Self care seems to be the trend of 2019. A new study reveals that nearly 1 in every 4 Americans prefers to travel alone, considering it a prime opportunity for some “me time.”
OnePoll surveyed over 2,000 people and found that this mentality is on the rise, with 22 percent of participants reporting that they travel exclusively on their own, and 44 percent of them saying that traveling with others holds them back from doing their own thing.
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A lot of the people surveyed believe that solo traveling opens more doors to them: 50 percent of participants reported that they’d be more likely to interact with locals if they were on their own, and 46 percent of them said that they’d also take the opportunity to be more spontaneous. 57 percent of participants also said that they’d be more likely to get out of their comfort zones if they were alone on their trips.
The survey concluded that people’s main concerns when it comes to traveling in groups is the fact that your companions would keep you from doing what you want to do (58 percent) or that they’d pressure you into doing something you’re not interested in doing (53 percent).
Despite all of this positive thinking regarding solo travel, Americans are still worried over the prospect of being alone in a foreign country. More than half, 52 percent, of respondents said that traveling alone is less safe and 49 percent of them said they’d also worry about feeling lonely.
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Despite these surface insecurities, it looks like there will be a lot of solo traveling in the near future, with 44 percent of participants claiming they’d like to do it at some point.
Traveling is often romanticized in movies and stories as pivotal moments where people can grow, discover themselves and have spiritual experiences. It makes sense then that a lot of people would want to have some of that for themselves. Different studies have also documented this evolving perspective, reporting that millennials spend most of their resources in traveling, choosing this over more traditional paths like buying homes and investing money. But that’s also aided by the failing economy and the state of the world. Oh well. Let’s just get back to traveling.
