You're listening to LifeKit from NPR.
Hey, it's Marielle.
For a long time, I had this idea that solo travel would be sad for me.
That I might see beautiful sunsets or cityscapes,
but they wouldn't mean anything if I had no one to look at them with.
Well, that's just not true.
Turns out, I love looking at a sunset alone.
Also, I meet people wherever I go, and I love having the freedom to do whatever I want,
and not feeling guilty if it doesn't match up with somebody else's plan.
I've traveled solo in Arizona, Puerto Rico, Belize, France, the UK, and some other places too.
I mean, it is different.
There's a lot to plan for,
and there are moments when you're thinking, should I really be doing this?
I will never forget traveling solo to Slovenia,
my first time ever leaving both of my kids for a week.
Journalist Amelia Edelman covers travel as well as parenting and psychology.
She's gone on countless trips with her family, but planning this solo trip,
preparing to be an ocean and multiple connecting flights away from her kids,
stressed her out more than all the other trips where she'd planned for,
packed for, and carried a small child or two across continents.