Travelling alone on your gap year or career break

The first thing to bare in mind if you fit in to this category is that, if you do decide to travel solo, you'll be amazed at just how many other people are travelling alone. Many gap year travellers prefer travelling alone as it gives them complete independence with both travel destination and activity. 

Travelling alone has many advantages. For a start, both before you go away and once you're ‘on the road', when you're travelling alone you're the only decision maker - and the master of your destiny! You can choose the exact itinerary you'd like before you leave, with no compromises. Once you're travelling alone you can stay in a place as little or as long as you like without having to worry about what anyone else wants to do.

Another advantage of travelling alone is that it's much easier to meet new people and make new friends. If you meet other people travelling alone you instantly have something in common with them. Also, people generally find you far easier to approach and start a conversation with if they see that you're travelling alone. If you're travelling as a couple or with a close friend this can, at times, make you a little lazy in striking up conversations with other people. You can easily become over-reliant on each other's company. Travelling alone gets you in the habit of chatting to fellow travellers. Even if you've only been travelling alone for a short length of time, you'll find there'll be plenty of opportunities to hook up with other travellers you meet along the way (if that's what you want to do). Backpacker hostels and cheaper hotels are other sure-fire places to meet other like-minded travellers.

If you're sold on the idea of travelling alone but are really keen to meet people then why not book an organised trip. We have plenty of programmes that give you the opportunity to travel with other gap year travellers. So you are likely to have made friends before you even get to your destination. This way you're guaranteed not to be travelling alone.

If you are travelling alone it is an excellent idea to get involved with a volunteer project. There are all kinds of volunteer projects available throughout the world - helping the environment, caring for wildlife or people-based charity projects. If you're travelling alone this is another great way to meet other travellers with whom you share a common interest. Working on a volunteer project can be an incredibly rewarding, and often life-changing, experience.

When you're booking onto a project or trip, ask a Real Gap adviser about our buddy list. Your email can be added to a list of other people taking part in the same programme at the same time. You'll be able to contact anyone on the list beforehand and it might mean you arrange to do the leg of a bus trip together, or explore a country after your project ends. Find out more about our buddy list here.

If you are planning on travelling alone it's important to think about the personal safety aspect. While you're no more likely to come to any harm than someone travelling as part of a group, it's always advisable if you're travelling alone to keep people at home updated and informed as to your current whereabouts and travel plans. It's very easy when you're backpacking to become so absorbed in your travels that you don't keep in touch with people as much as normal. The best way of doing this is by email from an Internet café, (which are really easy to find all over the world these days). It's cheap, easy and you can keep people updated with all your current news.


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