7 Travel Tips for Successfully Traveling Solo

Give your itinerary to a friend or loved one at home

When traveling solo, it’s important to let others know your itinerary and you may want to check in with a designed person during your trip just to ensure they know you’re OK and on track in your travels. Leaving a detailed itinerary and contact information is not only important for you and your safety, but also for those at home in case something urgent occurs and you need to be reached.

Proactively combat loneliness with certain activities

One of the biggest concerns you may have with solo travel is feeling lonely. This is a normal concern but, with some planning, you can combat this. One suggestion is to book a group walking tour or bus tour of your destination. This is an easy way to meet others and enjoy being with a group. You can also let friends and family know that you’re traveling to a certain destination to see if they have a connection there. People often like to show off their city and enjoy spending an afternoon sharing their favorite locales. Be careful about posting your travel plans to publicly facing social media accounts, make sure your account is set to private friends only as you won’t want to broadcast that your home will be empty but this is another way of connecting with mutual friends in other locations. You may also want to check out a site like Meetup.com which connects people with similar interests for events and happenings while you’re traveling.

Look and act like a local

When you’re traveling alone, blending into culture has several benefits says Johanna Read, a responsible tourism writer from Vancouver Canada. She shares, “Blending in and minimizing how much you look like a tourist is the secret to travel success especially when solo. On my first day in a new country, I take a walk to check how people are dressed and, especially, how they carry their belongings (e.g. Is a purse nonchalantly on a shoulder or carried more carefully in front of the body complete with a hand over the zipper? How cautious are residents with their phones?) and follow suit.”

Johanna also says this is also a good opportunity to check out local customs about crossing the street (Do pedestrians have the right of way? Is jaywalking common? Do you need to check three times before you step off the sidewalk?), eating on the street and whether strangers say good morning, nod, or completely ignore each other. Johanna shares, “Tourists, solo or not, are most at risk of distraction crimes and crimes of opportunity like pickpocketing or leaving your bag slung on the back of your chair at a cafe. When you're admiring the architecture or looking at Google Maps, you're not paying the attention you should to the people around you.”

Choose wisely whom you ask for help

Another tip Johanna has is to wisely choose who you ask for help if you need directions or a recommendation, “rather than rely on the overly kind person who suddenly appears at your side. But keep in mind that wherever you travel, the grand majority of people are helpful and will look out for a solo traveler especially a female one.”

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