How to travel solo

Recently, thanks to a lovely work colleague travelling alone for the first time asking me for some tips, I’ve been thinking a lot about my solo travel journey. I was single, pre J, for a lot of years and thought because I had no one to travel with, I just couldn’t travel. It took me a long, long time to feel like I COULD travel alone and I’m sad I lost out on so much time not travelling. I don’t want anyone else to miss out, so this post will give hints, tips and things I wish I’d thought about before booking that first solo trip. Here’s how to travel solo, because you really, really should!

Can I actually travel alone?

Yes! Of course you can. If you can go out and about alone in the UK (and you can, even if you’re not doing currently) you can travel alone internationally. It may take more planning, some thinking outside the box and clever packing, but you can do it. I believe in you.

How do I choose where to go?

For me, solo trips have always been more difficult to plan than trips with a friend or my partner, simply because there’s more to think about. Safety, for example-if I’m with J then it doesn’t matter if I’m in a quieter city out and about at night, but alone that wouldn’t feel safe. The length of the trip too is a consideration-I don’t think two weeks away by myself is something I’d enjoy, but I can do longer trips with J. If you’re looking for your first solo trip I’d start with somewhere familiar (if you’ve seen a lot of Spain, a new Spanish city would be great as you know how the local customs work, two weeks in Vietnam when you’ve never been further than France may feel like a bit of a culture shock)

How do I keep costs down?

Solo travel is great in many ways, but a big downside is you’re not sharing hotel and taxi costs with someone else. I always travel on a budget and solo even more so, and I’ve picked up a few tricks along the way!

Hostels are amazing, if you can book a private room. They tend to be cheaper than a hotel room with added access to a kitchen, and usually there’s people around to chat to if you’re in need of company. If you’re happy to share a room, and meeting people will be easier this way, you can book a bed in a dorm, which is usually super cheap. Air b n b, too, can work out cheaper in a lot of countries. Avoid taxis where possible, if there’s a bus, tram or you can walk, then you’ll save a fortune. Advance planning, especially for things like getting from an airport to a destination, is the best way to save money-when you arrive in a new place, tired from a flight, if you don’t know that the three euros bus is a ten minute walk through the terminal, you’re far more likely to jump into a 30 euros taxi outside arrivals.

My favourite money saving tip for solo trips is what I affectionately call ‘a hotel room picnic’. To save money on a meal out, head to a supermarket and grab your snacks of choice, use a clean towel as a picnic blanket (or an actual blanket-I always travel with mine on solo trips) and enjoy your hotel room picnic with some Netflix or an audiobook. I always aim for some fruit and veg on mine, some sort of dairy (ideally cheese) and then some nuts or seeds. Once I’ve got some nutritional food, I’ll add a bag of Lays (why are they always so much better than at home crisps?) and then anything else I can spot that would work-at home I’d go for mini scotch eggs and sausage rolls, so on trips I’d look for mini meat products, pastries or a mini bread roll or two. I also always travel with a plastic plate, bowl and cutlery so I can eat on the go without any hassle.

How do I stay safe?

Other than using my judgement and common sense, and not walking down lonely alleyways alone in search of street art (ahem) I always make sure that a couple of trusted friends know my travel plans. Hotel or hostel name and address, and my room number, any activity bookings I’ve made, and any onward travel details are shared with my emergency people, and I check in with them multiple times a day-normally with a photo of something cool or a quick travel story rather than a rigid ‘hi I’m still safe’.

I also don’t ever share my live location on my social media. Instagram will know I’m in the city, and where I’ve been that day, but the story from a cafe with my tasty local snack will be uploaded a couple of hours after I left there, and that cute museum selfie in the evening once I’m back at my accommodation. I also never share where I’m staying until after I left. Most people aren’t a threat, but sharing exactly where you are, especially as a solo female, is a risk too high for me.

Now I know how to travel solo, how do I handle feeling lonely?

I was so worried about this before I started solo travel, and I had a meltdown on my first ever multi city trip thinking being alone for two weeks would be awful. It was not awful. I did message my friends a lot, but I’d have done that at home anyway, and I did find ways to meet people, booking a couple of sessions with local photographers and an air b n b experience tour, but I also enjoyed my own company, watched netflix, read books when I was moving from city to city, and had a nice time.

If you think you’ll be lonely, you might choose to stay in a hostel where there will be people around, schedule a call in with a friend, and think of the things that make you happy. Do those, a lot. You’ll be fine.

What about eating alone, isn’t that scary?

It can be, especially at first. But you will not be the only one eating alone. I used to choose busy cafes, so no one cared that I was alone, and if it felt too much I’d grab fast food or order a takeaway to where I was staying. Taking a book, or using the time to scroll social media or play a game on your phone, also helps. Honestly, eating alone just gets easier, and this one didn’t even feature in my list of worries about how to travel solo for a single second.

Hopefully now you’re read my post on how to travel solo, you’ll want to book that first solo trip. If ‘how to travel solo’ has inspired you, I would LOVE to hear about it. Please let me know in the comments!