- So I usually tend to do a little bit of research
before I make these videos
to see what other people have to say about it,
to see if I agree with them
or I have something that I disagree with them.
This one I would have never thought of on my own,
and I don't know why,
but I just wouldn't have thought about it.
So, a lot of people said
Hey guys, my name is Shayla,
and I make these videos every Wednesday.
I started this channel in 2015, traveling full-time,
and now I'm home in Minnesota,
and I'm creating my life here, which is kind of fun.
But I wanted to go over some tips that I learned
from traveling full-time for four years.
I've done "8 Tips for Solo Travelers,"
I've done how to stay safe traveling solo,
I've done how to use Google Offline Maps,
or how to get the cheapest flights,
and all those links will be below.
Please subscribe. Please like.
So today I'm going to talk to you about
why solo travel might not be for you.
I freaking love solo travel.
But I'm an extrovert,
and I love making friends with everybody,
and so I understand that it might not be for everybody.
I feel like solo travel right now
is such, like a buzzy,
everyone's talking about, everyone's glamorizing it.
So I want to tell you the things that it can also be,
so that you can decide if it's going to be
the right move for you.
How many points do I have?
One, two three, four, five, six.
So here are my six tips
for why solo travel might not be for you.
Tip number one for why solo travel might not be for you,
you literally have to make
every single one of the decisions.
If you are like Miss Decisive and you know what you want,
and you know what you don't want,
and if that's not an issue for you, great.
It is definitely an issue for me.
I'm going to back up. I feel like a little head.
You have to make all the decisions.
Where are you going to go out to eat?
What are you going to do?
Should you get a SIM card or a pocket WiFi?
You have to plan everything, and I am not a planner.
So if I could travel with someone, and they were like,
"I planned the whole trip,
"and I know exactly what we're doing."
I'd be like, "Cool, what do I Venmo you?"
That's how I like to travel.
So to have to make all the decisions all the time
is kind of overwhelming.
On the flip side, it's amazing.
If you're overwhelmed by going out into the world
when you first arrive at a place,
me always, you don't have to.
There's not someone that's like,
"Come on, we're in Rome, let's go."
So I just get to stay in my hostel
forever.
So I can be a grump for the first night if I want to,
or if I want to stay out til three in the morning,
I can do that.
You get to make the decision.
Thing number two is, you're a little bit vulnerable,
because you're a little bit more approachable.
When you're in a group
or when you're traveling with someone,
you're approached less often.
More people are probably going to want to talk to you,
more people are probably going to feel more comfortable
just coming up and asking you something.
On this one, I just have to say,
you got to go with your gut.
If you feel weird about it, just be like, "no, thank you,"
or, I don't know, just avoid the conversation.
If you feel fine about it, carry on.
For me, again, this was kind of a pro,
because I was like, "This is amazing."
When I travel by myself, I get to meet everyone,
where when I travel even with my best friend,
and we're open to meeting a bunch of people,
nobody really talks to us, because
it's kind of harder to talk to two than it is to one.
You just have to know what you feel comfortable with.
Thing number three is you're alone.
That means that you probably won't
be going out at night and getting a drink,
or going out and get hammered,
or going out and staying out until 3:00 a.m.,
because no one is looking out for you.
Yeah, you'll probably make friends in the hostel,
and you'll probably meet people that you trust
or that you like, and that's what I usually do,
but it's a lot harder,
because you don't want to have more than one drink.
If you are going to have a drink,
I recommend drinking beer.
You know how much alcohol is in there,
and it's harder to get anything into it. Pro tip.
You just don't get to go out at night as much
when you're traveling by yourself,
just for safety reasons.
That's kind of a bummer, but that's definitely the truth.
Okay, thing number four.
I usually tend to do a little bit of research
before I make these videos
to see what other people have to say about it,
to see if I agree with them,
or I have something that I disagree with them.
This one, I would have never thought of on my own,
and I don't know why,
but I just wouldn't have thought about it.
A lot of people said you don't have someone
to take your picture.
When you're traveling by yourself,
you don't have anyone to take your picture.
The solutions are bring a tripod with a little remote thing,
and I've seen this a lot, and more and more,
where people set up a tripod
and take a picture of themselves.
I would feel strange about that.
I tend to ask strangers if they can take my picture,
or I have literally, I'm not alone that much,
even when I'm solo traveling, because I meet so many people.
So I usually have someone that will take my photo.
They said that when you ask strangers to take your photo,
they do a terrible job.
That is kind of true.
It is hard to get, but I also don't, I don't know.
My Instagram's not this perfectly curated Instagram.
Sometimes I show them, like, "This is the shot that I want."
I'll show them the picture, I'll be like,
"I want to be on this side, I want to see the mountain,
"and this is what I want," and just hope that they get it.
And if they don't, wait til they leave,
and ask someone else.
To me, it was never that big of a deal.
I always felt like there was someone around
to be able to take a photo.
If you are going to ask a stranger,
look for somebody who has a nice camera,
because typically those people know how to frame a photo.
Man, this video's full of good tips.
Thing number five is, when you're traveling by yourself,
you don't have people to share experiences with.
I never thought of this until I started
traveling with my boyfriend.
When I was solo, I just felt like,
it's just the most freeing and elating feeling
when you're on a bus by yourself, and you're like,
"I got myself here. I feel freaking amazing about this."
I don't know, I just get this feeling,
it's just like this euphoria for me, it's so cool.
You're just like, "I'm doing it, like this is it."
You look out the window, and you just see these new things,
and you're just soaking it up, and you get to just,
I don't know, you're just taking it all in.
But when you're with someone,
it's pretty cool to share those experiences.
And now my boyfriend and I have been
to a few different countries together, and we're like,
"Oh, remember that one time in New Zealand when we did this,
or when we went to Ireland, or when drove up into Canada,"
and we just get to talk about all these things,
and we have these shared memories, which is so cool.
I know that I've shared memories with
random people on Facebook that I'm still connected with,
but it's really cool to have those memories with someone.
I have a friend that I travel with,
we've been to nine countries together, or something.
For me, it's so cool to have those experiences with someone.
When you're traveling solo, you're not going to get that.
Thing number six is,
you don't ever have anyone to split the cost, right?
So maybe you get a hotel room, and you can split the cost.
Hostels are usually per person,
bus tickets, usually per person.
Meals, you can share meals.
I love sharing meals,
because I don't like eating full meals,
and it's half the cost.
There's a lot of things that, renting a car,
there's just a lot of things that come up
that if you had another person to split the cost with,
it would bring it way down.
You can rent Airbnbs and have 10 people in the Airbnb,
and then it costs super cheap,
and you're in a super dope giant house.
When you're traveling by yourself,
you're paying for all the things,
and you're not splitting any costs,
so that's kind of a benefit,
or that's kind of a bummer when you're traveling solo.
That wraps up my six tips for
why solo travel might not be for you.
You have to make all the decisions,
you're easily approachable a little bit vulnerable,
no one's looking out for you except for you,
it's a little bit harder taking pictures by yourself,
five, you don't have anyone to share experiences with,
and six, it costs a little bit more.
My bonus, the number one reason
why I like flying with someone, flying specifically,
is because when I go to the bathroom,
someone can watch my bags,
and I can just walk in with my purse,
and I don't have to walk in with all of my luggage.
There's just someone there looking out for you.
Same thing when you're out walking on the streets and stuff.
They'll be like, "Oh, you're backpack's unzipped,"
or, "Oh, you tucked your skirt into your underwear,"
or whatever.
There's just someone else that's looking out for you.
So you do have to be a lot more aware
when you're traveling by yourself.
I hope these were helpful.
If they were, please subscribe, please like,
and check out my other travel videos for hostels,
and traveling solo, and how to get cheap flights,
and all the good stuff.
Thank you so much for watching. Bye.
(energetic music)