Now we're going to talk about solo group or couples travel, which one is for you. This is a topic that I love. Because really, there's so many different ways to travel. There's no one size fits all. And it really boils down to what you want and what's best for you. So I always tell people that you need to consider three things when you want to think about how you're going to travel.

Next one is your travel personality. We talked about that in section one. The second thing is what are your travel needs. And the third thing is your travel tolerance. This is all really about preparing yourself and really being reflective and thinking about what you want to get out of your next trip. And in some ways that even connects to your travel wise.

So your travel personality, what is it that you thrive off of what really motivates you and inspires you when you travel? What are your travel needs? Do you have any special medical needs Any special social needs safety needs because of your age, your gender, anything like that. And also your travel tolerance, we all have different levels of how we can tolerate being frustrated, being stressed out, feeling overwhelmed, or even dealing with excitement. So these are three things that you need to think about when you consider how you're going to travel next. And the takeaway is that there are pros and cons to traveling all kinds of ways, whether it's alone as a solo traveler, with the group or with your spouse, there are pros and cons to each of the each of these and let's talk a little bit about that.

So for solo travel, you know, some people think of this as a really big deal. There are many people and I've met some who have never gone anywhere by themselves. They always travel as a group. And there are some good reasons you know that and we'll talk about the cons, the things that are a little bit difficult about solo travel, but what are some of the pros what are some of the positive About solo travel. One is that you have freedom to plan and do what you want. You're not constrained by any group or any other people that have their own travel needs or travel tolerance that's different from yours, you're totally free.

If you want to go out and explore, you can do that if you want to spend all of your time in the hotel and only venture out at night because of the weather. If you only want to eat street food, whatever it is that you want, you can do it. The other thing is that you oftentimes when you travel alone, you have more time to contemplate and reflect on your travel. If you're looking for a more introspective, personal growth type of experience. When you solo travel, you might have more time to journal to really sit out and do you know, observe and be out in nature or out in the environment where you're visiting, and really reflect on your travel and sometimes the things when you're alone things that you might have told yourself Travel mate. If you are traveling together, you'll keep those things to yourself and either journal about them or really think about them.

And some people have done their best travel writing and travel journaling, while traveling solo. So that's something to think about. The other thing is you may actually push yourself to explore and venture out more, again, because of that freedom to do what you want. And because you're not constrained by anybody else, you might actually push yourself and say, You know what, well, I'm here by myself, I have to find something to eat. Let me take a walk around the neighborhood or let me take public transportation to go in town to you know, a nice eatery, or let me go do that adventurous thing that if I was with the group that might have been more afraid to do or not even thought about doing so you may actually push yourself to explore and venture out more. So again, these things are really connected to if your travel personal personality and travel purpose are really around person growth and learning about yourself and learning about different cultures.

Some of the cons are that you may actually feel lonely, right, you may explore more. But you might have times when you say you know what I wish I could go through this new experience with someone else or talk to them about how I'm feeling. It actually may be less safe in some circumstances, depending on where you go. And also depending on things like your age, your gender, sometimes, young women traveling alone may not be as safe depending on the location. And that's why doing your research is really important. Sometimes if you have some physical problems, it may not be as safe you might need to have someone with you, okay?

Also a con is that you may not be at the point where you're going to push yourself to explore when you're alone, you may actually be too fearful to explore if you're by yourself, and you might have done a little more exploring if you had a travel mate or companion. So these are some things to think about in terms of pros and cons for solo travel. Now likewise for group travel, there are many benefits and also some things that might make you take pause. Some of the benefits or pros is again that you may not feel lonely or bored, you may actually your experience of culture shock may not be as intense. And we're going to go through all of the stages of culture shock in the last lecture for this section. But one of the things is that when you encounter a culture that's completely different than yours, you go through so many stages or phases of culture shock in some ways, and so if you're with a group, it may not be that intense it may not be that shocking because you have your other travel companions or group members to serve as sort of a buffer or soft pillow to land.

And also you have built in fun you have your tribe or your travel squad, they are with you. And so you're you know, even if you all decide to do a little party, in the bed and breakfast or in the hotel, or just Take a walk. And people watch and turn that into a fun game that you all you know your own little inside joke, whatever it is you already have built in fun. So that's not a source of stress or anxiety for you. Some of the cons are that you may, depending on the group experience conflict, depending on the size and makeup of the group, if this is just a group of people that signed up for travel, like for, you know, a certain tour to a country or a certain educational study abroad or something, and they really don't know each other, depending on how many people are in the group and the diversity or makeup of the group or the similarity of the group members.

It may actually be a source of conflict. And so you might want to think about how you would resolve conflict. If you're traveling as a group. What are things that you're willing to compromise on? And what are things that you would say, Okay, it's time for me to sort of go off on my own and leave the group for a little bit. The other thing is that other group members may color your experience.

So that's sort of the opposite, where culture shock may not be as intense. But then if you are in a group and you're you know, there's one dominant or a few dominant group members, they may actually color your experience and you know how you think or feel about your your travel journey in the location that you're visiting. So you know, not that that's necessarily a bad thing. It's just something to think about and be aware of, if you're traveling as a group, and always to look for ways to make sure that you are getting your own individual travel needs met. If you are traveling in a group and couples travel. This is actually a really interesting topic because you know, there have been TV shows and movies that just portray couples spouses traveling together, people in a romantic relationship traveling together and actually the pros and the cons are pretty much the same, right?

One thing is that travel can bring out the best In worst in us, so that's a pro. And again, travel can bring out the best and worst in us that can lead to a negative. On the positive side it can bring you closer together through having these novel experiences that you have together and of overcoming adversity together. This can actually intensify your positive feelings towards each other, make you feel closer make make you feel like you've been through something as a couple and you have something in common. It can actually bring out you know, what we might call like altruism where you are helping your spouse and you're helping and listening to them and empathizing with them. All of these things that make you feel like you're understood and connected to the person you're in a relationship with.

But also travel can bring out the best and worst in us. And so, from the perspective of putting us in a stressful environment that can put stress on the relationship it might lead to you both might handle stress or cope with stress differently. So It might be difficult to understand or empathize with how your partner is dealing with things like culture shock, like being in a new environment, like dealing with, you know, a language they don't understand or new foods, this can actually put stress on a relationship. And it might actually magnify or amplify little conflicts or you know, issues that you might have had. But now that you're in this really new environment is very stressful, it can make it seem much bigger. So that's something to really think about.

I think a lot of times we think about travel as a couple as this really great thing. And it is, but I think you can sort of be prepared for some of the negatives by just being aware that it can put stress on the relationship, and it can amplify or magnify some of the little stresses that you already have going on in your relationship. So I want you to do a little reflection I want you to think about or reflect on your most recent trip. you've traveled before and think you know, answer was it solo? Where you as an individual, was it with the group or with your partner? And think about these three things.

What were two positive aspects of the trip? What were two negative aspects of the trip? And based on those positive and negatives, do you want your next trip to be solo with the group or with your partner? So I always like to just have people reflect on what was good or bad about their last trip, how that might have been connected to whether they were traveling alone with the group or with their partner, and then how that will influence the next trip that you want to take.