A Guide to Solo Traveling: Our Top Solo Travel Tips

Solo traveling can be a very rewarding experience for those who are willing to try it. Traveling alone can be a great option, whether you are looking to get away from whatever is going on at home or can’t find any friends to go with you. You just need to make sure you do it right to get the most out of your experience. Here are my top tips to make sure you set yourself up for the best solo travel experience possible, whether you are traveling solo to Europe, Asia, or anywhere else in the world.

1. Don’t be afraid to meet new people

As an introvert, this is something that I have always struggled with. The idea talking to random people makes my skin crawl. BLEH. But some of my most rewarding travel experiences have been from getting out of my comfort zone and meeting people. To this day, I still have people that I talk to from the places that I have been and those connections are super cool to have!

One of the best ways to meet people while solo traveling is to stay in a hostel.

Hostels are filled with other travelers, and a good amount of the people in hostels are solo travelers just like you! So strike up a conversation. See what other people around you are looking to see in the city. If your interests overlap then bing bang boom, you have some new travel buddies for the day. If those people end up to be a terrible, no worries. You never have to see them again. But chances are you’ll have some interesting people to get to know for the day.

2. Keep a travel journal

One of the biggest benefits of solo traveling is that it gives you a lot of time for self-reflection and it is a great opportunity to get away from the craziness of daily routine at home. Journaling is a great way to help with that self-reflection.

Make sure to take some time at the end of each day to write down your raw reaction from the day’s activities or what you’re feeling at the moment, even if it’s just 5 minutes of writing. If you haven’t journaled before then it might seem kind of dumb when you start doing it, but it is always rewarding when you read back on your stories when you’re sitting at home reminiscing about the trip. Being able to read your raw reactions from a day of travel gives you that feeling of being back in the moment you wrote it – that “oh yea, I remember that… *sigh*” feeling.

3. Stay disconnected from home as much as possible during the day

I’ve seen it way too many times during my travels, there is always that one person that just can’t get off of their phone and they end up missing most of the trip. Whether it is texting people back home or just scrolling through social media, that is all time that you could be spending in this new place that you dropped all this money on to get to. So get off your phone, set it to silent, and go explore!

This is especially important advice when you are solo traveling, because sometimes it can get a little lonely being without your friends or family for a while. Just remember that you will see them again soon and you are only at your destination for a limited amount of time. When is the next time you will get back there? So force yourself to be disconnected from you phone as much as possible while you are traveling and just soak in the experience!

One exception to this is if you are trying to capture things for your Snapchat or Instagram story. I’ll allow that.

4. “Table for one please”

There is sometimes a stigma around doing certain things by yourself, like going to out to a restaurant, seeing a movie, etc. But hey, you probably won’t get a chance to come back to the place you are solo-traveling to any time soon. So don’t be afraid to ask for a “table for one” at that fancy brunch restaurant in town! Treat yourself!

Want to go see a play but feel too weird to go by yourself? Just do it! My point here is, don’t be afraid to have a fun night on the town just because you are by yourself. Will it be a little weird to get used to? Yea, probably. But you’ll have fun if you just embrace the “solo-ness”.

A word of caution for those over 18 years old: I would be very careful going out in a foreign city and getting too drunk while solo traveling. Getting drunk alone while in a foreign city is very dangerous since there is nobody else there to have your back. I’m not saying to stay completely sober, but just make sure you are at a level where you can make it back to your accommodations safely at the end of the night.

So that is my guide to solo traveling! If you have solo traveled before and have anything to add to this list, feel free to add them to the comment section below. I’d love to see what you think. Also, feel free to ask any questions in the comments below and I would be happy to answer them.