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What you can gain from travelling solo in India

India has been the birthplace of backpacking over the years. This has been a place which has helped millions have a life-changing experience with the country’s varied cultures, languages, weather and terrains. There is a lot to learn from every village in our country but very few Indians actually end up travelling around our homeland.

For various reasons, the stereotype has been that India is unsafe for Indians to travel solo. But I always wondered, how do foreigners manage to do the same, only to return back home unharmed with a bucket full of memories and experiences.

Here’s how travelling solo in India helps according to me:

-> Deeper understanding of yourself

It’s only when you travel solo, that you really get time to sit by yourself. Some soul searching is done, on what life has been since your last holiday. It’s the perfect opportunity to access life, make changes and alterations, if needed.

-> Deeper understanding of your own country

The more you travel around India, the more you realise, how vastly different each and every village is from each other. From language to climate, culture and even the sunrise and sunset time. Our country is extremely diverse and only once you hit the road, will you understand this fact for real.

-> Friends from different cultures

No matter where you travel in our country, you will definitely make friends. That’s just a given fact, the population is so much, that even if you don’t put in much effort, after every trip you’ll end up making atleast one new friend. Either a tourist or a local, the chances of making a local friend is much higher, while in India.

-> Wider perspective of the world and life

The more you travel, the more you’ll learn about the world and life. It’s a given default, that after any trip you do in life, you’ll upgrade your life. The ones close to you, will surely notice the difference. After living a week somewhere else, you’ll never return back the same person. Your mind and soul will widen.

-> Courage to step out of your comfort zone

We all have our zones and 95% of the people in the world will live their whole life in this comfort zone and think life has been completed. But if you think, you fall in the remaining 5% then take the courage and forget your friends. It’s time to move forward.

-> Skills to manage expenses

When your travelling solo, you’ll come to realise that it’s a lot cheaper as compared to travelling with friends. A lot of unwanted expenses on food and drink are avoided with just the basics of the day being taken care of. Solo travel means you run the show end to end.

-> Availability to be independent

In a country like India, you are never really independent. Around 88% of people live their entire life with their parents or family. It’s just the way our culture is, but if freedom is what you seek then a solo backpacking trip is the solution to your current travel crisis.

-> Solo = Self-confidence

If nothing changes after a solo trip, one thing that will surely never be the same is your confidence. We all face confidence issues at some stage in our daily life. Solo travel will push you out of your comfort zone so much, that confidence is something that will come on its own. Remember, no one knows you, so you won’t be judged.

-> The desire to travel again

This won’t make sense to anyone who hasn’t travelled. But if you have ever really travelled (the ones who have will understand) this is the worst kind of hangover you can ever have in your mortal life. Once you are bitten by the travel bug, life changes. All you will do is read blogs like these and scroll through travel-related feeds. This is the kind of desire which will be life-altering.

-> Memories of a lifetime

India is the most diverse country in the world. So much so, that no other continent in the world can compare itself to this culturally rich country. After you are back home and lay down on your pillow every night till the next trip, you’ll sleep by scrolling through pictures and videos from your last holiday. It’s memories like these which make raw travel in the form of backpacking a soul-enriching experience.