An increasing number of people are traveling by themselves to get unique experiences from meeting local people and enjoy more freedom and independence. Photo: Li Hao/GT

 

Lin Weiyu, a solo traveler, has been to many places at home and abroad on bike on his own. Photo: Courtesy of Lin Weiyu

Twenty-year-old Justine Hu developed a passion for travelling independently since she went to the UK for university study in 2007. Hu has been to many European countries and Chinese cities on solo journeys.

"It is much easier to get to know different people and have some special experience if you travel on your own. Besides, solo travelers can have freedom and flexibility in arranging their schedule without considering their companions' interests," said Hu, who has met all kinds of interesting people during the past eight years, some of whom she still keeps in touch as friends.

From family holidays to romantic getaways, people like to enjoy memorable travel moments with others. But sometimes, traveling alone can bring unique experiences which one cannot get when in a group: meeting local people, more freedom and independence. 

According to Visa Global Travel Intentions Study 2015, which surveyed 13,603 travelers aged 18 years and above across 25 countries (China included) in the world, solo travel is witnessing an upward trend. International solo leisure travel is 9 percentage points higher in 2015 at 24 percent, compared to 15 percent in 2013. The survey also shows that almost half of the solo travelers come from Asia, especially China and India.

This upward trend in China is also indicated by another survey conducted by travel website Qyer.com. According to the 2015 statistics gathered by Qyer.com's Data Research Center, Chinese solo travelers account for around 20 percent of the total in the country. Among them, women solo travelers (61 percent) outnumber the men.

New possibilities

For Hu, one of the most impressive solo travel experiences was a one-month trip to Europe in 2010. To save money, she often lived in youth hostels where she met different kinds of interesting people.

When she traveled to Barcelona, Spain, she happened to meet a four-member British family in a local hostel. With all of them being interested in political issues, they discussed the Spanish Civil War till very late at night. "I suddenly had a feeling of regret for not meeting them earlier," said Hu.

"If I was together with my friends, perhaps I would not get a lot of chance to talk with others and would be confined to my small circle," said Hu.

Travelling alone might make you feel very lonely, but it can instill courage in you to talk with others, and learn about new things, Hu added. "You never know what is going to happen or who you will meet."

Besides, traveling independently can help one easily integrate into the local culture and life, said 25-year-old Lin Weiyu, a solo traveler who now lives in Lhasa. So far, he has been to over 10 provinces in China and some foreign countries on his own.

During his solo journeys, Lin said that he often met enthusiastic locals who offered help by guiding, or even giving him a treat or free accommodation at their home.

"If I travel in a group with several companions, some locals may not be able to offer such help as free accommodation, dinner or guidance, as it will be more troublesome and they may not even have so many rooms and large houses,"said Lin. "But when I travel on my own, many locals would like to help me as I am alone, which helped me have a deeper experience of local life."

Freedom and flexibility

After doing a routine job in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, for four years, Lin felt life was monotonous, so he began travelling alone on bike since October 2010.

For the first solo journey, he started from Chengdu, Sichuan Province and rode for 31 days along the Sichuan-Tibet Road for 2,154 kilometers and climbed 12 mountains with an altitude of over 4,000 meters. 

Lin thought solo trips made him more independent as they entailed tackling a lot of challenges by himself, including outdoor survival and overcoming fear and loneliness.

Besides, it is more convenient to travel on one's own than in a group, said Lin.

He recalled that in 2011 when he travelled in Hainan Province, he met a rider who wanted to join him. After they joined each other, they rode almost 200 kilometers every day.

"For a rider, it is undoubtedly very painstaking when you spend 10 hours a day riding. You might also miss many beautiful sceneries and some interesting things along the road," said Lin. In the end, they separated as the other rider wanted to cover more distance in a short time, but what Lin wanted was to enjoy the scenery along the route. 

"More importantly, your mind is free. You can put aside almost everything because no one knows you. You don't have to wear the 'masks' you wear in the city. But when you have companions, you have many concerns and it is not possible to avoid them," said Lin.

Lin has a fiancée, but he decided not to take her along on his bike tours because sometimes he wanted to have his own time during the journey. 

Echoing Lin, Hu said when she was alone, she had more time to think about the problems related to her daily life such as work and love. "Being in another environment could make it much easier for you to calm down and detox your mind. It is a journey to find oneself," she said.  

Coping with safety

Hu thinks the biggest challenge for travelling alone is safety, especially for women.

Two or more people can look out for each other, while solo travelers need to constantly be on guard and need more vigilance as they have no support and have more sense of insecurity, Hu said.

She recalled that she was once chased by a person in Paris. Luckily, she was calm enough to escape.

"Globally speaking, solo travel has gradually become a trend among younger generation. And there is no denying that women will face greater challenges of unknown environments during solo journeys," said Zheng Jiali, president of TripAdvisor China, in a news release sent to the Metropolitan on the TripAdvisor Women's Travel Survey 2015 covering 10 countries including China. 

According to the survey, among nearly 10,000 respondents, a majority thought that independent travel had brought changes in their lives by helping them learn about different cultures (36 percent), and become more confident than before (43 percent) and more independent (56 percent).

Robynne Tindall, a 28-year-old British woman who has been living in Beijing for four years and a half, is fanatic about solo travel, and started travelling alone when she was 19 in 2006.

Tindall said that a lot of women think traveling alone may not be very safe. But she thought that people should not be scared of solo travel because there are lots of different options to make it perfectly sound and enjoyable.

In order to cater to growing needs of solo travelers, a lot of agencies have launched special services for solo travelers including those targeted at women.

For example, some hotels or floors of hotels are only open to women to ensure their safety. Some hotels have launched package plans especially for female solo travelers to encourage their trips such as lady's package meal where women could mingle and make new friends living on the lady's floor. Besides, there are solo traveler-friendly restaurants and hotels that tend to provide better service by room upgrade or special offer.

Tindall recalled that when she was eating by herself in a restaurant in Vietnam this August, the waitress came to her and asked whether she would like to share a table with two other single diners, and they decided to join and have dinner together.

"That was really great. When you travel by yourself, you have this instinct bonding with others who are traveling by themselves in a lot of solo traveler-friendly places," said Tindall.

Dealing with loneliness

Liu Simin, a tourism research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told Metropolitan that in recent years, with the development of tourism industry and diversification of tourists' interests, China has seen a rapid rise in solo travel.

"Compared with group travel, solo travel offers opportunities for greater interaction with the world, nature and people in an unfamiliar environment rather than the interaction and socialization with travel companions," said Liu. "But it has a relatively higher demand on travelers including an ability to deal with loneliness. Those who travel by themselves are better able to handle loneliness." 

Lin also thought that the biggest challenge facing him was loneliness. But one can adjust to it as time goes by, he said.

"When I was camping in a no-man's land at an altitude of 5,960 meters in Tibet, one day my dog sat on ice nearby our tent and gazed at me. It is one of the most memorable experiences I have ever had. We looked like two lonely travelers," said Lin. "But I think that if you figure your directions on the journey, every day will be full of passion because this is what you want to do and where you want to go. It is worth it."

To overcome loneliness, Tindall also advises to have a good plan. One should give oneself some time to think and take a lot of good books in case one feels bored.

Mao Lingye contributed to this story.