Or a deeper look into the solo travellers perspective
I always wondered why I prefer travelling solo. I know the normal stuff, no argument about where you’re going and what time to get up and get off. No pressure on bad days, no squabbling about restaurants. No icy silences after a tiff, no problem about changing plans at the last minute. These are all foul things but the real reason is that I can see the world through my own eyes without interruption. This sounds selfish but it’s vital for me. I don’t need anyone’s opinion until I have processed the magic. It’s like I never take a tour guide, I just can’t stand the blah blah
True it’s not the same seeing a beautiful sunset alone if you want to feel romantic, but that sunset is also a mystical experience that lets you digest your mortality and whatever the bloody meaning of it all is. This might sound a bit heavy but surely this is truly an experience for your soul..? We are all so consumed with being busy accommodating other people’s needs. This travelling time alone can repair many things one has to resolve in ones life and also conversely can make the solo traveller think more carefully.
I have a new perspective now than I had before and although I won’t stop my travelling in this way I feel much more calm about returning to my home (wherever that might be). From conquering the battle for survival and finding new places to settle mankind has only wanted to carry on looking for better places. It was only with farming methods we stopped that itch. Free time gave us the space to be creative and art was born, but now we are again feeling that wanderlust as our primitive needs are not being met. This cycle has created our now desperate need to move and look. We know something is wrong and we want to fix it.
Visiting ancient sites all over the world and delving into mankind’s origins is, for me, an important journey into reaching back into humanities actual journey. I WANT to know as much as possible about our arriving here as innocents, and slowly so slowly getting to this point, gradually working out how it all works. I understand now the concept of the ancients to maintain a world in balance without the intrusion of chaos. Indeed it’s a sad thing that now we are creating the chaos that primitively we wanted to escape.
Heaviness aside, I want to be able to swim with whale sharks and find out how I’ll feel, despite the huge tourism involved I still manage to ferret out the less frequented places.This will happen less and less so time is of the essence. Yes us soloists are selfish but for a reason.
Imprinted into our DNA is an anxiety to survive but also to learn better. We have just lost our way.
I know it’s inexcusable to travel in this way with the decay of the planet. However I also feel that the strange idea of the population explosion being acceptable as we will, in the future, just move on and populate another planet is crazy. So I believe that it’s more the reduction of population is the answer to the mess we are creating.
Such is the vanity of humankind. I think it’s more likely we will go the way of the dinosaurs and Mother Earth will be able to repair itself until the next catastrophic event.
This post is supposed to be my reasoning for us solo travellers to have this urge. I’m not sure if I’ve been too depressing but I’m sure I must have reached the people I want to. This is just to reach out and see who feels the same, so speak to me!
This post is incomplete because I’m still having a ponder… I will add to it later.
OVER AND OUT from Rebecca x
Old Bird Travels Solo! 