Solo travel can be exhilarating, exhausting and emotional. But I’ve always found it worth it. Sometimes, though, you can use a helping hand. So I’ve gathered together some of my favourite quotes for travelling alone, as well as some more practical info to help you on your next solo trip.
The Best Quotes for Travelling Alone
Through work and a passion for exploration, I’ve travelled alone through the desert sands of the Sahara, the ice of the Arctic Circle and the sweaty tropics of southern India. Some things have made life much easier, like having the right kit. So before you travel anywhere, check out the international travel checklist and ultimate travel packing list here.
Also, while many of these solo travel quotes wax lyrical about self-sufficiency, remember there’s nothing wrong with booking onto a tour or a cruise if that’s what you’d prefer. Suffering doesn’t make something more meaningful.
There’s a whole world of travel experiences that cater for solo travellers these days, from luxury cruises in the Amazon rainforest like this to the ultimate in rest and relaxation in a Greek villa, like this.
Right, that said, let’s get on to the inspirational stuff. Whether it’s your first trip or your forty-first, here are some of the best quotes for travelling alone.
Self Sufficiency Quotes
“I learned my strengths and my weaknesses. I experienced the exhilaration of the ups and the despairs of the lows and most of the feelings in between… I learned courage and I learned it myself” – Ann Stirk
“When a woman becomes her own best friend life is easier.” – Diane Von Furstenberg
“I was amazed that what I needed to survive could be carried on my back. And, most surprising of all, that I could carry it.” – Cheryl Strayed
“As you travel solo, being totally responsible for yourself, it’s inevitable that you will discover just how capable you are!” Unknown.
“Not I, nor anyone else, can travel that road for you. You must travel it for yourself.” – Walt Whitman
“Solo travel not only pushes you out of your comfort zone, it also pushes you out of the zone of other’s expectations.” – Suzy Strutner
“One of the greatest discoveries a man makes, one of his great surprises, is to find he can do what he was afraid he couldn’t do” – Henry Ford
Meaning of Life Solo Travel Quotes
“You are the one that possesses the keys to your being. You carry the passport to your own happiness.” – Diane Von Furstenberg
“When you’re traveling with someone else, you share each discovery, but when you are alone, you have to carry each experience with you like a secret, something you have to write on your heart, because there’s no other way to preserve it.” – Shauna Niequist
“I have traveled many roads in my life. Some were imbued with pain and I needed to avert my gaze. Others were so beautiful that I would have remained there forever. But always, at some point in these routes, I reached a place where I encountered myself.” – Pablo Holmberg
“You have to get lost before you can be found” – Jeff Rasley
“Half the fun of travel is the aesthetic of lostness.” – Ray Bradbury
“You will never be alone if you like the person you are with!” Unknown.
“There are some places in life where you can only go alone. Embrace the beauty of your solo journey.” – Mandy Hale
“Adventure can be an end in itself. Self-discovery is the secret ingredient.” – Grace Lichtenstein
“Travel doesn’t become adventure until you leave yourself behind” –Marty Rubin
“Traveling solo means getting to know the real you.” –Unknown
“The best trip is the journey you take in finding yourself.” – Angela Vallely
More Quotes About Travelling Alone
When it comes to finding quotes about travelling alone, you’ll notice they’re not all solo female travel quotes. As a woman, I think it’s great to see the explosion in articles and confidence encouraging women to hit the road. And while men and women face different challenges when it comes to their first time or forty-first trip, some things remain the same: buy travel insurance, take a deep breath and enjoy your trip!
Making Friends While Travelling Alone
“Traveling solo does not always mean you’re alone. Most often, you meet marvellous people along the way and make connections that last a lifetime.” – Jacqueline Boone
“You never really travel alone. The world is full of friends waiting to get to know you!” Unknown.
More Solo Traveller Quotes
Having Fun & Falling in Love
“Good girls go to heaven, bad girls go everywhere.” – Mae West
“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone” – Neale Donald Walsch
“A nomad I will remain for life, in love with distant and uncharted places.” – Isabelle Eberhardt
“To awaken quite alone in a strange town is one of the most pleasant sensations in the world.” Freya Stark.
More Travel Solo Quotes
Not Letting Life Pass You By
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.
“So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain
“Traveling alone will be the scariest, most liberating, life changing experience of your life. Try it at least once.” – Unknown
“Go solo, go far.” –Unknown
“Don’t be scared to walk alone. Don’t be scared to like it.” — John Mayer
“Some journeys can be only traveled alone.” –Kein Poirot
“Travel only with thy equals or thy betters; if there are none, travel alone.” — Buddha
“The woman who follows the crowd will usually go no further than the crowd. The woman who walks alone is likely to find herself in places no one has ever been before.” –Albert Einstein
“The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.” – Ayn Rand
“Do you really want to look back on your life and see how wonderful it could have been had you not been afraid to live it?” – Caroline Myss
More Travel Alone Quotes
Quotes About Travelling Alone That Reveal the Truth
One day, you will look back and learn about all these adventures and new experiences through the fading grandeur of your own memories. And that’s the best way to look at things!
“The man who goes alone can start today; but he who travels with another must wait till that other is ready.” – Henry David Thoreau
In other words, when you travel alone, you get to do what you want!
Quotes That Need Some Caveats (!)
“Always go with the choice that scares you the most, because that’s the one that is going to require the most from you” – Caroline Myss
I mean. I kinda see what she’s getting at here but also… When you’re travelling alone, sometimes the best thing you can do is listen to that fear and get yourself out of a dangerous situation. So, go with the poetry but don’t forget the practical.
“Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.” – Gustav Flaubert
I think for this to make sense, you have to have a pretty big idea about yourself before you start ;-)
“If you are waiting for someone to travel with you, you may end up waiting a lifetime.” –Unknown
And perhaps my all time favourite…
“If you never go, you’ll never know.” – Unknown
More Travel Tips and Travel Quotes
- The best short travel quotes you haven’t already heard before.
- The best road trip quotes to make the journey fly by
- 101 travel tips every solo traveller needs to know
- What is home anyway?