Korea is a pretty safe country to travel if you’re a woman. But being a solo traveler – difficult and delightful can share the same coin. While I thoroughly enjoy relaxing into bonding with fellow EPIKers on group day trips as we weather the inevitable culture shock together; excursions alone while initially dreaded, gives me valuable time to explore, grow and reflect upon my new cultural surroundings at a relaxed pace. Plus, I get to take out the DSLR!
But… I don’t always gave ample time to research my cities. If I’m doing a weekend or day trip, researching accommodations and train times are my only afforded concerns. Why? Take my recent 2-day weekend trip to Busan. I didn’t know if I was serious with myself about going to Busan for the weekend or doing it solo! 9:30a Saturday morning I woke up and realized I was and off I went! My sightseeing itinerary however, was a giant question mark…
4 Reasons to be a Solo Weekend Warrior:
1- Self-Empowerment
My #1 reason for traveling solo– I prove to myself I can do it. The heroine of my travel story, every time I leap my own mini hurdles, I hear a magical and triumphant “ding!”, like throwing a golden coin in my bucket.
• I decided at the last-minute at 9:30AM on Saturday, that I would go to Busan- “ding!”
• I got down to the Dongdaegu station and bought my one-way KTX ticket to Busan - “ding!”
• I boarded my train and was off- “ding!”
And so forth…
Each time I leap a hurdle, I feel successful, alive and glad I accomplished it on my own!.
2- Put your own unique stamp on a place.
In group travel, the sightseeing city tends to become a third wheel. Unusual, right? Often, the city (as the star attraction) has a tendency to be replaced by group dynamics, as travelers must work to negotiate, compromise and balance their time and sightseeing itinerary. In group travel, the focus becomes about building friendships and working together to create a harmonious travel experience. For example, it’s the simplest act of spending time absorbed in conversation, getting to know your travel buddies vs. noticing/reflecting on the passing landscape, local inhabitants and cultural nuances. Needless to say, sometimes when I return from a day trip, my knowledge of a city remains superficial and I find I learned more about fellow members than the city I visited. While I experienced a full “activity of sightseeing with a group” and met some interesting people, I didn’t fully carry out my goal of seeing or experiencing the city itself.
Traveling solo, it’s just ” you and the city” and that is THE activity. For better or worse, you explore the foreign terrain in an unfiltered and direct-response way, minus distractions. You traverse the land and learn about its nuances through conscious discovery. Personally, while I enjoy group travel, I also love when I get to discover a special connection to a place and put my personal stamp on it!
.
3- Explore it, connect with it or… move on.
What I treasure the most about solo travel is the freedom and time it affords for my interests and hobbies. I like to get lost and explore off-the-beaten path things that I find curious; and whenever I bring out my DSLR, I milk my time in one area, photographing it and observing its culture. I can spend hours in one place looking for the one subject I want to spend time photographing. When you’re with a partner or group, you’re chained to their agenda and interests, often compromising your wants.
.
4- Coverage, time and ease … through city bus tours
Traveling with a group, I don’t always experience the intimidation or overwhelm of a large city. Often, the trip’s organizer has coordinated an itinerary and researched its transportation issues; even if transportation isn’t figured out, there are enough “skilled brains” able to work out a confident solution… not to mention, split the expenses of it! Thus, taking a city tour is something I don’t consider when I’m day-tripping as a group.
As a solo traveler however, a city can feel vast! It’s easy to get lost, feel overwhelmed, stressed and vulnerable until you can get a perspective of the city grid and the way it works. Guided city tours are in this instance. They offer ease and capture sightseeing highlights in a time-efficient way and you are still traveling in the safety of a group, without dealing with the drama or baggage of it.
…which brings me to this– Korea has a wonderful thing called city bus tours, where for 5,000- 15,000 w you’re taken to all the city highlights via hop-on, hop-off bus route. Pretty brilliant! A city bus tour not only gets you around cheaper and quicker than a taxi or metro, but it might also uncover details you overlook on foot– such as the possibility that subway stations may be closer to each other than they seem on a map!
