Avinash Tiwary: Solo travel teaches you this strange thing
Mumbai, May 21
Actor Avinash Tiwary, who is currently enjoying his holiday in Thailand's Koh Phangan, has talked about the "strange thing" solo travelling teaches. He went on to share that while he feels surrounded by love from family, friends, and even strangers, there are moments during his journeys when he finds himself "entirely alone."
Avinash took to the photo-sharing application Instagram, where he shared a string of videos and photographs from the picturesque locales of Koh Phangan, famous for its legendary Full Moon Party in the south and thriving wellness, yoga, and digital nomad scenes.
The 40-year-old actor spoke about how repeated solo trips slowly transformed from exciting adventures into "the shape of life," where solitude and happiness often co-exist.
He wrote: "This is my tenth solo trip. Maybe twelfth. I have stopped counting. The first ones were adventures I chose. Now they are mostly the shape of my life... friends with their schedules, family with theirs, mine somewhere in the middle, the only person reliably available being me."
"You walk into a new place. You meet someone at a bar. They become a friend for an evening, sometimes two. Then they move on, or you do, and the friendship doesn't survive the geography. The next place, the same."
The actor shared that he was at a place where the music is good.
"My body has not missed a beat in an hour. The light is doing something on the water. The dancers are happy. I am happy. And this is exactly the part that always returns.... I am also entirely alone."
Avinash made it loud and clear that he is not "lonely"
"I want to be clear: I am not lonely. There is a difference. I am held by more love than I have ever been held by my family, friends, strangers from places I will never visit. The love is real, the love is here. None of it is in the room with me right now."
Talking about lessons what traveling alone teaches, he said: "Solo travel teaches you this strange thing ...you can be filled to the top with the love of an entire life and still be the only person standing in the place where you are standing."
"The first solo trips were exciting. The third was different. The seventh felt like a habit. By now, somewhere in every trip, my mind says quietly: next time, friends. Next time, not alone. It says this even when nothing is wrong. It says it especially when everything is right."
The actor added: "The thing nobody warned me about: at some point, solo stops being a choice and becomes a way of life. The schedules around you don't line up. The people you love are also tired, also working, also somewhere else. You stop asking. You learn to enjoy your own company so well that the enjoyment becomes its own kind of solitude."
Avinash concluded the post by saying: "I don't have a tidy answer to this. I'm not even sure it's a problem to be solved. What I have is the observation. That being alone and being loved can completely co-exist. That a body can dance while a mind sits still. That the things we end up calling our life are sometimes the things we never quite chose..."
The actor's latest release is Ginny Wedss Sunny 2 directed by Prasshant with actress Medha Shankr. It is a spiritual sequel to Ginny Weds Sunny.
It followed a solitary wrestler, who re-evaluates his life when a young bachelorette crashes into his life and challenges his core assumptions, that's when he meets Ginny
— IANS
Reader Comments
This is beautiful but also a bit heartbreaking. 😢 In India, we're so used to being surrounded by family and community that solitude feels almost shameful. It's nice to see a celebrity normalize the feeling of being alone without being lonely. But I wish he'd also mention the practical challenges—like safety for women who want to solo travel in India.
"The things we end up calling our life are sometimes the things we never quite chose..." That line is pure gold. As a 30-something IT professional in Bangalore, I feel this deeply. Solo travel taught me to enjoy my own company. My parents still don't get why I go alone, but this article explains it better than I ever could. Thailand is next on my list!
I respect the honesty, but I can't help feeling a bit of privilege here. 😐 Not everyone can afford multiple solo trips to Thailand or even within India. That said, the sentiment is universal—many of us feel alone even in crowded cities like Mumbai or Delhi. Maybe we all need a little more of this self-reflection.
"You learn to enjoy your own company so well that the enjoyment becomes its own kind of solitude." Waah! 🤯 This is exactly what I experienced during my solo trip to Munnar last year. At first it felt awkward eating alone, but then it became liberating. Also, Full Moon Party in Koh Phangan is on my bucket list now!
I'm an American who's been living in India for 3 years, and this resonates so much. Solo travel in India
We welcome thoughtful discussions from our readers. Please keep comments respectful and on-topic.