I’ve been on this solo world tour for almost a year now, but I often forget that many people have never traveled alone. I really enjoy solo travel, and have absolutely no regrets about my decision to go alone this past year. Whenever I come home, I get lots of questions about traveling alone, and I want to encourage more people to give it a try.
Maybe there’s somewhere you want to go, but none of your friends are able to come with you. Or if you are yearning for an extended trip, it can be difficult to convince someone to come with you for such a long time. Don’t let that hold you back! These are my best tips for first-time solo travelers to make the most of your trip.
1. You won’t be alone most of the time
This is the #1 thing I want would-be solo travelers to know. Traveling alone doesn’t mean you will be alone all or even most of the time. In fact, the majority of the time I am hanging out with other people! There are many ways to connect with other travelers, such as in hostels, group activities or tours, social media and Facebook groups, or even Tinder if you are inclined. Once I meet people, I try to make plans to go out and see things together.
For me, the most common way I meet other travelers is through hostels. Some hostels are really social, and offer group activities such as walking tours, day trips, or pub crawls that bring people together. Hostels typically have some common area where you can hang out and chat and many of them have an adjoining bar or restaurant. When I am traveling to a new place, I pick a hostel that has good reviews for having a social atmosphere.
While the conditions in hostels vary, if you don’t want to sleep in a dorm, getting a private room in a hostel is a good compromise. You have privacy in your room, but still benefit from the social atmosphere in the common areas. You can read more about different kinds of hostels I’ve experienced here.
2. Talk to other travelers (aka new friends)
Of course, in order to not be alone, you will get used to talking to strangers. If you’re an introvert like me, this may be challenging at first but it will get easier over time. Sometimes I approach people, sometimes they approach me, and we often start with icebreaker questions like where you’re from and how long you’ve been traveling in the area.
I typically meet young people in their 20s and 30s who are from North America, various countries in Europe, and Australia or New Zealand. Since traveling in Spain and Mexico, I’ve also met people from South America. Sometimes, I run into the same people in different cities because we’re both traveling around the area and have similar itineraries. Or I exchange Facebook or Instagram info to stay connected if it works out to meet again in the future. I find that other solo travelers are the most receptive to meeting new people and hanging out, but I also meet some couples or friends traveling together.
3. Sometimes, you do have to do things alone
Yes, this is true. Sometimes you might not find anyone able to do a certain activity with you at the time you want to do it. Or sometimes you might find your hostel is quieter than expected, as I recently did in Cancun. While it is generally easy to meet new friends, it still depends on the luck of who is there when you are, and I don’t want to paint the picture that you will never ever have to be alone.
When I first started traveling alone, I was always trying to do activities with other people and tagging along with others’ plans at the expense of not doing things that I wanted to do. After a few months, I was tired of this and decided to just do things on my own. If someone wanted to come along, then great! Otherwise I would just go by myself and not be too bothered about it, just enjoying my own thoughts and my own company.
4. Some places are easier for solo travel than others
It’s also true that not everywhere is friendly for solo travelers. I think key considerations for whether I go somewhere solo is the availability of hostels, cost of solo transportation, and type of activities available.
For instance, I found Southeast Asia perfect for solo travelers. Most of the people I met in hostels were solo travelers themselves, and bus transportation was cost-effective for a single person. I also thought Japan was a great solo travel destination, though I happened to go with friends. The excellent train network made getting around easy, and I felt like most people there were in their own world, so being on your own didn’t feel so strange.
On the flip side, I think destinations that require lots of travel by car (either rental or taxi) aren’t good for solo travel because it tends to be expensive and you aren’t splitting the cost with others. Also, destinations with many outdoors activities aren’t great, because you need a car, plus I wouldn’t go hiking or camping alone for safety or injury reasons. For these reasons, I think the US is hard to travel alone, and besides hostels aren’t so common.
5. For staying safe, use common sense
This is especially a concern for solo female travelers. However, I think claims about danger from the media and well-meaning family and friends are often overblown, and once you get to the destination you realize that the same things you use to stay safe at home apply when traveling. Do look up the safety situation of the destination you’re traveling to and be aware of common scams, but unless you’re traveling to a notably dangerous area you likely will be fine just using common sense.
In my year of travels I have had nothing stolen or really felt unsafe in any situation. Of course, keep your valuables on you or in a locker, don’t drink too too much (or be with people you trust when you do), and watch out for scams on the street. I have walked alone at night before, but only for short distances in well populated areas, the same as I would do at home. It’s true that anything can happen anywhere, but awareness and common sense can mitigate most situations, and it shouldn’t stop you from seeing the world.
6. You can still get great pictures by yourself
When I first started traveling alone, I didn’t know how to get any photos of myself without asking a stranger, which was hit or miss anyway. Now, I carry a small tripod that can grip onto things (similar to this one, although mine is a knockoff I bought from a street market in Cambodia). I connect my phone to my camera and remote control the shutter after I’ve gotten in the frame. I also use a time-lapse feature on my camera that I set to take one photo every second for 30 seconds, in order to let me relax a little and get a more natural pose.
If you have a DSLR or mirrorless camera, it likely has these capabilities. I use the Sony a6000, which I absolutely love. Also, this article from one of my favorite travel bloggers taught me a lot and inspired me to take the effort to get more photos of myself.
7. Traveling alone is the ultimate freedom
I love traveling alone. You have the complete freedom to do whatever you want, whenever you want. If you want to be with people, you can be with people, but if you want to be alone then you can be alone. You are on your own schedule and don’t have to compromise on plans with anyone else.
It’s not all roses and smiles, but neither is life. Sometimes you are alone when you don’t want to be or you can’t find anyone you connect with. It’s a definitely different flavor of trip rather than traveling with friends or family. But it’s become my favorite way to travel and I wouldn’t want it any other way. Traveling alone may sound scary, but trust me, once you take the plunge, you’ll find it’s a lot easier than you think.
Happy travels!
Maranna
