I was going 75 mph down I-16, the outside temperature steadily increased to a pleasant 85 degrees with no intention of stopping, as the sweltering mid afternoon of South Georgia crept in. Shafts of light danced erratically back and forth across the dash while my radio blasted some vague song from a universal childhood. During my very intimate and personal concert thrown for one, I stopped mid a capella as a feeling of absolute abandon took me over and I experienced the freedom of solitude.

Early on in my 20s, I was already tackling the sometimes harrowing aspect of independence. I was never self-conscious about dining alone, taking myself to the movies, or even hiking six miles up a mountain on a weekday morning with nothing more than a bag of trail-mix for a companion. Traveling alone, however, was an entirely different feat to accomplish. Traveling requires both time and money, two scarce resources for a college student already footing the rent check.

One day, the opportunity to travel alone fell right into my lap, so I bit the bullet, took my car, and started driving. The experience was something I would relive a thousand times over, and so now, I relish in the chance. I urge you to do the same, at least once, and here are just a few of the reasons why.

You can be as selfish as you want

While traveling alone, the only person I have to answer to is myself. I am not obliged to spend half the day dragging my feet at the suggestion of a companion's less-than-interesting itinerary. I can come and go as I please, and wander off to wherever my attention leads me, making for a more enjoyable, organic experience that only calls for what interests me in that moment. Whether my plans for that day's travel are jam-packed, or if they're more laid-back and whimsical, I'm in total control of whatever it is that I want to do. I will find that the little and often overlooked nuances of my day will be filled with spontaneity and deeper meaning. Those small moments, suspended in time, will suddenly become the things in which I can draw appreciation from, even after I'm home.

You can conquer the fear of being alone

One of my favorite activities is to sit back and people watch. How gratifying and deeply intimate it is to experience a slice of someone else's reality without making it your own. Often times, I like to visit new restaurants in unfamiliar cities and watch co-workers interact, or wonder if the couple sharing desert across the bar are on their first of many dates. Although this kind of perspective can make you feel incredibly small at times, it's a lesson in humility -- that life continues to tick on in other corners of the world, with or without my influence. It's nice to be able to remove myself so far from my own ordinary, and by doing so I get a deeper understanding of what it means to be apart of my own community. By being alone in another city, you quickly understand that there's absolutely nothing to be afraid of, in an intrinsic sense, because life is still happening.

You learn how to be a better traveler

For whatever reason, from traveling alone, I've learned to be more courteous with the locals I'm interacting with. This is probably due to the fact that my attention isn't being distracted by someone else and that I am capable of being in the moment, doing whatever it is in front of me. I am also moving at my own pace, without the inevitable lag of traveling with someone else, which means I experience more in a shorter window of time. I may also spend my money a little more wisely, as traveling alone means no reason to impress someone else with dinner plans or nights out on the town. On the flip side of that, I may be a little more inclined to treat myself to a nice dinner, seeing as that I'm only paying for myself and that I don't have to worry about burdening someone else financially if my palate or interests tend to gravitate to the more expensive side. All of this means that I am able to organize my time more efficiently the next time I do decide to travel, with or without someone. Being alone also means that I can quickly circumvent the things not worth mentioning in regards to a specific city.

it's kind of attractive

There is something to be said about a person who, despite fear, makes travel plans alone. It speaks to their personality. To be unaccompanied suggests a kind of confidence within yourself that means you aren't as easily affected by your insecurities, not to say that you don't have any if you do opt to travel alone, but you definitely have a sense of self-assurance that many others struggle to find all of their life. The kind of anxiety and vulnerability that can come from simply arranging a trip can be overwhelming at times, so I am always intensely fascinated when I meet people who prefer this mode of travel. It means they're confident enough in themselves to rely on their own abilities.

There's no drama

My best friend, who I love dearly, is usually my traveling companion. There is not a single person on this earth that I would rather experience life with. In some ways, she's my soulmate, the sister I never asked for but so glad I have. However, when we travel, I can physically feel the tension rising as soon as we hit the landing strip. We don't always see eye to eye when it comes to what constitutes "fun," probably because we're just two people excited about very different things, and that's perfectly OK. There have been a few times while traveling with her that I've had to bite my tongue, knowing full well that trying to reconcile a disagreement after the fact is always harder than I think it will be. Self-restraint comes in handy during times like these, and I always regret that patronizing tone of voice I can sometimes pick up after I'm exhausted and at my wit's end. Despite this, she and I can live together in the same apartment for months and get along so well that I'm missing her the second she steps out the door. Traveling alone affords me the ability to not worry about damaging my friendship, and I'm not constantly anxious, wondering if she's enjoying herself or not. It's hard enough to entertain someone else's schedule when I'm trying to cram in everything else that I think I have to do. Funny enough, we're taking a pretty extended trip together next month, so this will probably be a good exercise in working on my compromising skills.

Adventures seem to pop out at you

Getting better at traveling alone is a practice you can gradually get better at. I will typically have a very flexible idea f what it is I want to get done in a day's travel, but I am always willing to leave room for the unexpected. For example, I like walking. A lot. I'd walk three miles across port-city streets rather than taking an Uber because I don't want to miss out on something amazing I might have overlooked otherwise. If I'm hungry, I can stop in the closest restaurant that catches my eye. I don't have to worry if my traveling partner doesn't like raw fish, but I'm craving sashimi. Once while I was in Boston, I spent an entire day exploring different neighborhoods on the MBTA by myself, and I had a fabulous time doing it. Other people might not find walking around undistinguished and otherwise empty streets an enjoyable experience, especially when there are hundreds of museums and restaurants to choose from, but I fondly remember more the people I met that day, than the Magna Carta at the Museum of Fine Arts on the next. It's all about the relevance we give our experiences, what draws us out of ourselves. Traveling is a crash-course in humanity and culture, and a city's people can offer more of that than a tourist hot-spot ever could.

You can meet new people

I've always been secretly envious of people who travel for work, even if they spend most of their time in economy hotel rooms and board meetings. Surprisingly, most of the people who sat at the bar, back when I bartended, were travelers staying just for the night. These people had interesting stories, and a wealth of experience that I could only dream of. It's remarkable to think about how our world started from language alone. Everything we interact with on a daily basis emanates from our ability to socialize with one another. Society itself is just a fascinating exploration into the history of linguistics. Inevitably, the more we travel, the more people we run across, and in turn we become more compassionate, tolerant humans. For the sake of both entertainment and sanity, when we travel alone, we are more inclined to make ourselves vulnerable and talk to strangers. When we make friends with a stranger, our sense of self and the world around us opens up to extraordinary opportunities and ideas. By being alone, we are forced out of our comfort zones, and we don't have the luxury of familiarity to rely on like we do when we travel with someone else.

Traveling itself doesn't require that you carve out an entire week of the year and book a flight to Thailand. Work schedules in America would hardly permit such a thing, anyway. You can take a day off and drive a couple of hours into the mountains, or park your car in the city and just start walking. It really doesn't matter. Just go somewhere, anywhere, by yourself and take a look around.