I don’t know about you, but I was FORCED into solo traveling.
I didn’t have anyone in my life that was willing to go to the places that I wanted to travel to.
Most of my friends and family wanted to go to the Caribbean and lay on the beach, while I wanted to go to Sri Lanka, India, and all these places all over the world.
When I started to research how I could begin solo traveling on a budget and do it safely, I would see all these girls all over the world, from Europe to Asia, to the Caribbean, just looking like they didn’t have a care in the world. In contrast, I was scared to death!
I’m thought to myself, I’m just a regular girl from Brooklyn. I never even left the United States without my friends and family.
How the heck am I going to do this?
Now that I’m on the other side of solo traveling, I have solo traveled to a few countries in Europe and Asia, and I even lived and taught abroad for two years.
Now, here’s what I realize:
It’s not because these girls have a ton of money.
It’s not because they’re braver or they’re smarter. They are not better than any of us in any way.
In this post, I will give you the four tips you need to start your solo travel journey.
Spoiler alert, it’s not about money, and it’s not about having a budget. Although Her Lifestyle Travel, is all about budget traveling. Money is not the issue here.
If you’re solo traveling because your partner backed out, no one wants to go where you want to go. Or if you simply want to have the experience of solo traveling, this video is totally for you.
Also, it doesn’t matter if you’re traveling solo for five days or moving abroad for an entire year. These tips will help you.
Safety When Solo Traveling
I’m sure safety is probably the number one thing you’re worried about. And also, the number one thing your friends and family will talk to you about when they hear that you’re taking your first solo trip.
I know this might seem a little too simple. Or maybe I might seem like I’m being naive — But I honestly believe the majority of the world is pretty safe for solo female travelers.
I know this might seem silly, but think about it: There are females already walking around in the country doing their thing solo, right?
So why would it be a significant issue or concern if you’re traveling around the country solo?
The key here is research. Look at what other solo female travelers are doing, read their tips and tricks, the do’s and don’ts, and follow their advice. They already did the hard work for you.
This task will be simple because there are 1000s of blogs from solo female travelers, YouTube channels, and Instagram accounts. They are more than willing to teach you how to solo travel safely. Find someone that’s an expert in the destination you plan on traveling to.
After you get your advice from that solo female traveler, the next thing you have to do is go to the travel.state.gov website and read up on the country’s safety.
You’ll need a different perspective on how safe the country is based on FACTS, not someone’s experience. The best thing to do is go to the official government travel website.
What’s also cool is that you can read up other information about exit and entry requirements, and a ton of additional information about the country.
If You’re Really Worried, Don’t Go.
If you know you’re not going to feel safe or comfortable in a specific country, don’t bother going, you’re just going to ruin your trip.
There are some places in the world I’m never going to, I don’t care how fabulous everyone says it is.
I’m not going to waste my time and money going there, even if I’m a little interested, because I know I will be uncomfortable and not have a good time.
So don’t ruin your trip with your worries.
If you know you’re not going to be happy, it’s simple, don’t go.
It’s Not All About The Countries Safety Level
Next, It’s not all about the safety of the country you’re visiting that’s important, because bad things happen everywhere.
It’s about the decisions you choose to make.
For example, traveling around a country and doing irresponsible things like going to someone’s house you just met, walking late in the dark, and probably drunk. Even eating street food that you know you should not be eating.
Your best bet is to make the same decisions you would make back home. Better yet, you should be more attentive and more aware of your surroundings and your choices when you’re traveling solo.
Your Health When Solo Traveling
Your health is a part of you being safe in another country. You have to take care of your body. Bring your vitamins, supplements, Imodium, whatever you need!
You can ruin your trip if you get sick because you made a silly mistake. Safety is not just about protecting yourself against crimes, it’s about your overall well-being.
Tips To Stay Safe When Solo Traveling
I have three steps you can take to be safe in any country you’re going to.
Sign up for the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program: This simply lets the United States government know where the heck you are in case something happens. Sign up for it here.
Send a detailed outline to your loved ones back home: Your parents, your sister, partner, or a friend. Let them know exactly where you’re going to be and what you’re doing.
Please keep it simple. A short outline on Facebook messenger will due. In addition to that, send them a copy of your accommodation address and phone number. Give them as many pieces of information to contact you in case of an emergency.
Sign up for comprehensive travel insurance: You need travel insurance to cover ALL aspects of your trip. For example, flight cancellation, seeing a doctor because you’re sick, lost luggage, etc. Your travel insurance needs to cover every aspect of your trip so you can relax and travel easily.
When I use to solo travel a lot, I would use World Nomads Travel Insurance. It’s a popular travel insurance service for solo travelers. However, you can use the Insure My Trip search engine to find many travel insurance services to choose from.
But whatever you do, make sure you get travel insurance. Stuff happens!
Managing Your Money When Solo Traveling
When you’re solo traveling, you need to be smart about how you’re handling your money.
Remember, it’s just you alone. You’re the only one creating the budget, you’re the only one managing the budget, you’re the only one looking at prices and deciding if this is the best buy.
One minor downfall of solo traveling is that you’re not splitting the bills with anyone. You’re not splitting your accommodation, rental car, etc. You’re paying for everything by yourself, so you need to have a solid budget and follow through with that budget.
Running out of money when solo traveling is a terrible, terrible, terrible thing that I do not want you to experience.
Yes, you can contact your friends and family back home for some money, but what if back home is nighttime, and where you are right now is daytime, and you’re in a tight situation.
So while you’re in your home country, why don’t you practice creating a budget for the month, if you don’t do this already. Practice being strict with that budget and following through on it.
Check out this video here to help you create a solid trip budget:
Making The Best Decisions When Solo Traveling
I don’t want to scare you, but this is a reminder that you’re doing this alone.
You don’t have a second, third or fourth pair of eyes to help you make decisions when abroad.
I’ve definitely made some mistakes when solo traveling. If I had someone else there with me, they would have probably helped me catch those mistakes.
What I’m trying to stress here is that this time more than any other time in your life, you need to have your T’s crossed and your i’s dotted! You need to be on top of everything.
I have a checklist with everything you need to do to plan your trip abroad. You can download it here.
Some important tasks to remember are: are your documents up to date? Does your passport have more than six months on it? Are you sure about your flight time?
I booked a flight thinking it was 8 am when it was actually 8 pm at night.
Do I need a travel visa? Did I book my travel insurance, Are my dates right?
We make mistakes. We’re only human.
As they say, the devil is in the details, you need to be on top of these things. Those little fine details are a killer. Those are the things that ruin the whole trip.
For example, when planning my trip to Europe last year, I took the wrong COVID test. I took the antigen test instead of the RT-PCR test, and I could not board the plane to Ireland.
I had to push back everything! I had to change my Airbnb dates, change my flights, etc. My trip was messed up because of that minor detail.
So take your time planning, organizing, and preparing for your solo trip. I suggest that you take three months to plan your trip. Give yourself enough time to put everything together.
Maintaining Happiness When Traveling Alone
The last thing you want to do is plan your trip for three months, save a ton of money, maybe even get an extra job to pay for the trip, travel abroad, freak out, and go right back to America.
Three things will affect your happiness when solo traveling, feeling lonely, cultural shock/fatigue, and homesickness. I suggest that you consider these three things as inevitable and prepare for them.
Loneliness
I suggest that you deal with loneliness before it even happens. Prepare for feeling lonely before you feel lonely. When planning your solo trip, I suggest that you incorporate some activities where you’ll be around people.
It’s totally up to you how many activities you want to do. If I’m traveling for around10 days solo, I’ll probably do one to two activities.
These activities might be cooking classes, guided tours, free walking tours, or even language classes. I even suggest staying at a hostel to be around other solo travelers.
It doesn’t matter what activity you like doing. Just make sure you book an event where you can be around other people and do that activity.
Homesickness
I find that homesickness only kicks in when I’ve been traveling for a long time. For me, that’s about three months into traveling.
But that might be completely different for you, especially if you’re new to solo traveling. Maybe it might start five days in. Homesickness is another thing you need to prepare for before it even happens.
To deal with homesickness before it even happens is to do things that make you feel connected to life back home. For me, I would call my friends and family on a daily. You can call them every other day, whatever feels suitable for you.
I would make sure I have a lot of my favorite things. For example, I’m Guyanese, and I need my curry powder! I travel with curry powder wherever I am in the world, even if it’s a tiny ziplock bag with my curry powder. It makes me feel connected to my culture and helps me alleviate that homesickness feeling.
Also, little things like making sure you have your favorite flat iron, if you have a favorite nail polish, pack it, make sure you have a VPN to watch your favorite Netflix show.
Make sure you have that packed or prepare for it for your solo trip. I know all these little things might seem silly, but guess what? These little silly things that bring us joy, it’s what make up our life.
Culture Shock & Culture Fatigue
Everyone experiences culture shock on some level, whether feeling anxious and nervous in crowds of people or having a panic attack.
It’s a spectrum of reactions when it comes to culture shock and cultural fatigue. But let me tell you one thing, you will experience it on some level, even if it’s feeling a little anxious.
Culture shock/culture fatigue is another thing you need to prepare for before it even happens. The number one thing you need to know is the dos and don’ts of the country you’re visiting.
Get very familiar with the country you’re visiting, learn how to communicate best, and pick up some of the languages.
I made an entire video on this subject:
Preparing for culture shock is particularly important if you’re traveling long term. If you’re traveling 5-10 days, you probably won’t experience severe culture shock.
But if you were like me and you lived abroad, that cultural shock would kick in every couple of months.
You never stop experiencing culture shock. There are actual phases of culture shock, and it’s a serious thing! Again, you might not experience it severely if you’re traveling 5-10 days.
So guys, in the comments below, make sure you let me know what it is that you’re worried about when solo traveling. Is it about money? Is it about safety? Is it feeling lonely?
Whatever it is, write it in the comments below because I want to talk more on this topic. I’ll answer any questions you have.
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