The Joy of Solo Travelling

This year, I discovered the magic of travelling solo. Instead of waiting around to find a partner or convincing friends to come with – I had weeks to spare between assignments being finished and classes starting again after Christmas, and fancied a trip somewhere, so I went. 

As someone prone to stress and social anxiety, this was definitely daunting at first. In fact, deciding whether or not to go and then booking it was the scariest part of the whole thing. Once that was done, and I had weeks to adjust to the idea, the stress slowly started to dissolve and some excitement came from the extensive plan I made for a two night trip to Copenhagen in my notes app. 

The idea of going to an airport by myself was horrifying, but in reality all I had to do was follow simple signs around and make it through security without crying. Once that barrier was knocked down with much more ease than I thought, I felt better already. Next came the even bigger challenge of getting the train from the airport to the city centre. I’d researched this short journey heavily in hopes of easing my stress, and this helped a lot when the time came. This is my biggest tip for solo travellers: if you’re worried about a journey, look it up! Other people probably have been too. A Tiktok video of someone doing the exact journey was a huge help. I was honestly thrilled with myself for navigating a Danish train without ending up in Sweden, as people commonly do. 

Long story short, I had an amazing few days in Copenhagen. The city itself was gorgeous and I had so much to do, but in terms of travelling by myself, it was so freeing. I’ve always been drawn to Scandinavia and living in the city, and it felt like a warm up for where I dream to be living in ten years or so. I quickly got over any awkwardness of being alone; no one treated me any differently. It was a much bigger deal in my head. I had the freedom to go wherever I wanted whenever – with a routine of waking up early to get out, coming back to the hotel in the afternoon for a potential nap, then back out in the evening. I went at the start of February - off peak and during the coldest winter Denmark has had in sixteen years, so not many tourists. I was prepared for the weather: multiple layers were worn. The only surprise was the massive amount of snowfall on my last day, which was possibly the best way to end the trip. 

More recently, I took another short trip further up Yorkshire to Whitby, in honour of studying Dracula. This was a much more casual, relaxed trip that I felt next to no stress about. Travelling by myself is such a freeing experience, and once I was past my initial anxiety it felt like such an accomplishment. I think it has improved my confidence and reinvigorated my love for travel which I have spent years ignoring, save family holidays, because of worrying about going by myself. There will always be things to stress about, but I hope it will become less with the more trips I take; for example, I still haven’t tried eating at a restaurant by myself. It’s all good practice for my upcoming year abroad and I am excited for my future travels.

Written by, Rosie James