The Ups and Downs of a Solo Road Trip
- Elisabeth Caraballo
- Nov 26, 2018
- 2 min read
When taking a road trip alone, be prepared to experience some serious positives including the peace of the open road, the thrill of deciding on your next stop, and the buzz of making new friends at every roadside attraction and diner. However, before you start up your engines, be sure to educate yourself on the risks as well - then you will be able to avoid or minimize them altogether.
The ups and downs you will encounter on your road trip aren't just the ones on the asphalt.
The Freedom to Explore
One of the best things about going on a road trip alone is that you get to call the shots. What this means is that you get to decide whereabouts you explore and when you'll stop, and if you really like a place you can extend your stay without having to run it past anyone else as well.
Can you imagine the joy of traveling around only seeing places that are on top of your own personal wish list? Well, this is entirely something that is achievable when you choose to hit the open road solo!
Safety Concerns
Of course, much like any other solo travel adventure where you will be in an unfamiliar place, safety may be a prime concern. Luckily there are some savvy ways that you can address such issue and increase your safety.
One way is to ensure that you take regular breaks because it's easy to become distracted when driving if you are exhausted, and you have no one to swap with.
Although, sadly, distracted driving could still cause you problems concerning accidents caused by others on the road. Happily, if you do encounter such as issue, you can engage with a specialist law firm after the accident to help you build a case against the responsible party.
Also, when it comes to safety concerns, solo travelers may be worried that if something did happen to them, no one would know. To that end using a GPS tracker, or agreeing on a safety protocol when you check in with friends or relatives at a specified time can help.
Although, many solo travel aficionados do find that safety issues like this reduce as their confidence vacationing in this way builds.
Meeting New People
One of the most considerable advantages of traveling alone on a road trip is that if you want to have any social interactions, you need to initiate it yourself. What this means is that you get the opportunity and motivation to meet all sorts of fascinating people on your journey from characterful diner patrons, to the folks that run the roadside attractions!
Of course, if you'd rather not go up and speak to complete strangers, then there are others ways you can approach this when traveling solo too. One method is to use online meet up sites that will bring you together with others that have similar interests - you'll have a topic to break the ice and this can really help you meet new people when road tripping alone.
