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SKATEBOARDED ACROSS AUSTRALIA
I think the benefits of travelling alone include…
Faster decision-making and less scope for quarrels or bother.
Whilst the advantages of going with someone else include…
They’re always going to be better at me than some/most of the things I’m capable of, which can make a difference to certain elements of a trip.
In the right team, two people can do the work of three (sometimes six can be less effective than one, though).
If I had to choose… I’d go alone. All things considered, I’ve enjoyed my solo trips better, and most of the unhappy memories I have from my journeys have been due to other people. I’ve done two trips with support teams. The first one, by skateboard, had three vans. I still don’t have a driver’s licence at the age of 34, but I bought my first three vehicles when I was 26! I don’t think I’m ever again going to do a thousand-mile expedition with a big team. It can be quite problematic. So I’m going to keep it small or solo from now on.
SARAH OUTEN
ROWED THE INDIAN OCEAN ALONE
I think the benefits of travelling alone include… You are in charge and you make it happen your own way, at your own pace.
You only have your own cabin farts to endure.
The beauty of solitude and peace is sublime.
Whilst the advantages of going with someone else include…
You do not have to make all the decisions, although compromise is required.
There’s someone else to help keep you safe, and having someone to focus on in times of need is a positive thing for me.
If I had to choose… Alone is your journey, in your style, and your pace and you can be totally open to the magic that will happen. Together can be magical, too. For me, it depends on the journey and goal and what’s needed to make it happen.
BEN SAUNDERS
SOLO TO THE NORTH POLE AND A 2-MAN RETURN JOURNEY TO THE SOUTH POLE
The hardest thing about solo expeditions – big, long ones – is the knowledge that no one else can ever, or will ever, know what it was like. In some ways, that’s very precious and very special, but in other ways, it’s frustrating when you try to explain the experience to others.
TOM ALLEN
LONG-DISTANCE CYCLIST AND FILM-MAKER
I think the benefits of travelling alone include…
Allowing your mind to unwind entirely from the utter lunacy of everyday life.
Whilst the advantages of going with someone else include… Having another person there to take photos of you looking heroic.
If I had to choose, I would go alone because an experience that is entirely your own will be a better teacher.
When we – I say ‘we’ because it was me and my best mate at the start – set off together it gave us the confidence to set off at all. That was definitely the biggest thing about planning it with a friend: we gave each other moral support, we enabled each other to get started. I can’t say if I would have done it if I’d been alone. I like to think that I would have done, because my life circumstances at the time were either to go travelling or suffer miserable, unfulfilling office jobs for the rest of my life.
But I did end up on my own as well and the experience couldn’t have been more different. Of all the things you could change about an experience, the difference between being alone and being with someone else is the biggest.
I think if someone’s too nervous to start something on their own, finding a friend to do it with will definitely help. I would just say be very careful about making sure that the friend has the same overall expectations for what the trip’s about, because it’s when people have differing expectations that things start getting difficult.
JASON LEWIS
FIRST HUMAN-POWERED CIRCUMNAVIGATION OF THE WORLD
Travelling alone is wonderful because you can do exactly what you want. If you want to travel or you want to ride your bike five miles and then stop and take the rest of the day off, you can. I’ve travelled alone for long periods, and I think I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m not very good on my own, I actually unbalance.
© Alastair Humphreys
I do prefer to be at least with one other person. Three is the ideal number, I think, because you get to share the experience. When you’re on your own, it can become quite morbid, but it’s a little too indulgent, I think. After about a month of being alone, you have no real way to appreciate, perhaps, what you’re seeing, what you’re experiencing, because you don’t have another mirror near to you to reflect some of what you may be taking for granted.
LEON MCCARRON
LONG-DISTANCE CYCLIST, WALKER, FILM-MAKER
I think the benefits of travelling alone include…
The vulnerability of a solo traveller often encourages more people to come and speak to you, while a pair or a group can look self-sufficient.
Whilst the advantages of going with someone else include…
Having a creative and decision-making sounding board, another perspective and opinion, and someone to see things you may be blind to.
If I had to choose, I would go with someone else because I like the company, and as someone who tries to film adventures, having a second person is invaluable logistically and creatively. I have no real desire to do very long trips on my own anymore. When I was young and wanted to prove myself (to myself and to the world) I needed to travel alone, but now I mostly find myself very dull.
© Alastair Humphreys
STEVE DEW-JONES
HITCH-HIKED THE AMERICAS
I think the benefits of travelling alone include: More space to think. Learning to be alone.
I find travelling solo quite lonely. Whenever I go somewhere new, I want to be able to share my thoughts with someone and to see if they feel the same way about the place. And I hate eating alone.
MATT PRIOR
ADVENTURER, FORMER FIGHTER PILOT
I think the benefits of travelling alone include:
Freedom to attach or detach yourself to or from groups without any ill-feeling. It’s easier to take risks.
Whilst the advantages of going with someone else include:
You don’t have to always introduce yourself and tell people the same story day in, day out: this gets old after a while.
If you’re on a road trip, it’s definitely worth going with a friend. Saying that, this can make or break your trip, so choose carefully. Doing a trip with someone else can create a very strong bond for life, but I have also known of best friends return and never speak again. There are people all over the place who are keen for randomness, so don’t think if you can’t find someone straightaway that you’re going to be lonely!
TIM MOSS
MOUNTAINEER, ADVENTURER, CYCLIST
I think the benefits of travelling alone include:
For me, travelling solo is a much more powerful experience. That sounds a bit melodramatic but there’s something about being on your own all the time, making every little decision by yourself and living through all these experiences without anyone around with whom you can share them.
Whilst the advantages of going with someone else include…
The highs and lows are mellower by virtue of being shared and, generally, I’d say it is easier and a lot more fun.
If I had to choose… I don’t think recommending one over the other is illuminating. If you want to test yourself, push yourself and have a deeper experience, I’d suggest going solo. If you’d rather enjoy yourself (assuming you have a good partner) and have your problems halved, go with someone else.
OLLY WHITTLE
CANOED DOWN THE MEKONG
I do most of my adventures alone and I think it’s actually more of a challenge to do them in a group, so that’s what I might plan next. Also, I think a pair is completely different from alone and a group. A pair may fall out big time, which I think is less likely in a three or more.
I think the benefits of travelling alone include:
It’s easier to actually get started.
No responsibilty for others’ safety (if you mess up, it’s only you that’s in trouble).
You don’t have to worry whether everyone is enjoying themselves (adventures are rarely pure fun).
It’s scarier, there’s a bigger sense of stretching yourself.
If I had to choose for my next adventure, I would go in a group because I’ve already done loads alone so it will give me new challenges. I probably wouldn’t choose a pair.
DOM GILL
CYCLED THE AMERICAS ON A TANDEM, PICKING UP PASSENGERS EN ROUTE
I still love the idea of doing solo journeys. There is something very viscerally primeval about them. I like the introspection. And actually, I become a little addicted to the sort of low-level depression that I experience on those trips. You get very lonely, and when you’re lonely, you think very profoundly about all sorts of aspects of life. It may be depressing, but I’m able to think creatively and write and expand upon ideas. I love that aspect of solo travel. And there’s always the bravado aspect of getting through it, getting through to the other side and talking about the fact that you did it on your own. Especially as a male, I think that’s a little attractive. Doing stuff with companions, I think, is more conducive to learning life lessons. Having to mix with all these new people who moments ago were strangers gives me a very refreshing understanding of people. And I like to think that increases my ability to communicate with the world around me.
COLIN WILLOX
BACKPACKED ROUND EUROPE
There is an unwritten bond between lone travellers. It’s called ‘Holy shit, let’s be friends’, and its participants are not those who turn their head away when you walk in the door, but the ones who keep looking and maybe flash you a smile. You make friends so fast on the road. It’s unbelievable.
ANDREW FORSTHOEFEL
WALKED 4,000 MILES ACROSS THE USA
I felt less lonely than I thought I would. But there were times, of course, when I felt lonely, when you’re having these moments of, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe I’m experiencing this’ and I don’t get to share it with anybody. I think maybe as human beings there’s this natural desire to communicate and tell our stories to each other and revel in these experiences together. Not being able to do that in the moment was hard sometimes. But I think it made those moments when you could share something with somebody much more special. I think the solitude and sometimes loneliness – but just that aloneness – really accentuated those times when I was hanging out with people.
© Alastair Humphreys
JESSICA WATSON
SAILED SOLO ROUND THE WORLD, AGED 16
Sharing adventures with friends is really amazing and a good way to get to know someone well, but there’s also something very special about having an adventure all to yourself. Maybe it’s a little selfish but there’s something wonderful about a special moment being all yours.
TIM HOBIN
PADDLED THE GANGES IN A £50 KAYAK
When I think back now, highlights include pushing off onto the river through the cool and fragrant early morning mist as the sun rose and the delicious solitude that solo travel brings.
NIC CONNER
CYCLED FROM THE UK TO JAPAN FOR £1,000
My friend gave up in Russia. We’re still really good mates. It doesn’t really matter how fit you are, it’s the mental determination, and I think he wasn’t as committed as I was. He did well – he cycled to Russia and then he cycled home. In the time it took me to get from Moscow to Tokyo, he had cycled home via southern Europe, met a girl, moved in with her and started a business with her. John was an experienced cyclist and had done a lot of tours so it was great to have him around, especially in the first couple of months. But, if it was tomorrow, I’d start by myself.
JAMES CASTRISSION
KAYAKED THE TASMAN SEA
Some advice I got back when I was having a big difficult patch with [my expedition partner] Jonesy, a friend said to me, ‘Look, even if you are responsible for 80 per cent of the project, 80 per cent is not going to get you to the start line.’ And that’s with me operating 24 hours a day. So if Jonesy only did 20 per cent that was enough. But on the trip itself, that’s really where Jonesy’s strong point is. He more than made up for everything out on the trip itself.
KYLE HENNING
TRAVELLED FROM THE LOWEST POINT IN AFRICA TO THE HIGHEST
I called the trip a ‘solo’ expedition, but part of why I did it was to meet people whom I would end up depending on. Welders, mechanics, waiters, drivers and simply kind-spirited people along the way made the expedition possible. I didn’t realise it until afterwards, but I was seeking that connection in my life.’
© Alastair Humphreys
IT MIGHT BE EASY FOR YOU, BUT FOR ME…
‘It’s OK for you to go off on these big adventures,’ I sometimes hear people cry. ‘I’m not as male, fit, rich, young or handsome as you.’
OK, I made the last bit of that sentence up, but the rest I do regularly hear. And it’s probably not a coincidence that most of the people who do really big, really crazy adventures are male, fit, young, single and not poor.
But I do believe that anyone can do big and bold journeys. I know that you do not need to be athletic, brave or rich, for I am none of those things myself!
Women frequently ask my opinion on whether an expedition is suitable for a female to do. Here are reflections on that subject from some of the adventurers I interviewed who are more qualified than me to answer:
HANNAH ENGELKAMP
