You can also talk about your trip and be excited together. On the plane you get to sit next to someone you know and enjoy the flight in itself. If you decide to take a little nap and by mistake you miss the flight attendant passing with the food, your partner will be able to order for you while you’re sleeping a bit. Something I didn’t have on my recent trip to Spain and France; on my flight from Montreal to Paris, I missed the food being served, so, what I had originally wished for was out of order and I had to eat what was left :/ oh well, too bad. Also, if you have connecting flights the wait is less of a pain when you are accompanied, you can walk around, visit the airport a bit, depending on where you are, you can shop a little, go grab a bite…so much to do!

3. On the trip and after the trip

What is very helpful with having a travel partner is that you have someone that you know by your side, someone you trust. it makes most of the things easier, that doesn't mean they are mostly better but easier to handle and by. First of all, you aren't constantly worried you will get your belongings stolen since whenever you have someone look over them. Then, you don't have worry so much about going out a bit later because you are accompanied, however, it doesn't mean you purposely can or should put yourself in potentially dangerous situations like wandering off super late at night in sketchy places. You get to set up a nice sleeping arrangement like booking a more or less cheap Airbnb, hotel or hostel and have someone to separate, when necessary, the cost of the place where you'll be sleeping. You don't have to eat solo like a lone wolf, you can grab a bite with someone else. One of the most important points is taking pictures, when you're alone you don't have the chance of having a personal photographer, and so you have to bear with taking selfies, asking strangers to take pictures for you, or not taking any at all. In crowded places, it is a bit more of a hassle to use a tripod and use a timer because you risk getting your things stolen, however if it's a calmer area you can take the pictures yourself and make it seem less of a selfie. Regarding after the trip, you have memories of your travel experience with another person, you have anecdotes, inside jokes, you have a stronger bond since you built something different since you stayed for a certain amount of time with the same person or people. In a relationship, it shows you how the person really is, if you could eventually live with that person, the little habits they have, if they have the same interest when traveling as you, per example if they rather visit, go out, walk, discover instead of vegging, partying and not doing much. With my family, it'll be the usual, always having something planned, not having much latitude or freedom to do your own things. And with friends, normally they are people you get along with, people with the same interests and will wanna follow each other's suggestions and planning.