Solo backpacking through Southeast Asia on $25 a day taught me more about my own limits than any group trip ever has. I did six weeks through northern Vietnam and Laos last spring with a 38L pack, and there were nights I genuinely wished someone else was there to split a room or watch my bag. Still, I'd choose going alone again — you talk to more strangers, you change plans without a meeting, and you find out what you actually want versus what the group wants. Curious whether that trade-off holds for other people or if it's just my bias talking.