Rucksack packed to bursting point? Check. Trusty guidebook? Check. No family, friend, loved one or passing acquaintance to board the plane with? Check.

帆布背包中的东西塞到爆？想要靠谱的旅游指南？没有家人、朋友、爱人甚至一面之交与你乘飞机同行？那你不妨看看这个。

Young people are grabbing their passports and trekking off around the world on their own, not because they have no one to travel with, but because they prefer to go solo.

现在有很多年轻人正拿着护照，独自环游世界。并非因为他们找不到同行的人，而是因为他们更喜欢独自上路。

 

Kristina Wegscheider, from San Jose in California, US, first traveled unaccompanied when she was at college and believes that it is something everyone should do at least once in their life.

来自美国加州圣何塞市的克里斯蒂娜•维格谢德尔(音译)第一次独自旅行是在大学年代。她坚信每个人在人生中都应至少独自旅行一次。

 

“It opens up your mind to new things and pushes you out of your comfort zone,” said the 28-year-old, who works in human resources for a technology company.

“独自旅行能够打开你的思维，更好地迎接新事物，并且会迫使你不得不吃点苦头。”就职于一家科技公司人力资源部、28岁的克里斯蒂娜说道。

 

“In high school I wouldn’t have felt comfortable doing much of anything on my own, but as I have gotten older I’ve found that I love traveling on my own, especially in a country where I don’t know the language.” Wegscheider has visited 46 countries spanning all seven continents.

“高中时，独自处理很多事情时我常常会感到不适。但随着年龄增长，我发现自己爱上了独自旅行，尤其是置身于一个语言不通的国度。”维格谢德尔已将足迹留在了横跨七大洲的46个国家的土地上。

 

Foreign lands can be tricky to navigate at the best of times. But with no one to help you read a map, look after you if you get ill, or lend you money if your wallet is stolen, they are challenging.

即使在最有利的情况下，探寻异国他乡可能会有些棘手。但如果没人帮你看地图，在你生病时照顾你，或在你钱包被偷时借你钱，那将会是极富挑战的事情。

 

This is what drives young people to go solo. It is seen as character building and a chance to prove that they can make it on their own.

这正是促使年轻人独自旅行的原因；也被看作是一次塑造自身性格、证明自己能够自立的机会。

 

Chris Richardson decided to leave his sales job in Australia to go backpacking last year.

去年，克里斯•理查德森决定舍弃自己在澳大利亚的销售工作，而当一名背包旅行客。

 

He set up a website, The Aussie Nomad, to document his adventures. He says he wished he had gone solo earlier.

他建了一个叫做“澳洲流浪者”的网站，用来记录自己的冒险经历。他表示，如果自己能够早些独自旅行该有多好。

 

“Be it the people you meet, the places you visit, or the things you do, everything is off your own back and it forces you to grow as a person,” said the 30-year-old.

“你见哪些人，去什么地方，做什么事，一切都由你自己安排。这都会促使你成长。”30岁的克里斯说。

 

“To tackle university or a job with that kind of experience would have been a major bonus to me,” he said.

“带着这种经历去面对大学或工作中的挑战对我来说大有好处。”

 

Richardson describes traveling alone as like “a shot in the arm”, which “unleashed a better more confident person that was ready to tackle anything”.

理查德森把独自旅行看作是“一剂强心针”，它“使你得到释放，成为一个更加自信的人，从而准备好应对任何情况。”

 

He said: “The feeling of having conquered something on my own is a major part of what drives me each day when I’m tackling a difficult task.

他说：“独自攻克难关所带来的那种感觉是我每天应对困难时主要的动力来源。”

 

“I walk around with my head up because I know deep down inside that nothing is impossible if you try.”

“我昂首阔步到处行走，因为我内心深知，只要你去尝试，没什么是不可能的。”

 

Explorers such as Christopher Colombus, who discovered the Americas, and Amelia Earhart, the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, have paved the way for those wanting to explore foreign lands.

发现美洲大陆的克里斯托弗•哥伦布和独自飞越大西洋第一人艾美利亚•伊哈尔特这样的探险家们已经为那些想前往异国他乡探险的人们铺平了道路。

 

Detailed guidebooks, mobiles that can convert foreign signs into your mother tongue, and insurance companies that can rescue you if need be, have also made venturing into the unknown easier.

详细的旅游指南，能将外文标识转换成你母语的手机，以及在你需要时能够援救你的保险公司，这些也使得在陌生国度的冒险之旅变得更为便捷。

 

One of the greatest concerns of young people who are considering traveling abroad unaccompanied is that they’ll be lonely.

对于那些考虑独自出国旅行的年轻人来说，他们最大的顾虑之一便是寂寞难耐。

 

Advances in communications technology mean that you no longer need to wait two months to receive a letter from home, but nothing can fill an empty space by your side.

通讯技术的突飞猛进意味着你不再需要等上两个月的时间才能收到家人的信。但无论什么都无法填补你身旁无人陪伴的空缺。

 

Yet, young people are also fascinated by loneliness. Perhaps it is because they have grown up in a world where you are always contactable, and want to know what it’s like to be cut off. Or, perhaps it’s because they believe that only by being without distractions can you truly experience the world around you.

然而，年轻人为这种孤独感着迷。或许是因为他们生长在一个频繁与人接触的世界里，从而想知道与世隔绝的感觉是怎样的。亦或他们认为只有在毫无牵绊的条件下才能真正地体会周围的世界。

 

The great 19th century explorer John Muir once said: “Only by going alone in silence, without baggage, can one truly get into the heart of the wilderness. All other travel is mere dust and hotels and baggage and chatter.”

19世纪伟大的探险家约翰•缪尔曾说道：“只有在独自悄然离开，不带背包的情况下，人们才能真正体会到狂野的心。所有其他的旅行方式都只不过是灰尘、旅馆、行李和喋喋不休的交谈罢了。”