You're listening to Life Kit from NPR.

Hey, it's Mariel.

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 by 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.

I had been so nervous during the planning and packing stages for the solovenia trip I had invented.

Why did traveling without the extra hassle of parenting feel so much more daunting?

Shouldn't it feel easier?

Even as a seasoned traveler, crossing the ocean alone was different.

I was so anxious about leaving my family behind, about being totally on my own, that I could barely get myself onto the plane.

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