Do it. The lows might be a lot lower [like i've been in some shit situations of meeting terrible people or being completely lost with ono one to speak english, to, or having gotten pretty crappily ripped off, but didn't want't to make a fuss to stay safe, but the highs are so much higher. Everyone I met who was traveling with people [aside from couples, i didn't feel comfortable asking them] had plans to split at some point or were mildly jealous of me as I ranted about how nice it was to be alone. You have no one to consult. Want to leave today? leave today! want to stay a day longer? stay longer. Want to bring someone back to your room? yeah it's annoying to everyone else in your crowded ass hostel, but your friends won't laugh at you in the morning when you realize you just cuddled with a troll.
Seriously though, if you're traveling alone, you're never alone. You spend no moment without people, and the only real struggle is sometimes getting a wee bit of privacy, which is not the hardest thing to complain about, nor something to worry about. You'll get on a bus, and boom. friends. get to your room? friends. Most people are traveling alone, and everyone's friendly as fuck.
On the same vein, if you meet people you like, stick with them. if you meet people you don't like, you can ditch them immediately, with no consequences.
also, it's so much easier to be yourself when you know that this person you've met is just a temporary figment in your life, unless you proper care enough to continue what you've found [which, there are a bunch of people I'm still in touch with, plan on seeing again, and seriously mean a lot to me], but still you've presented yourself as, well, yourself. It seems silly to say this as something different to what people would normally be doing, but it's true. you surround yourself with the same people you've known for ages, and you've become someone… not necessarily someone that you actually are. Regardless, if this isn't the case, then there's the fact that I noticed whilst hitchhiking-- when you know someone for 2 days, 2 hours, 2, weeks, hey'll literally tell you their life story. There's no judgements, no problems. You have someone who will listen to the shit that's on your mind for that hot minute, and it's amazing how much more you learn about others, and how much you even can learn about yourself just listening to what dribble comes out of yourself. When you're growing up, people tell you not to talk to strangers, and fucking hell that's the worst advice I've ever heard.
Another wee snippet on realizing how you interact with people on such temporary bases struck me as noticing that I'm okay. I have no trouble making friends it seems, and though I'm not for everyone, feeling that you can just get on with one random is somehow comforting. It's just like, realizing that you're a real person, a real and semi capable human being. it's nice. Suc his only possible with forced independence.
I grew up in an environment that was so catered to helping me that I don't even know my social security number… I've never fully packed for myself nor travelled around on my own. I've never booked my own flight nor done anything of real importance, and being thrown at this, and properly getting myself through it with only a teeny toe infection and a few bruises was the craziest thing I've done so far.
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