An Introverted Traveler

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The Pros and Cons of Solo Traveling as an Introvert

If you haven't figured it out by now, I'm an introvert. And I'm so far on the introvert scale I don't know if there's even an ounce of extrovert in me! I'm painfully shy and awkward amongst friends and family, though I'm learning to get better. But what many don't understand is that after a long period of social interaction, I need to crawl into my introvert hole to rejuvenate and get ready for my next social interaction. So how do I travel if I need a break from people in order to function properly? Well being an introvert is not a problem. But there's this myth going around the solo travel is not meant for introverts. Well let's try to bust that myth. 

Eiffel Tower, Paris

Cons

You have to ask for directions alone.
I hate this one because of how shy I am. If I can, I'll pawn it off on someone else, but when you're by yourself you can't exactly do that. So then comes the awkward dance of trying to politely get someone's attention and hope they understand you. 

Hostels don't always allow you that introvert time.
Introvert time means being alone to rejuvenate. In hostels you're never really alone, which is great for some people. But at the end of tiring day, making conversation with strangers is like a workout for my brain. 

Meeting people is hard.
Introverts tend to be observers and are perfectly happy watching people go about their daily business. So jumping into someone's conversation doesn't always cross our minds. 

Stonehenge, Amesbury

Pros

Long periods alone won't phase you. While many people don't bother to travel alone because they're afraid of the boredom or the loneliness, us introverts have been practicing this for years! It seems pretty easy now to travel by myself, and fearing being alone for the sake of loneliness is not a fear that has crossed my mind. 


You're comfortable on your own. Is introverts don't always feel the need to fill the quiet void with people. There's no major hole so we don't mind being alone. We're in a state of peace when we travel alone, it's comfortable and kinda natural. 

You don't mind being the single one in a group. I don't mind taking group tours and being the only one. If people want to talk to me, that's fine, but if they don't I'm perfectly content keeping to myself. People think that us introverts shy away from all social interaction, that's not true. We just don't mind and like being alone sometimes. So in group settings, being alone while traveling is not that bad. 


Now I'm not about to say that introverts or extroverts travel solo better. I'm just here to bust some myths and let you know that us introverts are traveling the world and having a great time. The point is that we learn and react differently and there's no right way. So introverts of the world unite (individually) to travel the world.