How To Travel On Your Own in Spain
Have you been staring at those travel websites, seeing locations that make you want to visit? Have you been dying to visit the streets of Barcelona or experience the festivals of Malaga? Have you just wanted to spend a week on the beaches of the Costa Del Sol, people watching all day and night?
But have you found someone to go with you?
If not, don’t let that stop you. You need to travel on your own, and it’s the most freeing way to experience the world. There shouldn’t be anything that stops you from taking a holiday by yourself. Here’s how to get over those fears and enjoy the solo trip.
You’re Never Really By Yourself
Most people who are thinking of taking a holiday by themselves assume that they’ll be completely lonely. They imagine days and nights where they meet no one, talk to no one, and spend entire days without talking.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
When you holiday by yourself, you’re immediately in this exclusive club that you never even knew existed. You get to become instant friends with all the other travellers that you meet along the way. You form instant bonds and quick connections with every other foreigner doing the exact same thing as you.
Many solo holiday-ers come back from their trips saying things like,
“I met an awesome bloke at a café, and we ended up travelling together for two months.”
“I met a great bunch of girls from Japan who were all by themselves, but having more fun travelling together.”
“Some of my closest friends are the friends I met in hostels, on beaches, queueing for tourist sites and even in ATM queues.”
You will be amazed at how you are never truly alone, and how everyone is interested in your story, your experience. They all want to hear the places you’ve visited, the villas you’ve stayed at, and the hidden gems that only get found through word of mouth.
Do Things In Your Own Time
There’s something to be said for travelling alone. When you take a solo holiday, you get the freedom to do things in your own time. Even if you’re just travelling with your close family, a trip to the beach requires at least 12 hours’ notice, planning, execution and careful timing.
When you’re on holiday on your own, you get to make the rules, decide the times and plan your own day. You can even change plans at the last minute if you need to. These are new rules now, and you only get to experience them if you’re by yourself.
Say you plan a day at the beaches. You happen to meet a group of travellers like you who are planning to visit some of the local sights together and meet up later for drinks at a local restaurant one of them has heard about. It all sounds incredibly fun.
Do you have to ask permission to go? Do you have to plead with someone to join you?
Of course not!
You’re on your own, so you get to make last-minute plans like that. That only happens if you’re taking a solo holiday without pressure from anyone else to do anything.
You Might Not Get To Do This Again
If you have the ability to travel on your own, you might not get a chance to do this again. Life changes so quickly. You could meet someone, maybe find a career, settle down with kids, and all of a sudden, you find that you’re unable to plan anything without a month’s advance notice on the calendar.
If you find that you’re contemplating taking a solo holiday, do it. It’s the one time of your life when you’re able to enjoy that solitude, and it’s something that you could take for granted. There would be nothing worse than regretting the one opportunity that you could have taken when you had the chance.
There’s something to be said for doing something on your own. You may not realise it right now, but when your life fills up and plans make it harder to travel, you’ll wish you had taken the trip. You know what they say:
“You don’t know what you have until it’s gone.”
Do It Your Way
Don’t take advice from anyone. Anyone, of course, excluding this article. 😉
This is your solo holiday. This is your trip. You are unique, and you like things your way. If you feel like calling home a bunch of times on the first day, do it. If you feel like grabbing some McDonald’s and watching a movie because you want something familiar, go for it. If you want to pack your straightener, make room for it.
Your trip should be about what you’re comfortable with and what you’d like to do. It’s all about you and what you’d like, so make the most of it.
And should you want to sing Frank Sinatra’s song, “My Way”, you go right ahead.
Taking a holiday in Spain by yourself is one of life’s greatest joys. The country does get a lot of attention as a family hotspot and a place to visit with friends. But we think it’s about time it was recognised as one of the great places to travel in all alone.
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