The expansiveness of quiet periods in solo travel

Janet Asante Sullivan Art Series: Women at Ease / Gouache and watercolor 8/2024

I usually take a summer sabbatical in August, where I solo travel to a new country with no specific agenda, allowing myself to go with the flow. My main goal is to wander, loaf, and roam with a lightly held itinerary. Some days, I don't even know which hotel I’ll stay at next, leaving room to extend my stay in a place I enjoy or move on if I feel like it. I enjoy every aspect of my solo trips, but my favorite part is the in-between moments.

In between reading, perusing museums, taking in the sights, eating, painting, and people-watching, there are quiet gaps. These are the times when I find myself enjoying my own company, free from the gaze of those who know me. No one’s energy field colliding with mine or forced to mesh. I am free to be self-generating, to listen only to my inner voice, and to move at my own pace. I can easily pinpoint my own needs, energy and desires in these moments. Issues that have challenged in months prior are more easily processed and integrated.

During these moments, my thoughts are clear and unmuddied.

I reflect quietly on questions such as: What do I want to be in the next week, month, or year? What aspects of my relationships do I want to renegotiate or pivot? I sit with these questions and thoughts in the quiet gaps. It gives me the opportunity to confront my thoughts and refresh my personal goals since these change over time.

These gaps are why solo trips are the most important gift I can give myself. As Oprah says in the opening of her podcast Super Soul Conversations, “one of the most valuable gift you can give yourself is time, taking time to be more fully present.” Solo traveling does just that. It gives you time—time that’s not consumed by a travel companion whims, time to hear yourself think, feel, and absorb, and time away from everything that’s familiar and reinforces old thinking patterns. Solo travel disrupts your pattern and makes space for new information, thoughts, perspectives.

I feel strongly that this accelerates my personal and professional growth. Each time I come home from a solo trip, I feel as though I’ve literally grown three inches. My spine is straighter, my convictions are clearer, and I’ve gained several pounds of courage, self-confidence, and decisiveness.