Solo Travel: Safety Not Guaranteed

If I told you that you'd be 100% fine and safe traveling alone, I would be lying.

Your first day would feel awkward especially if it's your first time in that foreign place. The awkwardness would be more heightened if you're part of the joiners group. But wait until you start getting to know these people, hearing their stories, and eventually feeling at ease with them. That feeling is priceless. You're a stranger forming a bond with this new family. 

You'd feel singled out with couples, friends, families, and officemates. You'd have a crazy thought while you're all in a boat. What if this boat capsizes? No one would care to save me. They would naturally save their loved ones and companions first . You're basically on your own. But wait until they start caring about you like you've always been part of their group. Wait until they offer you their food, or better yet, bring out a bottle of Fundador Light to be enjoyed in the crystal white beach sand, under the heat of the sun. Wait for the stories and anecdotes as you share this bottle of whiskey with lovely strangers. Wait until you find out that you work from the same industry, that you share the same stress, same holidays, same work fun. Euphoria, almost orgasmic feeling. 

Drinking with this amazing group at Ditaytayan Sandbar

As you travel alone, the situation would also push you to the limit. You'd encounter problems that you'd never encountered before, like drowning your cellphone in a 20-ft. lagoon, an impossible ordeal if you live in Quezon City. The cellphone, who's always been beside you, almost part of your body like what Marshal McLuhan predicted in gadgets many years ago, is suddenly lifeless, the battery dead. For the first time, you are separated from this little powerful digital monster that has run your life ever since. 

But wait until you finally remove your gaze from your phone and start looking at the beauty of Palawan. Oh my God it is so beautiful you could almost cry. Wait until your newfound friends start caring about you and your phone, giving you assurance that the phone could still be opened, and joking just to lighten the mood. You'd realise that this world is not only filled with mean people, that there are still good ones, that you can still trust people, that like you they experience anxiety and that they're willing to help you with your struggles. There are people who still live a life of integrity, and give you assurance that they would always be there. That people still care. 

With Victor and Edgar - my travel buddies

Another crazy ordeal that you could possibly face is forgetting to bring your main ATM. It doesn't help that your main phone, where all of your digital wallets, PIN code, and passwords are, is currently dead. If you're the worrying type, you'd have some crazy thoughts about the locals judging you for not being able to pay, thinking that you're pulling some Anna Delvy shit just because you cannot pay. 

But wait until you manage to solve your own problem. Wait until you come up with creative solutions to your surprise. You'd thank yourself for being financially literate, for creating several accounts so you could pull them easily for emergencies like this. You'd thank yourself for delaying gratification so you can enjoy the sweet reward of being financially stable. You'd be thankful for saving your money. It gives you power wherever you are. 

If I told you that you'd be 100% fine and safe traveling alone, I would be lying.

Traveling solo is not safe. Never. It will push you to your limit. It will give you challenges that you've never encountered before. It is not safe. Because safe means not growing. Solo travel is all about breaking your own barriers, facing your demon called yourself, confronting the old you so you could force the new you to come out. The new you that has always wanted to come out but is too scared. Because safe is comfortable, safe is cozy. 

Solo traveling is all about surviving. And thriving. If you manage to come out alive, say hello to a better version of you.