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Getting on a flight completely by yourself to a place you’ve never been is genuinely terrifying. Most of the time, we tend to stick to the safety of group itineraries or wait around for a friend to commit so we don’t have to face travel plans alone. But honestly, staying in that comfort zone can put a hold on your independence. Pushing past that initial fear and just going anyway can help you figure out who you are. Experiencing these solo travel adventures will help you understand what you’re actually capable of handling.

Traveling on your own forces you to put your problem-solving skills to the test. When you’re the only person responsible for your schedule, your maps, and most importantly, your safety, you don’t have the luxury of letting someone else make the decisions. Yes, dealing with a confusing foreign transit system or a stressful flight delay can be nerve-wracking in the moment. But dragging yourself through those high-stakes situations turns your anxiety into pure independence. You realize that if you can handle a major travel setback in a foreign country where you don’t even speak the language, you can pretty much handle anything. 

Independent travel reveals a lot about who you are, especially during unpredictable moments:

• Navigating multiple layovers: Figuring out a reasonable price and the route through foreign hubs, overnight airport layovers, and unfamiliar terminals will help build your organizational skills.
• Thinking on your feet when plans abruptly change: Learning how to pivot when bad weather cancels your excursions forces you to handle time-sensitive stress, while remaining calm and patient.
• Claiming total control over your own life: Making the decision to book a bucket-list trip means trusting your gut and validating your own goals, especially as a solo traveler.

I learned more about this and myself during a solo trip from Rome to the Arctic Circle in Rovaniemi, Finland. Navigating Europe alone was a lot, and coordinating this was intense at times. Starting off by finding a reasonable price, I had to book a non-direct route that left me with an overnight layover at the Helsinki airport, knowing I had to wake up just four hours later for my morning flight. Arriving alone at a quiet airport late at night was already intimidating, but things got even more challenging after I got there.

My final itinerary was packed with the exact Arctic experiences I had always dreamed of, splitting my time between Rovaniemi and Levi, Finland. I had everything planned out, from booking a husky safari through the frozen forest to setting up a trip to see Northern Lights across the region. But when you are traveling completely on your own, even the most perfect itinerary can abruptly change due to outside factors that are entirely out of your control. That is exactly when the real challenge of traveling by yourself begins. When something unexpected happens, and you can’t rely on anyone else, you just have to step up and face the situation head-on.

For me, that moment hit because my main goal for this specific trip was to see the Northern Lights, so I booked a Viator tour to go aurora hunting. Because of bad weather on my first night, the trip was canceled, and I had to reschedule it for the very last night. With the group, we ended up driving between five and six hours straight into Sweden, meaning I wouldn’t get back to Rovaniemi until around 5:00 AM, and my flight back to Helsinki was at 8:00 AM. I was exhausted after a long day of travel, and the fear of oversleeping and missing my flight home kept lingering as we drove farther out. I ended up going with the flow, and making it work proved to me that I could handle the pressure.

If I hadn’t pushed myself to just book that trip, I wouldn’t have gone at all. I didn’t want to look back on my time abroad and realize I’d missed out on seeing the things I’d always dreamed of just because this wasn’t on anyone else’s to-do list. Traveling alone can really help you grow. You return with more than just great photos; you bring back proof to yourself that you can handle these challenges on your own.

Is there a destination on your bucket list that intimidates you, but you’d like to pursue on your own?

Learn more: Discover how independent journeys build confidence with this Solo Travel: A New Behavior or Preferred Approach?