How To Finally Take The Leap And Travel Solo!

Do you always dream of taking the leap and traveling solo? This form of travel is becoming more and more popular. Not only with young people who want to travel around the world making friends, but with older people too. People who want to find themselves, explore, and get a new perspective on the world. There are so many benefits to traveling solo! If you want to take the leap, here’s how to do it:

Make A Plan For Your Travels

The first step is to make a plan for your travels. This doesn’t have to be set in stone. It should simply be a rough idea of where you’d like to visit and how long for. Having an idea of what you’d like to do in each place can help too. However, one of the joys of traveling solo is having lots of freedom, so you don’t want to be stuck to a rigid itinerary. You may hate one place and want to leave early. You might love another and want to stay there longer. You won’t know until you get there, so come up with a loose plan after doing some research.

Come Up With A Budget

When you have a good idea of where you want to go and what you want to do, you can come up with a budget. You’ll need money for flights, accommodation, food, activities, and anything else you might want to buy. It’ll depend on how long you’re traveling for. For example, you won’t need as much to travel around Thailand for 2 weeks as you would to travel around the whole of South East Asia for 2 months. Make sure you read up on forums to see how much other travelers have saved and spent. In general, the more money you have behind you, the better.

Know How To Stay Safe

Knowing how to stay safe anywhere you travel is a must. People think that traveling alone is dangerous, but it’s no more dangerous than you going out alone where you live. Still, it’s a good idea to be aware. Know the safe areas and the areas you should avoid. Also, don’t leave your common sense at home. Don’t go down dark alleyways at night. Don’t get too drunk, especially not with people you have just met. If you’re going off with a new friend, a simple message to someone back home or a note in your room could keep you safe.

Have Ways Of Staying In Touch With Loved Ones

Make sure you’ve got ways of staying in touch with your loved ones. They are really going to worry about you traveling alone, no matter how many times you tell them you’ll be fine. Research internet cafes and know where you can use Skype. Buying a foreign sim card and topping it up as you go could also be an option.

Find Travel Companies To Make It Easier

In some cases, you may not want to do all the legwork alone. There’s a lot to research, book, and remember. For this, there are travel companies that can help you. There are companies that specialize in singles vacations, so you don’t need to worry about touring a country with loved up couples all around you. If you’d rather relax and let another company do all the work, this is a good option for you.

Don’t Book Too Much Before You Travel

Booking things before you travel can save you time and money once you arrive, but it isn’t the best way to stay flexible. Sometimes, you may even want to wait until you arrive in a certain place before booking accommodation. Some people like to arrive at their new destination with nothing on their itinerary at all. You then have all the time in the world to explore and find things you want to do!

Make Your First Trip A Short One

If you’re worried that you’ll absolutely hate traveling solo, it could be a good idea to make your first trip a short one. Maybe go somewhere for a week or two and see how you like it. You’ll probably end up a complete solo traveling convert by the end of it!

Pack A Book

A good book can help you in a number of situations. It can help you if you’re feeling unsociable when dining alone, waiting around, or when you’re feeling exposed. Just make sure you don’t spend your whole trip with your head in the book!

Learn A Few Key Phrases

Learning a few key phrases of the place you’re visiting will make everything so much easier. Learn some easy sayings such as hello, goodbye, and thank you. It may also be a good idea to learn how to ask where the toilet is. You can also download translation apps and buy books for when you need a phrase that’s out of your skill level just yet.

Get Insurance

Traveling without insurance is just asking for trouble, especially when you’re traveling alone. It doesn’t matter if you don’t plan on doing any extreme sports, you still need to get insurance. Knowing that you have that back up there will give you peace of mind. You never know what might happen, and you don’t want to tempt fate.

Live In The Moment

Finally, the most important thing is just to live in the moment. Remember why you want to go on this adventure, and just start booking your trip! You could even just book one flight and sort out the rest when you arrive, to minimize stress. When you’re on your travels, make sure you’re not too much in your head or in the future. Live in the now, and you’ll have a much better time.

When you’ve taken the leap and booked your trip, make sure you get excited. As long as you’ve followed the advice here, you don’t need to worry about what could go wrong. Just think about what could go right! Have a wonderful time and leave your own thoughts below.  

IMAGE SOURCE