3 Life Lessons I've Learned From Solo Travel

It's a wild, wild world out there. 

After growing up in a bubble outside of Denver, isolated from the truths of the world, the world took on the personage of a big, scary place filled with unknown. There was danger at every turn and nothing was safe, people we're dangerous and rarely nice, life was dreary.

One day I decided that there was no way this is how life on Earth was meant to be. So, I packed my trusty old Toyota and went into the world with an open mind, no plan, and ended up watching in disbelief and awe as the world opened itself up to me.

I was 18 years old when I took my first road trip. A friend and I left Colorado with a plan that he would fly out of Seattle 10 days later, and I would carry on up to four weeks more or drive home very quickly, for it would be the first time in my life I would truly be alone. To my surprise, I took all the extra time I had on the road and found myself in shenanigans and true adventures I'd never thought possible in my life. 

The road has many lessons to teach, you just have to be willing to listen. This is the knowledge I gained over 37 days and 5800 miles through Colorado, Oregon, Washington, British Colombia, Wyoming, and Montana. 

Lesson 1: Go outside of your comfort zone

I tried so many new things on this journey that ended up being the events that to this day have sculpted my understanding of life. Whether it was staying in my first hostel in Portland and meeting fellow travelers whom I'm still in touch with, living on a commune on Vancouver Island for a week with surfers who let me borrow their boards and wetsuits, or meeting a backpacker in Oregon who took a friend and I to his beach house on the coast to surf the cold northwest waters, ALL of these things happened because I forced myself out of my comfort zone. 

The things we do as human beings define us and shape our futures, so do amazing things, and you guessed it, you'll become even more amazing yourself.  

Lesson 2: Don't plan too much

My ideal way of travel is to have what I like to call a "rough outline." If I've learned one thing from my wanderings, it's to let the road be your guide. I refrain from traveling with a rigid itinerary of having to be in specific places doing specific things at specific times. There is no personal growth to be had from that. Plan where you'll stay a few nights here and there, but ultimately leave your options pretty open so when you meet those amazing people who want to take you to places beyond your wildest dreams, you're able to say, "Yes!"

Lesson 3: Embrace the misadventures

Misadventures always lead right back to adventures, and are even adventures in themselves. As one of my true life role models Yvon Chouinard says, “The word adventure has gotten overused. For me, when everything goes wrong, that’s when adventure starts.” If I had been discouraged by all the times shit has hit the fan on the road, I'd have never had such fulfilling experiences. The thing about travel is, shit ALWAYS hits the fan. When you're sleeping on the beach outside of Santa Cruz and your car window is smashed, your guitar, all your clothes, your passport, bank information, tent, food, microphones, various other necessary things, and personal items stolen, it can be easy to get discouraged. But, if you persevere through that, you end up backpacking the most stunning trail you've ever seen in the Sierra Nevada, skinny dipping in high alpine lakes, and wandering around the mountains on a full moon wondering what the hell it was you were so worried about a few days ago. 

All in all, go into the world with no fear, no prejudice, and almost no plan. You will emerge as a different person, even more stoked on life, full of stories, and with a new perspective of how beautiful this life on Earth really can be. 

Now what are you waiting for? Get out there!