I’m a travel enthusiast – this is how I got over the fear of solo backpacking
- Backpacking alone is becoming increasingly popular, especially among young people
- A travel influencer has revealed how he was ‘terrified’ of traveling alone
- He revealed how he overcame fear and has now been to almost 80 countries
Whether you take a gap year to interrail Europe or head out to ‘find yourself’ in Thailand, solo travel is becoming increasingly popular, especially among young people.
However, it doesn’t come without its challenges: it can be terrifying to book that one-way ticket and go to a country where you don’t know anyone.
A travel influencer has revealed how he overcame his fear of solo backpacking after being ‘terrified’ at first, in the hope of encouraging others.
YouTuber ‘@BackpackerBen’ posted a video titled ‘Life as a Travel YouTuber (brutal reality)’, where he answered his viewers’ burning questions about the solo travel lifestyle.
The influencer has visited almost 80 countries and has been traveling alone for years, so he wanted to pass on some words of wisdom to the rising generation of backpackers.
A travel influencer has revealed how he overcame his fear of solo backpacking after being ‘terrified’ at first, hoping to encourage others
One question he answered was, “How do you overcome your fear of travel?”
He told his 244,000 followers: ‘Good question, there are a lot of people messaging me who are afraid to travel and I completely understand, especially if you’re young, because I was exactly the same.
‘My first solo travel experience was Australia and I left my friends in Thailand and flew to Sydney.
‘I can tell you, I was terrified. I booked a hostel and that was the very first hostel I stayed in.
‘Actually I walked into that hostel and there were four girls there, they were friendly and talking to me like ‘where are you from?’
‘I explained to them I’m from Plymouth, I’m here on a trip and that’s it, they were going out for a night and I thought oh my god, I didn’t want to ask to go with them, I was hoping they would .’
Claiming it was ‘very awkward’ at first, he continued: ‘You have to go down to the common area and talk to people and obviously I’m confident about it, but it’s hard.
‘It’s difficult, you go to a hostel and there are a lot of foreign people, you’re a foreigner yourself and it’s very difficult to be honest.
YouTuber ‘@BackpackerBen’ posted a video titled ‘Life as a Travel YouTuber (brutal truth)’ where he answered his viewers’ burning questions about the solo travel lifestyle
The influencer has visited almost 80 countries and has been traveling alone for years, so he wanted to pass on some words of wisdom to the rising generation of backpackers
He told his 244,000 followers: ‘Good question, there are a lot of people messaging me who are afraid to travel and I completely understand, especially if you are young because I was exactly the same’
“But once you get over that fear and talk to people and realize that you’re all the same, that you’re all doing the same thing, you’ll meet some incredible people and overcome that fear.”
He ended the video by talking about the progress he has made, explaining: ‘I got to the point where I was moving to a new hostel and I was looking forward to it – you meet some incredible people and every hostel you is going, will continue. .
“I was terrified at first, but you overcome that fear the more you do it and the more you get involved and talk to people.”
The comments praised the YouTuber’s honesty, writing: “It’s hard to believe Ben was ever scared” and “It’s people like you who make this a beautiful planet, honesty is always the best policy.”
Others added: ‘Ben’s videos are less sugary and more raw travel, it’s rare to see content like this these days’ and ‘I like these types of videos more than the actual travel videos. Interesting to know about the difficulties of traveling etc.’.