The Ultimate Solo Travel Guide: Travel Alone & Love It

Why do people travel alone? These are two things after 15 years of travelling alone. Travelling by yourself or with a group is possible.

Solo travel means leaving everyone you know behind alone and going alone. Independent solo travel means that you plan and handle your trip.

You can tour or cruise alone or join a group. Both offer a unique chance to see the world without the expectations of family and friends.

You can find out who you are when no one (that you know of) is looking.

When you travel alone, you can see more of the world than with others. At least sometimes, it is a crucial way to get around.

Despite that, only some are naturally good at it. Many people are scared to travel alone. They worry about being alone, their safety, and other things.

This is the most complete guide for people who want to travel alone. Hundreds of articles on the site explain how to travel alone in more detail.

With the tips in this post, you’ll have the best time possible, and they will help you love travelling by yourself.

If you are travelling by yourself, keep reading.

If you want to go on a planned tour, take advantage of our page of tours with no or low single supplement. There are changes at least once a month.

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Why You Will Love Solo Travel

You decide how to travel when you’re by yourself. You choose when and what to do. You don’t have to connect with people if you don’t want to. There you have it: the clear pros of travelling alone.

But travelling by yourself has many benefits that will change your whole life. Stretching and growing as a person is what the experience does for you.

You feel better about yourself and become better at solving problems. Being alone makes you stronger and more enjoyable, and you also learn more about yourself.

Read Why Travel Solo? to find out more. There are 16 ways travelling alone is better. Now, let’s talk about the best way to travel alone.

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Your Guide for Planning to Travel Alone

Planning a trip on your own takes some time and thought. This article would be very long if it tried to cover everything.

Instead, I will send you some of Solo Traveler’s basic planning posts. This blog has more than 600 posts, but the ones that follow are the only ones that matter.

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Ultimate Tips to Travel Alone and Love It!

Let’s talk about what it’s like to travel by yourself.

Some people naturally enjoy going on a trip by themselves, while others have to learn how to explore on their own.

Most people who try it fall in love with it. Here are some things you can do to ensure your solo trip goes well.

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1. Visualize the trip you want. It’s all about you.

Before you leave, think about the chances you’ll have when travelling alone. Do you want some free time? Include that in the plan.

Are you looking for an exciting way to travel? Before you go, please learn about the chances and dream about them until you arrive.

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2. Gather firsthand knowledge before you go. Personal stories tell you more.

Talk to people who have been where you want to go before. This was a huge help when I was making plans for my trip to Patagonia.

At the time, I needed more research to figure out how to make it happen. Talking to people who had been on a journey like mine gave me ideas for how to plan my own and helped me avoid making the same mistakes they did.

You can find people through your social network. You can also join online meetup groups based on where you want to go.

Find expat groups where you’re going. If you talk to them, people will tell you more about things to do and things that aren’t right for you.

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3. Learn to chat with strangers.

It can be hard to start conversations with people you don’t know, especially if you’re shy like me.

Talking about these things can, however, make or break your trip. One can learn many skills to help them with this, and there is always time.

After my husband died, I didn’t realize how much I had changed until I went on a trip by myself.

That’s when I realized I had become more like an extrovert. I learned it was easy to talk to people I didn’t know.

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4. Tap the experience of the people you meet. Get current information.

People who travel alone meet more other travellers and locals than people who travel with a partner.

Anyone who has travelled or lived in the area can tell you about the best thing they’ve done or the best hidden gem restaurant.

The people you meet and the tips they give you will make your trip much better.

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5. Be flexible with your plans. Opportunities arise!

You should be ready to act on suggestions or chances from these random meetings.

At times, you need to be able to change your plans at the last minute. I usually do this when I’m travelling by car or train.

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6. Don’t over-plan. You will need relaxing time.

It takes more energy to plan your trips alone than when you are with someone else.

It’s good to plan for extra time so you can take your time in a market, enjoy a coffee at an outdoor café, or go on that mountain trip you hadn’t thought of.

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7. Be patient. Take time to settle in and learn how the city works.

It can take effort to get to a new city by yourself. Do not rush. Relax daily, watch the city work, and get used to your new home. Read How to Be Strong, Capable, and Safe When You Travel Alone.

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8. Explore your destination at different levels. Gain different perspectives.

People in London take the Tube, but riding on top of a double-decker bus gives you a different view of the city.

It would help if you didn’t miss the Tube, though, because it’s an experience in and of itself.

So, see the city in many ways: on foot, by bike, and by bus or train. Talk to the taxi driver. Hire a car and find out what it’s like to drive or park on the outside. Every way of moving gives you a new view.

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9. Take in local events. Get to know the daily life of a culture.

If you go to a street festival or a sporting event, you can meet locals and learn about their culture.

You might also have fun conversations with them. It will work better with events made for tourists than with events created by and for locals.

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10. Be proactive if you need clarification on yourself.

Ask someone to help you. Confusion won’t help you get where you want to go and might make the wrong people notice you.

Feel free to smile and ask for help. It’s a fundamental way to stay safe while travelling alone.

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11. Eat locally! Discover the culture through food.

There is nothing better than trying the food in a new place. It opens new ways to learn about your destination’s history, culture, and geography.

There is always a historical or geographical reason behind a specific type of food you can learn about with your mind and taste buds.

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12. Shop where the locals shop.

Do you like making changes to your home? Then, a hardware store in a different country might be exciting.

Do you like food? You can go to the grocery store or the street where all the speciality shops are.

Are you interested in fashion or home decor? Again, look around and see where the locals shop; you don’t have to buy anything.

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13. Know which way is up. An old-school map is your friend.

Look at a map of where you want to go. Learn about it. Places like Central Park in New York City or the CN Tower in Toronto can help you find your way.

This will help you feel more confident and happy walking around cities. Read How to Get Around on Your Own in a New City.

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14. Find people who share your passion.

If you’re interested in chess, poetry, badminton, books, or any other subject, you can find groups or hubs where they meet.

Many places have English-language bookstores that are great for discovering events you want to go to.

You can find them on Google or meetup.com. What a great way to connect your love of other things with your love of travel.

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15. Take day tours and classes.

Adding local tours, like cooking classes, to your self-guided trip can be very helpful in many ways.

The tour company handles the logistics and planning so you can relax and enjoy the experience.

You can meet new people and get to know them better (after all, solo travellers aren’t always loner types).

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16. Have great evenings out.

While travelling alone, you don’t have to stay in with a book at night. In the evening, there are lots of things to do.

Music is an excellent way to pass the time if you don’t speak the language, know what to do at night while travelling alone, and how to enjoy going to a bar alone while Traveling.

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What If You Don’t Love Solo Travel?

There are different tastes in the world. Some people will travel by themselves and not enjoy it for some reason.

The first thing you should do is wait. You won’t find your groove immediately when you go on your first trip alone. Settling in takes time, so use some of the above travel-alone tips while waiting.

If you’re still not crazy about travelling, read What If You Travel and You Don’t Love It? and the tips from others who have travelled alone in Feeling Overwhelmed. How to Get Over Your First-Day Travel Anxiety.

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