Planning a Solo Trip: Solo Travel 101

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: solo travel is amazing. But if you’ve never done it before, planning a solo trip can be intimidating. The thing is, it doesn’t have to be. After reading this blog post, you’ll know exactly how to plan your first solo trip and become the confident solo traveller you’ve always dreamt of.

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Planning a solo trip is easier than you might think, and I'm here to prove it.

How to plan your first solo trip

So here it is. You’ve never travelled solo but you want to give it a try. You might think that solo travel is lonely, or expensive… Or both. Let me tell you: if you don’t want it to be, it won’t.

When you can follow a few simple steps, planning a solo trip isn’t nearly as difficult as many people make it out to be. Here are some tips to help you organise your first solo trip.

Set a budget

Setting a budget is an important part of planning your first solo trip.

Making a budget for your first solo trip is easier than you might think, as my friend Eric from Wandering Ravens explains.

The article above talks about making a monthly budget to get by day-to-day, but it can be applied to a travel budget perfectly.

It’s easy to travel solo on the cheap if you’ve set a budget beforehand and if you know what you’re willing to spend.

Choose your destination and date

If there’s one thing that will impact the rest of this whole process, it’s your choice of destination.

There’s a whole lot of destinations for solo travellers out there, and, while you need to keep safety in mind, it really all comes down to personal preference.

And that’s the beauty of solo travel. Because you can do whatever you want. So do it.

Related: Why I visited an abandoned children’s hospital in Berlin

As for the date, that’s a bit more complicated. You’ll probably get the best weather during peak season, but you’ll also get the most tourists around you.

Don’t want to be surrounded by fellow travellers and don’t want to travel when it’s so cold that a cold shower feels warm? There’s a solution.

Shoulder season.

Prices are down, the weather is still okay and there won’t be as many tourists around you. It’s a win-win-win.

As a general rule of thumb: many countries have shoulder seasons in autumn and spring.

Book transport

Once you know which budget to stick to, where you’re going and when you’re going there, it’s time to actually start booking some things.

First on the list: transport.

Whether it be long-haul flights, shorter flights, trains, buses or something else entirely: many aspects of your first solo trip depend on this.

Related: How to survive a long-haul flight

Where to find the best flights

Every travel blogger has their favourite tips to find the best flights, and I’m no different. Here are some useful tricks to help you find the cheapest flights:

Compare different airfare websites like Momondo, Skyscanner, Google Flights, Cheapflights, Expedia, Kayak, etc.
Use incognito mode and clear your browser cookies and cache before looking up flights.
Be flexible on dates and locations for better odds of finding cheap flights.
Look for error fares using websites like Skiplagged.
Sign up for flight deal mailing lists like Airfare Watchdog, Matt’s Flights, Fly4Free & Secret Flying.

Cheap trains and buses

If you’re not going to fly to your destination, you’ll still need a way to get there. Finding cheap trains and buses is easier than you might think. These tips will help you:

Compare different websites like Trainline (Europe), Rome2Rio, Raileasy, Flixbus (Europe), Check My Bus, etc.
Be flexible on dates and locations for better odds of finding cheap trains and buses.
Book early. Advance tickets for many train routes go on sale 12 weeks in advance, and the best prices are usually during that time period.
Avoid peak travel times (around 9 am and between 3 and 7 pm).
Consider getting a rail card, bus pass, or similar ticket if you’ll be taking more than one bus/train.
Consider overnight transport to save on accommodation costs.

Book accommodation

But, of course, planning a solo trip is more than booking flights. You need somewhere to sleep, don’t you?

My two favourite options for solo accommodation are hostels and Airbnbs.

How to find the best hostels

I always start my hostel search on Hostelworld, simply because it’s the best hostel platform out there. It has over 30,000 hostels and other budget accommodation on offer in 180 countries.

Hostels are often great accommodation options for solo travellers.

And, although you might not want to spend too much, it’s best not to be too frugal about your accommodation spending. Being a budget traveller doesn’t mean you have to pick the cheapest possible option for everything.

The cheapest hostels often are not the best choices. The main reason for this is that they tend to be unclean, uncomfortable, unwelcoming and not worth the few dollars you’d save.

Some other tips to make sure that your hostel of choice ends up being the best choice you could have made:

Read reviews by fellow (solo) travellers. There’s always going to be a few negative reviews, but if the majority are positive, you can’t really go wrong.
Please don’t forget to keep the hostel’s location in mind. This will have an enormous impact on the rest of your first solo trip.
If the hostel you’re considering doesn’t offer free wifi, keep looking.
Make sure your hostel has lockers so you can store your bags safely.
Check if the hostel has a bar or a large common area where you can meet new people.

Airbnb for solo travellers

Admittedly, Airbnb is a less evident option for solo accommodation. The reason for that is the simple fact that it tends to be more expensive than other accommodation options.

Sign up to Airbnb here and get up to $45 of travel credit for your next adventure!

However, Airbnb for solo travellers is still viable. You can rent a room in someone’s house or apartment and make new friends with the owner.

And if you look closely, you might be able to strike a bargain and find some really unique lodging options.

Planning a solo trip itinerary

After booking flights and accommodation, it’s time to start looking for more specific information about your first solo trip.

Which attractions seem interesting? What do you want to visit?

Making a travel itinerary for your first solo trip is challenging, but doable.

Making a travel itinerary is not difficult, and I’m here to prove it. Here’s how to make the perfect itinerary for your first solo trip, in just a few simple steps.

Research, research, research

Review some tour company and travel blog itineraries of your destination. These usually have the main points of interest packed into the most efficient amount of time.
Decide your must-do attractions. Just because something is in the tour itinerary doesn’t mean you have to do it too. After all, you’re travelling solo and you don’t have to justify your choices to anyone.
If you’re travelling to multiple cities or countries, use Rome2rio to find the most efficient way to get to your next destination.

Don’t overplan

Especially if you’re planning a solo trip, it’s a good idea not to overplan everything. You need some room for impromptu drinks with new friends or spontaneous exploring sessions.

If you’ve planned everything down to the hour, you’ll find yourself trapped by your itinerary and you might miss out on awesome opportunities to meet new people.

Planning a solo trip: how to prepare

Are you still wondering how to prepare for your first solo trip?

If so, keep reading.

Planning a solo trip is easy, and you’ve already done the majority of the work if you’ve been following along.

Here are some more tips to make sure that you’re actually ready to take the leap.

Table for one

The most intimidating part about solo travel for me was dining alone.

The first time I stepped into a restaurant and said ‘Table for one, please’ to the waiter, it felt off. Because it felt like I was doing something that I wasn’t supposed to do.

But here we are, three years later.

Dining alone is the most intimidating part of solo travel for many.

If the thought of dining by yourself terrifies you, here are some tips to make it less intimidating:

Sit at the bar or at a communal table. Because these spots are made for people like you, who want to talk to strangers or not talk at all.
Bring your phone or a book. If you’re not trying to meet new people when you’re at dinner, the best way to not feel like an outsider who doesn’t belong is to bring something to keep you busy.
Talk to the waiter/waitress. He or she is there to serve you, so they’ll gladly take some time to talk to you if their shift isn’t ridiculously busy.
Relax. Nowadays, solo travel is on the rise and people who travel for work also have to eat alone. Chances are, nobody will bat an eye at someone sitting alone at a restaurant.

Travel apps for solo travellers

There are a few very useful travel apps that can help you out when you’re on the road by yourself. So, while planning a solo trip, you might want to consider installing the following apps:

Google Translate. You can translate text, speech, images and handwriting, and you don’t need an internet connection for translations in 59 languages.
EatWith. This ‘social dining’ app gives you food experiences, cooking classes and food tours with locals around the world.
XE Currency. Sometimes you just need to convert the local currency into your own to get an idea of how much something costs. This app stores the latest rates so that it also works accurately offline.
Airbnb and Couchsurfing. Apps like these give solo travellers unique accommodation options that go beyond a hostel dorm room, and they allow you to connect with locals.
Meetup. This app allows solo travellers to meet new people on the road and make new friends.
Peek. If your itinerary isn’t completely full yet, you might want to use an app like Peek to check local tours and activities around you.
TripAdvisor. This app will help you know what other travellers think of tours, activities, attractions and restaurants.
Google Maps. For obvious reasons. You’ll want an app that shows you offline maps when you’re in a foreign environment.

How to pack light

When you’re planning a solo trip, you need to keep in mind that you’re the only one who can carry your bags.

For that reason, being able to pack light is very important for solo travellers.

Here are some tips to pack light for your first solo trip.

Here are a few packing tips to help you keep your bags as light as possible:

If you can, travel carry-on only.
Take enough clothes for seven days, not more. If you’re staying somewhere longer than a week, find a laundromat to do laundry.
Wear your bulkiest clothes on travel days so you don’t have to store them in your bags.
Ball up your socks and underwear and stuff them into your shoes.

Solo travel safety

The biggest difference between solo travel and ‘regular’ travel is – obviously – the fact that you’re alone.

This means that staying safe is not as easy as it would be if you were travelling with family or friends.

Here are some tips on how to stay safe as a solo traveller.

Have several money sources, so that you still have some backup cash if your wallet is stolen. Hide money in your bra or your shoe.
Take pictures of your most important documents, like your passport, driver’s license and flight information. Save them to the cloud or email them to yourself so you can still access them if your phone or laptop is stolen.
Be aware of popular travel scams in the area you’re travelling to. Here are some of the most popular tourist scams.
Check your government’s travel site to find more information and advice on travelling to a specific region.
Make sure you have travel insurance if you’re travelling for a long time or to a destination that is far away.
Try to blend in with the locals as much as you can. In other words, don’t look and act like a tourist.

Travelling alone doesn’t mean you’re lonely

The fact that you’re reading this blog post with the intention of planning your first solo trip means that you realise that solo travel is not a bad thing.

If you want to travel alone, you won’t be lonely.

But I get that you might be hesitant and need some tips on how to fight loneliness as a solo traveller.

Here are some of my best tips that I could have used on my first solo trip to Dublin:

Meet new friends over food. As I mentioned earlier in this blog post, food is a huge opportunity for solo travellers to meet other like-minded people.
Embrace alone time. Being by yourself can be terrifying, but aren’t you on this solo trip to get out of your comfort zone and push your boundaries?
Make the move. Again, it can be scary to talk to people you’ve never met, especially for introverted travellers. But you’ll never make new friends if you don’t talk to people. As Nike put it: just do it.
Take a tour. If you’re on a tour with other people, you instantly have something to talk about. And who knows? That could lead to a beautiful friendship. Or just someone to get drinks with.
Use apps or social media. Meeting people in person can be tough, so meeting them online can be a solution to that problem.

If you’ve already travelled solo, is there anything I missed? Do you have any tips for people planning their first solo trip? Let me know in a comment!

Thanks for reading!

-S

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