1. Learn how to make decisions.

For me, traveling alone was one crash course in making decisions–just keep on rolling the dice and see what comes up. Stop the research. Stop the analysis paralysis. Just keep choosing and living. In travel, everything is as it is, and there’s always another day to change course and choose again. A lot more happens in life when you stop worrying about what to do and just go.

學會做決定

對于我，獨自旅行是學習怎樣做決定的速成班——就是不停地滾動骰子看看有什么出現。不再調查研究，不再優柔寡斷，只是不斷地做出選擇和生活。人在旅途，事事順其自然，而且總是有一天要改變路線從新選擇。如果你停下來而不是發愁該做什么時，會有更多的事發生。

2. Openness to the world.

The sense of risk and heightened reward is what draws me to traveling alone. Traveling with a friend can be an adventure too, but the adventure quotient is usually higher when you are alone. You’re more vulnerable in the sense that you have to seek out company and help. Hey, just because I’m traveling alone doesn’t mean I can’t ask a hunky Carioca volleyball player to put sunscreen on the hard-to-reach places. That’s the advantage of traveling alone, isn’t it? Openness to adventure.

對世界敞開懷抱

冒險的感覺和增加的回報吸引著我獨自旅行。和朋友一起旅行也可以是冒險，但只有你一個人時冒險的份量通常會更高。因為你想要獲得旅伴和幫助，感覺上你更脆弱些。嗨，獨自旅行并不意謂著我不能請里約熱內盧一位打排球的美男子幫我在自己難以夠到的背上涂防曬油。這也獨自旅行的好處，不是嗎？對冒險敞開懷抱吧。

3. The grace of trusting in strangers.

Traveling alone also teaches you to trust your fellow men and women. They are the ones who help you out when you are in need. I will never forget the man who stopped a long-distance bus for me in Colombia so he could go buy me Coke and toilet paper (I confessed to him that I had “digestive” issues right before we got on the bus). Then he invited me to his family’s home for lunch, and I still get emails from the family saying they will never forget me.

信任陌生人

獨自旅行也教會你信任和你同道的男男女女。他們就是那些在你有需要時會幫忙的人。我永遠不會忘記在哥倫比亞有一個男人，為了我，他停下長途汽車，去給我買可樂和衛生紙（我對他坦白，我就在上車前患有“消化不良”）。后來他還邀請我到他家里午餐。我現在還收到他們家的郵件說不會忘記我。

4. Star in your own movie.

When you travel alone, the trip is completely yours. You are the star of your own movie. All the mistakes are yours to make, the serendipitous discoveries to enjoy, and the insights to savor. The recollection of the trip is entirely personal and private.

做自己的主角

獨自旅行時，旅程完全是你一個人的。你是自己電影里的明星。犯自己的錯誤，欣賞偶然的發現，品味自己的領悟。對旅程的回憶完全是個人的和隱私的。

5. A new best friend (or love).

In a whole year of travel, I made a new best friend who I know will be a friend for life. We will be at each other’s weddings if we get married, we coach each other through our post-(or newly)-travel lives, and we hope to meet up for other adventures in Africa, Asia, and to dance tango in Buenos Aires. Our friendship is pure gold and we have both helped each other grow in innumerable ways. That openness to a new friend might not have been there if I had already been traveling with someone else. And who knows? You might meet the love of your life.

遇到摯友（甚至摯愛）

在一次整年的旅行中，我交到一個要好終生的新朋友。我們承諾會出現在對方的婚禮上，我們會相互指導旅行后（或是新旅行）的生活，我們期望著在非洲、亞洲的旅行中再次相遇并在布宜諾斯艾利斯一起跳探戈舞。我們曾在（哥倫比亞西部城市）卡利一起度過近兩個月，又在布宜諾期艾利斯相遇相聚了兩個月。我們的友情純潔珍貴，有無數個時候我們相互幫助成長。如果當時我和另外一個人一起旅行，我可能不會對新朋友如此真摯直率。誰知道呢？你也許會在旅行中遇上自己一生的至愛。