From What and Whom are Adventure Travelers Escaping?
The line between being alone and being lonely can become really blurred when one remains on the road at an almost semi-permanent basis. Physically being in new, strange places constantly, a traveler become a "floater," a being without a group of long-known acquaintances that give one the reason to remain in that place for long time . That idea of being physically alone and friendless at times, more often than not, begin to affect one's mental state toward a sense of confusion as to whether that sense of being alone is voluntary or forced, and whether willingly accepted as a side effect of traveling.