Thoughts on Traveling Alone

Now, if you think the idea of driving across US as a way of moving is not crazy enough, here is something even crazier: From the very beginning, I plan to take this 15-day trip alone, with my own car. People who heard about this mostly became worried and puzzled. "Why do you want to do this all by yourself?" is the general theme within different things I heard from people who I shared my plan with. Many friends suggested me to find some companion for the trip. I thought they have a valid point: I could become tired, sick or even injured during the trip, and there would be no help around and even no way to finish the rest of the trip. True, it is better to take on such a trip with someone else consider all the uncertainties involved. I had the same thoughts so I decided to try asking around.

However, it was easy to say, but hard to do. Although there were several labmates who were also moving from LA to Gainesville, when I asked around, it was obvious that no one was as crazy as me to take such a trip. Since I thought about traveling alone and preferred that from the beginning, I was not trying very hard on looking for someone else. I just settled on the fact that I had tried and could not find anyone, so I would go alone, and pretty much used that as an excuse to stop people bugging me about looking for a companion. After all, it was unlikely that someone else happened to have 15 days available for such a big trip, and we could work out a plan suitable for both of us.

My father once offered me that he comes to US and goes on the trip with me. It is very nice of him, indeed, and I appreciate that thought a lot. However, I also know that he was busy around that time, and 15 days would be too long for him. Plus, it would be an arduous work during these days, probably not really good for him. I wouldn't drive long distance for one day immediately after flying into a place with 9-hour time difference myself, let alone it is 15 days we are talking about. So eventually I turned down the offer and told him I can handle it myself.

Eventually, when I hit the road, the mere back-up plan I had was a verbal agreement with Shao-cheng, a senior groupmate who also moves. We agreed that if I become unable to finish the drive, I can call him to fly into the closest city and help me out. Although it does not sound save enough (what if I get stuck at somewhere with no close-by airport, or some thing happens that I need immediate help?) , I thought it was all I need to put the last bit of courage in me to take on the trip.

Although it seemed like a forced decision as no other option was available, now come back to think about the experience during the trip, perhaps I really like traveling alone and will do that more frequently in the future.

When it comes to traveling I am always very serious about one thing: If I travel with families or friends, I INSIST that the experience should be optimized for everyone in the party (of course, including myself). By that, I mean I want to see everyone enjoying the trip very much, and there is little we can do to make anyone in the party happier about the trip. Especially, if I am the one who arrange the trip, I will go for every effort to make sure this happens. The reasoning behind it is simple: For people have to trade off a lot for a trip together - arranging a suitable time for everyone, spending time and money for the trip, and making extra effort to finish the work before the trip or make up after the trip, etc. When I become aware that there are many explicit or hidden cost involved, I simply cannot stand a mediocre trip experience. I do not travel a lot, but when I travel I only want the best for myself and those who travel with me.

I know I start to sound like a paranoid. Well indeed I can be a paranoid for some things. For example, I made a packing list when I came to US for graduate study. That list, in retrospect, appears a bit crazy. I posted it under the title "Pariod's packing list" on a Taiwanese discussion forum for study aboard. If you read Chinese you can check the list out. If not, to get an idea about how crazy I got, the list includes small things like toilet paper (because you will go to toilet before you go to grocery stores), length measure (to get to know how large our apartment is before getting furniture), sewing kit, etc. and tips like you should separate all necessary items in luggages just in case one of them get lost ;-). Well that's a different story, let's go back to traveling.

Though I am serious about everyone having a good experience, it is a difficult objective to achieve. The fundamental problem is that people have different preferences, and hence it is difficult to satisfy everyone at the same time. Some prefer indoor activities to outdoor, some prefer a tight schedule and others prefer a more relaxing way, some are budget-minded, some like to taste new experience, and so on so forth. When I travel, I usually travel with families or close friends, who I know well enough to avoid conflicts of interests, and if a compromise has to be made, we can be aware of that and discuss beforehand.

Now I think I didn't try hard to get a companion for the trip, because I knew it was a trip full of uncertainties, and it would be difficult to plan for optimized experience for a group. So I would rather go by myself. I know what I want very well, and I could shape the trip to suit my own needs without worrying what my companions think. I just didn't want someone to sit with me for the length of 15 days seeing me enjoying but having a not-so-good time for him/herself. That's against my principle of traveling.

All those were the thoughts I had before this trip. Now after a long two weeks with myself, I think I am ready to really comment on the pros and cons of traveling alone. You can take a look, and see if it is for you:

Pros:

(1). To me, the most attracting point of traveling alone is you get to do whatever you want. It is all about yourself. You decide when to start, when to stop, where to go, and what you do. From time to time, it tricks you into the illusion that you OWN all the time in the universe. Doesn't that sound very good? I think this is especially for me. When I go on to a travel, I would go every distance to explore the most I can. If I can still walk I would not stop. If I don't have enough time to see interesting things, then skip meals. Skip some sleep as well if needed. Traveling is about getting some new experience and seeing new places for me. I always try very hard to do the most in the given time. I think "play hard" is the philosophy here. I know that not everyone likes it this way.

(2) To me, the second best thing of traveling alone is that you really get some time to yourself. You can think about questions and listen to your own voice - Don't get me wrong, I am not the type of person who speaks to the mirror at home - But you really get some unique experience having a dialogue within yourself when you travel alone. And sometimes, the conversation within can go very deep, such as into the value of life or planning for the future, etc. Those are the things I wouldn't think too much if I travel with companions.

(3) Traveling alone is especially good when the theme of the travel is about exploration and adventure. Because you spend less time talking and joking, the focus can be on other things around you. That way, you get to observe more than you would with other people around.

(4) It can increase the chance of meeting with some interesting people on the road.

Cons:

(1). The worst thing of traveling alone is that you don't get anyone to share the same memory with you. Yes I can make a blog like this, but the things in here is all myself. There is just no one there with you. The memory, albeit a very good one, is certainly a lonely piece.

(2). It would also be nice to have some help on the road from time to time. For example, while I am driving it may be good to have someone checking the map. It may be easier to have two people handle the luggages than just one. However, as I have been living alone for three years and battling this kind of issues day in and day out, I am OK with that. Just a bit of inconvenience from time to time, not a real big deal.

(3). Traveling alone is the least cost efficient way, of course.

(4). When you travel alone it also means you deal with all potential problems alone. And people do get worried about that.

This is just my two cents. What's you opinion on traveling alone?