Travel

We both only speak two languages fluently - English, which is very useful, and Japanese, which is only useful in one country (but as a result can understand a lot of written Chinese, which has come in handy a few times).

We can both manage a simple conversation in Greek, but again that's a language without many speakers (and I'm waiting to go to Cypress until I'm 50, so I don't have to do mandatory service!).

We learned to read Cyrillic, which is super useful in eastern Europe and the 'stans. Korean, too, which is very easy to learn, and there's a lot of Japanese and English loan words in Korean so can understand a surprising amount there. Tried to learn Thai writing but that's a challenge for another time - I think you'd need dedicated language classes just to get your head around the writing system. My wife learned to read Arabic and swears it's easier than it looks, but there's not many words we can understand with our linguistic background, even if we could read it fluently.

I'd say it's easier with a partner, but it really depends on your relationship. We get along very well, which is important because travelling we spend 24 hours a day 7 days a week together, and have done so for 10 years now. We have made some full-time travelling singles we've become friends with and I know they've all found it hard some times when they've struggled to make friends in a new city and can get quite lonely - but it can make making friends easier, especially in countries where people only tend to hang out in same gender groups.

Financially, it's often cheaper to hire a double occupancy room or even a studio apartment than two single beds in a dorm, and sometimes cheaper to hire a ride service than public transport when you share costs.