Here I go again on my own. I always travel alone on my bike.

Or with people from other countries than my own. And with a girlfriend of course 🙂 But I really like to travel alone.

I’m on the road more than 300 days a year. Some of it is for work and some of it is for fun. But while I have a lot of really good friends from my native Denmark that loves to travel. I barely ever travel with them.

Traveling is about meeting people from around the globe. That is easier when you travel alone.

The single most important thing for me when I travel is to meet people. Both the natives from the country I visit and the other travelers I meet on the road. I find that when I travel alone i simply meet more people. Being a person who takes natural interest in people who are different from myself, I often end up hanging out with people from far flung corners of the globe. I don’t have to agree with every aspect of life in order to be friends with a person. That would simply leave me with just a small group of friends. And that would really suck. And only talking to the hotel receptionist, the bartender, the taxi driver and the waiter is just not enough for me when it comes to meeting locals. Nothing wrong with the people who do these jobs. I am one of them myself. But there is more to meeting locals than to meet those who work in the tourist trade.

I like to travel with my friends from around the world.

By traveling alone I am forced to talk to strangers all the time. Or simply be alone by myself. While I am very happy with a few hours of solitude every day, I also really like to socialise. And socialising is a lot more fun for me, when it’s done with people from around the globe.

Meeting some jiu jitsu guys on a random road in Brazil.

If I travel with a group of people from my native Denmark, then I find that the trip quickly turns in to a little Denmark party with an exotic background. So I kinds prefer to hang out with my Danish friends when I am back in Denmark. And then we can talk about our travels. Or if I travel with them, then I’ll just do it for let’s say 2-3 days and then head out on my own after that.

I have great friends back in Denmark. At Cafe Globen for instance.

I also really enjoy to travel with both old and new friends from around the globe. Visiting places with people of different backgrounds than myself gives me a lot of perspectives I would otherwise not have gotten. Seeing countries through the eyes of someone with another background than myself is very interesting and can be very eye  opening. We might have different opinions about the countries we visit. but that is usually not what stops me from being friends with people. I quite enjoy trying to understand people that I do not always agree with. Even if they are not going to change my mind. Some of the life lasting friendships I have met around the globe are among these folks. And I only met them cause I travel alone most of the time.

In Indonesia.

All this being said, I also enjoy taking shorter trips with family and friends from home. But i prefer these trips to be fairly short. This way I find that we end up with more quality time together. And we do not grow tired of each others habit that easily 🙂

And don’t worry, all my friends in Denmark. I love you dearly and love to meet you for a beer both in Denmark and abroad. But when I travel around the world, then I prefer to be left in the company of complete strangers and non Danes most of the time 🙂

I have been friends with these two Brazilian guys for more than 20 years.