Grand Adventures

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: