Cheap and Immersive Solo Traveling (Part I) - Why Solo?

Finding oneself young with great ambitions to travel round the world might sometimes get a bit frustrating. As students, we enjoy the greatest times of our freedom but it’s usually the money (in some cases guts) that’s missing in order to realize our wildest dreams.

Madakaripura Waterfall

As a random guy from a small Czech mining town, I was facing this precise dilemma when I was eighteen so I tried my best to find ways to achieve these dreams at the lowest possible costs while meeting as many locals as possible and doing something typical for the places where they live. As it was hard to find some people equally bold, I decided to start traveling solo. This was a decision that changed my outlook on life and goodness in people forever.

Mt. Bromo

Solo traveling itself enhances the whole thrill of traveling for me in ways I could never imagine. On the one hand, I realize that traveling in a group or with your partner is wonderful from the perspective that you can share those astounding memories together. On the other hand, there’s an issue that people tend to move their whole micro world of their culture and language to the places they go to as groups. From my experience, it was always easier to get in touch with locals on a much more personal level when I was traveling solo since the locals were always more curious and helpful. I could thus always immerse myself into the local culture. Everywhere I went, I could always experience boundless hospitality and friendliness. As a result, I could live through some amazing adventures I’d never dreamed were possible.

Let me describe two situations which always make me smile anytime I remember them. On my way through Indonesia, I met a young girl on a bus. I really needed to send a few translated documents so I asked her for sharing her internet connection via hotspot. We immediately stroke up a conversation where she basically invited me to a carnival happening in her hometown Jember. I’m a spontaneous guy so I postponed my whole Bali experience. I asked her whether she knows some place where my friend, who I previously met in Purwokerto, and I could stay overnight. She simply said, “It’s ok, feel free to stay at my place.” I could never imagine this happening in my country that somebody would offer a place to stay to a complete stranger, especially a girl to a guy, and to somebody else she’d never met. The unimaginable thing happened just shortly afterwards when I arrived in Jember for the carnival. The girl who invited us suddenly had to go on a business trip so she couldn’t host us. She simply said that she’d booked for both of us. I couldn’t believe what was really happening. When I wanted to pay for that booking, she got insulted and simply wished us a lovely stay.

Jember Carnival

Another incredible situation happened in the Philippines. When I arrived in Cebu, I started walking towards the place where my local friend lived since streets were completely blocked. I rejected about one hundred overcharged taxi offers on the way when suddenly a complete stranger on motorcycle stopped and the following conversation took place.

“Where are you heading, man?”
“To the BigFoot studios dude.”
“I’ll take you there, jump on. My name’s Manuel.”

A warm welcome

We then had a great chat while going to the place. Of course, I insulted him again by offering some money once we’d arrived. This is but a few of my many astonishing experiences of human kindness. I never stop wondering what’s behind all this. Goodness of certain people? A cultural thing? Luck? Curiosity in a solo traveler? Perhaps all these things together. Just like traveling in a group, solo traveling has its advantages and disadvantages. It’s probably important to experience right things at the right moment. I hope the illustration of these situations might give you a push towards giving it a shot at least once in your lifetime.

I’m now in China where I’m teaching English for at least half a year before I depart on another long-term adventure round the world. Meanwhile, you can expect more articles which will focus on specific tips, which will help you achieve cheap and immersive solo traveling around the world, as well as my travel journals with videos from my previous wanderlusts. Feel free to check out my social media where you can find photos and videos from my journeys.

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/quest4discovery
Instagram - http://www.thepicta.com/user/quest4discovery/3604748749
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKL37hh4ewus5JXU_lNtzOw

Pack light and have fun because it’s the life that we dream of that we create!

Quest4Discovery