The first time I traveled by myself was to South Africa, probably the most liberating experience I've ever had in my life, you never feel more at one with yourself when you're in another country by yourself. I had gone places with friends prior to that, but that was the first time I was out on my own, no waiting on anyone else to get ready, no planning schedules. You develop a level of confidence I can't really even explain, it's like you're born again as this smiley
As for Brazil, I lived in Salvador for 5 months, I had been to Brazil a few times before that, stayed in Salvador for about 2 weeks before and fell in love with the atmosphere, pacing and how beautiful the city itself was. I had sold my car a few months early and had some decent money, started to get tired of the rat race and people in the US overall and decided to go back to a place I absolutely loved. I stayed in a hostel for about a week and a half before I found a decent/cheap apartment, after that my day would usually be -
Wakeup - get some breakfast,
go to the beach - go to the gym (in a hotel)
come back to the spot and relax - email/surf net,
go back out and chill at a bar/restaurant/lounge.
I met a girl maybe 1 month after I got there that had just graduated from some university in Juazeiro, really pretty, really sweet and just extremely pleasant to be around. Her english was pretty good, and she'd help me with my Portuguese. She'd invite me to all these family get togethers, everyone treated me like they knew me. I wasn't down there for sex, and I wasn't down there for a girlfriend, I went down there to clear my mind and experience a new culture for a long period of time. It just worked out that I met someone worthwhile, which made leaving difficult.
Oh, and funny thing, because of our music she assumed NYC was like a warzone, 50 was big at the time. She couldn't believe me when I told her that most of the big cities in Brazil were far more dangerous.