Solo travel never leaves you indifferent. Some love it, others dread it, and many hesitate to take the plunge… But everyone has their opinion on the matter. Traveling alone is a wonderful adventure and those who taste it are often satisfied.
I’ve listed 10 top tips and tricks to ensure you can travel alone with peace of mind and have the best possible experience. These tips are valid for a solo travel for women or men.
1. Choose the right and easy destination
Going alone you are in control of your choice of destination. Prefer a place that fits your personality and your desires make your life easier. Choose simple countries, find out about the country you want to visit before you go.
2. Take out travel insurance
While traveling, an accident quickly happened. On the other side of the world, without social security coverage and not necessarily the best possible quality of care, your adventure could turn into a disaster, for your health, but above all for your wallet.
Travel insurance will cover health costs (doctors, hospital, medicine), but also the costs of civil liability, repatriation… knowing that in some countries, you will have to pay hundreds/thousands of dollars per day of hospitalization. Read Travel Insurance Tips For more information.
3. Learn the basics of the language of the destination country
Try to learn a few words of the language of the country you are visiting, with at least: hello, how are you, thank you, and goodbye.
On one it shows that you are making an effort, on two it will make your interlocutor smile and on three it makes your brain work. It can change your interactions from being a tourist to someone nice. Write on a page a summary with your words and expressions, you can use the Google Translate app.
4. Don’t be afraid to ask for information
If you need information, ask around for adults, preferably older people, whether on the street, in your hotel, in a store. Who wouldn’t help a lost tourist? Most people are caring and want to help others, so go ahead.
Don’t ask for information from young citizens; however you should always prefer older people to avoid any kind of scam or thieves.
5. Inform your family of your movements
As you are traveling alone, ideally there should always be someone aware of your whereabouts. In case of problems, she can take care of helping you or report it to the authorities.
Then with regard to your loved ones (friends, family), it is always better if they know where you are and ideally where you will be staying.
6. Don’t overload yourself
No matter how long your trip is, don’t overload yourself. Do not take superfluous things, only the essentials, a solo trip packages must be light. If you go to a fairly developed place, no need to bring all your pharmacy, you will find what you need there.
7. Take local transport
As you already know, you have to favor walking to really explore a place. But taking the bus, the metro… allows you to immerse yourself in people’s daily lives.
8. Don’t draw too much attention
Either it’s a female travel or not, it is important not to draw too much attention to yourself when traveling alone. It will be difficult for you to pass yourself off as locals, so don’t overdo it.
By being alone, do not show too much your precious objects, your phone and your camera.
Because you will be target for pickpockets in major tourist areas and because in poor countries, it’s as if you “tempted” people to steal from you.
