On one sunny morning last Wednesday, I embarked on an ambitious, partly spontaneous, and maybe a tad bit lonely day-trip to Kamakura alone. Always in desperate need of my dad’s genius map-reading skills or my best friend’s swift decisiveness that would bail me out of agonizing over whether to get a sandwich or an onigiri for breakfast, I’ve always refused to travel anywhere solo. But under the impeccably blue, cloudless sky that was practically calling me to Kamakura, I just couldn’t wait for anyone else to pack their bags and join me on this trip— so I thought, why not just go by myself? In retrospect, I do admit that throwing myself into exploring the unknown alone was quite daunting at first— but did I end up regretting it? To tell you the truth, when I came home from my outing that day, I was feeling more invigorated, rejuvenated, and empowered than I had ever been.
I didn’t go on the kind of adrenaline-rush-packed trip that could beat out all the other trips that I’ve been on for the past twenty-something years. Quite the opposite, actually. But I may have instead stumbled across a life-changing and eye-opening experience, if I may say so myself. I hopped on the train bound for Kamakura, treated myself to a classic Japanese teishoku meal with a bowl of white rice and grilled mackerel, walked alongside the lulling waves of the beach, soaked up the sun while watching a throng of surfers ride the waves in their black wetsuits, stopped by a local hideaway cafe to have a cup of tea, and rode the train back to Tokyo. Doesn’t sound too phenomenal, does it? I could’ve made a visit to all the “Kamakura-exclusive” tourist sites that boast an assemblage of eager sightseers like the Kamakura Daibutsu (Great Buddha) at Kōtoku-in, the Hachiman-gū shrine, and Enoshima instead. But through thelazy beach strolls and the home-cooked meals in the countryside, I was rewarded with something that no other voyages could ever gift me with.
If you ask me to sum up this day-trip in three words, I would pick self-discovery, independence, and awareness. So why self-discovery? It may seem obvious at first, but you’d be surprised by how tip-of-the-iceberg it actually is. These days, almost everybody goes about their day confined within a certain role; you are defined as someone’s child, a sibling, a friend, a student, an employee, and we always shoulder the responsibilities placed upon us. It is always the norm for us and yet, rarely are we given any room in our jam-packed schedules to stop and reflect on it for a moment. Our lives are simply all too rife with the dictatorial grind of accommodating other people’s schedules— but when you’re stripped of such characters that command your entire existence, who are you, really? What do you like to do— or better yet, avoid? If given the chance, how would you set the pace of your daily routine?
Perhaps traveling alone can help you find the answers to who you really are as a person. Through my first solo travel, I came to understand that this trip was actually an inward journey of self-discovery in disguise. It was a voyage of much-needed, long-overdue introspection that allowed me to shower myself with love and care that I had inadvertently been turning a blind eye to for so long. It is an incredibly liberating experience to unchain yourself from all the responsibilities and be as selfish as you want— and one that doesn’t knock on your door too often. Savor every taste of the sheer freedom that solo journeys can offer you. Focus on the here and now. Do what you want to do, when and how you want to do it. Make no compromises for anyone— it is one of the greatest pleasures you will ever come across while traveling solo. Want to stay at a five-star hotel and skip out on all the tourist sites? Fine. Want to spoil yourself with good food and spend next to nothing on souvenirs? Go for it. You’ve got nothing to lose, and no one to tell you how to live your life as a solo traveler. Trust your gut feeling. Unleash your creativity. Let your imaginations run wild. Get lost in your own train of thoughts. Just a single day of solitude may be what you have been yearning for this entire time— but something that just didn’t happen to click so naturally in your head. We are always hunting for opportunities to venture into the wild, but maybe what we actually need is finding a way back to ourselves.
Nowadays, we are constantly surrounded by the thoughts and experiences of others through social media. That said, it is now more important than ever to disconnect and develop our own perspective on life, uninfluenced by what someone else established; we need more first-hand experience and time to reflect in peace, and solo travels are the perfect remedy for this very own modern-day disease. We need to learn how to think and decide for ourselves. Travelers who embark on solo adventures are always gifted with opportunities to gain confidence and independence because they are forced to step out of their comfort zone to push themselves and overcome the obstacles that come their way. Traveling alone not only gives you a chance to think for yourself— it also empowers you and allows you to grow as a human being. I returned from the beachy village of Kamakura with a fresh outlook on life, a refreshed mind, a revitalized heart and replenished self-confidence— all gained through my original experience that no one else could ever imprint their own interpretations upon.
The last, but certainly not the least, merit of traveling alone lies within attaining self-awareness. When you venture out to travel somewhere alone, the lack of familiar people to interact with impels you to engage much more directly with your surroundings. Your attention is wholly focused where you are, rather than who you’re with, and it is the moments you spend gazing out into the mountains through the train window and taking in every detail of the passing landscapes that you often end up missing when you’re chatting with a companion. As this article mentions, “many veteran travelers have memories of extraordinary, eye-opening solo trips, of glorious days when they set out alone and found and saw and noticed things they might never have done otherwise.” It is truly a magnificent opportunity to be able to center your entire consciousness on your surroundings, and there is nothing else that I’d rather do when traveling alone.
Traveling alone was an extremely foreign experience to me, but one of incredible value that I will cherish for the rest of my life. I don’t know a whole lot about what life has to offer— but if there’s one thing I am positive about, it is the beauty and the serenity of spending time in seclusion at a beautiful foreign place. You don’t need to look for happiness in a grand, luxurious manner. Sometimes, all we need is just some time to ourselves, and a nice, slow walk at the beach.