The Secret of Solo Adventure Travel is that you are never truly alone.
I know there are some places where you may be by yourself for long stretches - solo sailing adventures, treks across the arctic and things like that, but for most of us, even when traveling solo, we will always be relatively close to other people. I remember my concern before riding my touring bike across Nevada on Highway 50.
"The Loneliest Road in America," whispered the guidebooks, "be prepared for long stretches without contact from any other people." My first day out of Carson City I met three Bikers, two cyclists, a shopkeeper (who gave me extra ice-cream for free) and a kind bartender who let me set up camp in the yard behind the Saloon in Middlegate - so much for the loneliest road.
Solo travelers are more likely to meet helpful locals: Cycling through Utah, I had some mechanical problems and a good ole boy with a pick-up truck drove me around town until we found a hardware store that helped me improvise what I needed to get back on the road. It was late evening by the time I was done rigging up the bike, and the good ole boy's wife insisted that I spend the night in their guest room.
They even made me dinner. I wondered if maybe the term "solo unsupported bicycle touring" was a bit of a misnomer. One thing I've found no matter where I travel is that most people are kind and decent, and good, and willing - even eager - to lend a hand to a single traveler.
Solo travelers have more chances to make new friends: In Kansas, I stopped for lunch in a deli and a young kid, fresh off the tractor for the day struck up a conversation at the counter while the clerk was making my sandwich.
When I picked up my tray to walk to a table he said, "You might as well come over and sit with me, nobody wants to eat alone." And over lunch I made a new friend and learned about a way of life very different from my own. Had I been riding with a group I probably would have never had the chance to meet him.
One of the most common questions that people ask me about traveling solo is "how do you deal with the loneliness?" What I've found is the one of the greatest gifts of solo adventure travel is the people you meet along the way. Far from creating a sense of isolation and loneliness, solo adventure travel opens up the world in ways that would be impossible with a group or even with a travel partner.
Often when people travel in a group, the experience filtered through the existing group dynamic - a layer of insulation that can prevent you from really finding anything you weren't already expecting to find. When you travel alone though, you are forced to meet people and learn about their world rather than imposing your world on them.
Whether the traveler needs food, accommodations, directions, or just someone to talk to, nothing happens until you meet another new person. Making a journey as a solo traveler has given me plenty of time to be by myself but with every mile that passes I become more and more convinced that I am never really alone.
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