Travelling alone can seem daunting from the comfort of home. What happens if things don’t go to plan? What if you get stranded? Is it safe to go out at night solo? All these questions and more (what will I do if my luggage goes AWOL? What if my car gets stuck in a ditch? Will I get attacked by bandits?) often plague travellers before their first solo travel trip. To put those fears at bay, read on for our writers’ and editors’ top 5 tips for surviving solo travel. It’ll hopefully furnish you with what to know before traveling to anywhere on your own, and lead you to learn lots of new things about the world – and yourself.
Embrace yourself
This came up time and time again as one of our writers’ top solo travel tips – being alone for long periods of time can be daunting, but just roll with it. You might learn to love your own company along the way.
Or, if you’re feeling social, you can always try to make new friends. Offer to take a family’s photo at a big sight, for instance, or sit near a chatty gang at a bar. This really is one of our top tips of surviving solo travel.
Either way, if it’s adventure you’re after, read our round-up of the world’s best adventure holidays.
Just say no
Sometimes, especially in more hospitable and foreigner-fascinated cultures, the attention you get travelling solo can be a little intense. Learn how to say “no, thank you” in the local language, as well as “absolutely not” – plus the local nonverbal gesture for “no”, which is often more effective than both.
Also have local help numbers, such as the tourist police, saved in your phone. You’ll probably never need them, but just knowing you have them can give you the confidence to deal with awkward situations, whether you’re setting off on a South American solo trip, backpacking Australia, or road-tripping Europe.
Take photos
Making photography a mission, even if it’s just snapping odd little details you notice about a place, gives structure to your day. Your friends back home will appreciate your perspective and the stories behind the pics. It’s also a great way to reminisce after your solo travel adventure and remember what you’ve achieved.
If you fancy upping your Insta game, you could investigate taking an Insta-oriented tour. You’ll find them in all corners of the globe, like this photo shoot tour of Oahu, Hawaii, or this Ho Chi Minh City Hidden Gems Instagram Tour – and pretty much everywhere else besides.
Eat big
While the thought of visiting restaurants as a solo traveller might fill you with fear (and you might be tempted to live on fast food to avoid awkward situations), put that fear aside. Fancy establishments are fantastic places to dine alone. Waiters are happy to help solo diners who smile and say, “I made a special trip just to eat here. What do you recommend?” Social folks might want to eat at the bar, but there’s no shame in taking a table for two.
If you’re really into your food and fancy company at the same time, look up local tasting experiences. Some deliver in-depth detail on local delicacies, like this Parisian introduction to cheese and wine-tasting, while others mix culture and cuisine, like this immersive sightseeing and home-cooking experience in Bucharest. The world is your oyster when it comes to tasting tours (oysters optional).
Find your people
Use Facebook and Twitter to make connections where you’re travelling. Offer to take local friends of friends out for dinner, and you’ll be surprised how many people take you up on it – everyone likes to be a tour guide for a night. Also seek out your interests in your destination. While you might be travelling in solo style, you don’t have to be a hermit.
To that end, and wherever you are in the world, you could check-out tours that tie-in with your interests, and your destinations’ specialties – as the saying goes, “when in Rome”. Talking of which, as an example, when actually in Rome culture vultures could take an expert-guided tour of the ancient city in the company of other history buffs. Or how about this Secret Roman History LGBT Walking Tour? Footie fans will usually have no problem finding fellow aficionados of the beautiful game to hook up with – from touring the Maracana in Rio, to exploring Barcelona’s Camp Nou (nb solo travellers could make the latter more social by taking a stadium tour with tapas).
You get the idea. Securing a slot on the likes of these trips – doing whatever floats your boat – means you’ll almost certainly be in the company of like-minded folk. A win-win situation.
