Are you contemplating planning a solo trip, but getting butterflies or even fear in your stomach just thinking about it? Then you need my excellent guide to solo trip planning like a PRO!
Or do you have time off work when no one else has, all ready to travel but can`t get around to getting going alone? Sounds impossible, scary, or a tad more exciting than you prefer?
You are not alone in thinking all of those things, a lot of people are actually reluctant to set off on travels by themselves for the first time.
Yet, did you know that a staggering 84% of all solo travelers are women?
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10 Reasons Solo Travel Is Really Good For You!
The Annoying Fears That Are Holding You Back
The idea of taking on the world all by yourself can be daunting at first if you have never done it before.
Organizing everything yourself, meeting new cultures on your own, dealing with language barriers, or finding your way in strange places.
These worries are lies. Or at least products of your imagination.
Constructed by you (or imposed by your surroundings). They do not reflect reality, and are quite frankly not telling you the truth!
Did you know that the weird fear of eating out alone apparently is a huge thing for many people? This is so common it in fact has a name: solomangarephobia! (Briefly explained, it is an “irrational fear of being judged by others as a lonely loser eating alone in a restaurant”).
I have been traveling on my own all over the world for decades, and I am here to tell you that all the worries and restrictions you may have simply are all in your head.
72% of women asked in the US say they have taken a holiday alone. There are so many brave and adventurous women out there already exploring the world, and there is no reason why you can not be one of them!
In this article, you will learn all the reasons why you should, and how you can, travel solo.
But I have to warn you, once you have become a solo traveler there is no easy way back to traveling with all your friends (although you love them).
Also read: Why Is Travel Important? 6 Meaningful Reasons To Find A Traveling Mindset
Why Traveling Solo Is An Excellent Idea
The feeling of absolute freedom, peace, excitement, and wonder when you are waiting to board an outbound flight, possibly indefinitely, is a fantastic state of mind that can not be explained.
I used to think that the Big Journeys, the Grand Experiences should probably wait until I found someone to share them with.
But I never met my fellow traveler soul mate. Then what?
Since time flies I simply had to change my mind about waiting for company. Instead, I bought a backpacker-backpack, and set off!
NOW, of course, I know that going solo traveling is probably the most magical, amazing, liberating, educational, mind-growing, and personality-evolving single thing I have ever done.
Alone with my backpack (and iPhone). I would go as far as saying it defines me, in many ways.
You see yourself in another light, you see LIFE in another light when you meet the world alone. Your perspective shifts. It happens when you suddenly understand that all you need to do ANYTHING, is what you already have within you.
THAT is something I want you to feel too.
Also read: Create Awesome Solo Holidays To Cuba 2022!
Traveling Alone Expands Your Mind And Your World
The thing is, you notice things easier when you are traveling alone because almost all your attention is directed OUT towards the world as you go (not towards your fellow traveler(s).
Really, it is, you forget all about everyday people-pleasing and overly active self-awareness (the bad kind).
Traveling has the general side-effect of increased relativity in almost all aspects, I think, and a solo journey probably is the most valuable investment you may actually spend money and time on in your whole life.
If you travel alone for long periods or even shorter ones, regardless I promise you the effect will last indefinitely. You KNOW what you can do now.
If your inner Vagabond has been listening to the WHY so far, below is more about HOW you can find your solo traveler nomad heart AND get the advice you need to get going.
Also read: Why Dominican Republic Is A Great Solo Travel Destination 2023
Solo Trip Planning – Start Your Travel Bucket List
If you are serious about your desire to travel alone but need a little gentle push to get from dream to plan, start planning a solo trip by setting up your travel bucket list.
Get yourself a traveler’s notebook and start journaling. Write down all the places you want to go to, and write down why.
In this first phase, you are on a mission to find your DREAM! Motivate yourself and remind yourself of why you have travel goals.
Then prioritize, which destinations are more important to you than others, and why?
Which one of these places can be a short trip, what destinations need a long trip, and what places could be a round trip?
What activities or adventures would you like these destinations to give you?
Write down what kind of experiences you want in the different destinations in your vagabond notebook to help you organize your head.
Crushing The What If’s That Sabotage Your Journey
Now be aware; that there may be some not-so-constructive players in your midst, and you need to identify them.
If not, your DREAM is going to go down the drain even before your PLAN can start evolving.
Do you have an inner voice that tells you this journey thing is ridiculous? Because it is irresponsible or expensive or egoistic or you are too old (young) or it is probably dangerous and possibly will kill you or at least ruin your career?
This voice is your FEAR talking, and you need to get past it.
Or do you have well-meaning people in your life who want to protect you? The ones that have not missed a workday in their career and care about safety and predictability and securing a good pension plan?
These people might be positive about your dream BUT may turn out to be slightly more apprehensive about you starting to plan an actual journey, spending actual money on it, and being away.
Be aware if you have a history of “being talked sense into” – it will not help you turn your DREAM into an achievable PLAN.
Choose your advisors wisely.
So how do we overcome the inner and outer Trolls? Here are some mental tools and methods in order to get past this obstacle.
Solo Trip Planning – Conquer Your Fears!
The good thing about your inner mental trolls is that they are yours, so you have some impact – and you can use your good sense to override it. You just need to know they are there, and not mistake them for the little voice of “common sense”.
Chose friends around you that are positive AND realistic AND pragmatic, you need quality advisors on this to back you up. Your home-loving adventure-adverse overly careful friends may not be the best advisers in this matter.
8 Ways To Kill Your Demons
Here are some points for you so you can take it down from subjective emotions to facts and figures that might be helpful.
- You are not irreplaceable, and you are not indispensable at work. Your fear of absence is not real. Ever experienced that someone seems to have been away from the office for a few days – and it turns out they have been on holiday for weeks? Yeah, that is how fast time flies.
- As you are a valued, yet not indispensable, employee – you probably will be able to get a leave of absence without pay with a set return date at some point in the future. Find out how long you realistically can be away (without losing your job at some point)!
- If this journey is a life-changer for you, and you want to quit your job anyways, the above concern does not matter, but what about the “hole” in your CV (for longer journeys)?
Although subject to cultural differences, I would still say it is highly likely that a future employer, within a segment that you would enjoy working, in might appreciate the fact that you are a person who has invested in your personal growth through means of travel for some time.
You may also take courses online or at your destinations during your journey to show off your desire to evolve. It could be positive, use it as a skill in your CV! - If you have children, well. I do not have children, so I can not have an opinion about that. It will be a personal assessment between you and your spouse or the other parent, and the children and their feelings (and age?). Maybe skip the six months for now, but go for two weeks of instant adventure if you can.
- Your family and friends will miss you, and that is GOOD, not bad. And it does not mean that you can not leave them alone for a few weeks or months (or more) – they are adults and can take care of themselves. There are social media, and, if they miss you too much, they can even come to visit you for a week at some point in your journey.
- Set up an attainable budget with a reasonable timeline and think long-term if you need to. A realistic budget will calm down both your inner Troll and your worried surroundings. The math will beat any emotional argument, and odds are the math says it is going to be possible.
- SAFETY! Are you going to survive all alone in the world? Well, the odds are yes. It is NOT dangerous to travel alone. It MAY BE dangerous to make bad judgments while traveling, like not researching your destinations, getting super drunk in Cali, Columbia, or walking home alone after midnight in a dark city you don’t know. Or not listening to locals, and other clever little things.
The point is; that these are all factors you can AFFECT, so you take responsibility for your safety. And people are people everywhere, most of them are kind and helpful, so don’t be paranoid. - Then there is the fear of being lonely while traveling alone, which is a possible scenario at least for periods – but again there are ways to counter that. You can make friends – if you want to.
6 Great Tips For Not Feeling Lonely Traveling
There definitely is the possibility that you may feel lonely from time to time traveling solo, as you are away from friends and family and all your challenges and adventures are only your own.
And although solitude can be a good feeling, loneliness might not be exactly so.
If you have a fear of feeling lonely while traveling solo, that is a factor you can benefit to work on before your trip. There are things to do in order to manage and reduce the feeling of loneliness while “on the road”.
The most important thing is that you have a mental awareness, you are prepared for such a feeling and if it occurs you will not be overwhelmed by it.
Secondly, there are all the preparations you can do beforehand! Take a look at the list below, where I give you a lot of really smart and simple options to avoid your solo travel being a lonely experience.
- Book occasional organized activities with other people, many of whom are also traveling alone. You find this option almost everywhere in the world, through your hotel, hostel, FB groups or SoMe ads, and adventure companies where you are staying, there are so many options!
- Book parts of your journey through organized tour operators, like G Adventures, which organizes small group travels all over the world. G Adventures also organize “bucket list” journeys like walking the magnificent Inca Trail.
- Even if you are a “single room minimum three-star hotel” kinda person, try booking into a nice hostel every now and then! That can be cheap, and social, and although the clientele is predominantly relatively young – by far not all! Travelers come in all ages and sizes.
- Check FB groups for your destination, a LOT of people are traveling alone and are looking for company and new friends.
- Use TINDER! If you can that is, without feeling bad about it. You can connect both with other travelers, or locals who live where you currently are visiting. You might get a date, or a guide to show you your current city, or maybe a friend?
- Search Instagram for posts on your current or future destination. Both for tips on activities or things to see, but also maybe you find someone living there who would love to show you around for a few hours or a day!
- If you use Airbnb or Vrbo, you may be lucky (or smart) and find accommodation with very nice landlords or ladies who may offer both breakfasts and guidance on your current destination – making it at least social. Airbnb also can provide local activities in the area where you are staying, you will get suggestions in your e-mail immediately after you have booked your stay!
Visualize Your Plan
An IDEA without a PLAN is still only a DREAM – you need to make it actionable for you.
Set up a timeline, or something like a timeline, in your calendar or on a large piece of paper all over your wall. You need VISUALISATION of your plan!
Factors that will affect your planning process and possible outcome are:
- Your work situation
- Monthly income and expenses = potential to save money
- Your family situation
- Social duties
- Your preferences: destinations, duration, activities, and standard?
Talk to whoever in your world needs to be PART of the process if you have such stakeholders in your life and make sure they approve of your DREAM and your PLAN.
After doing this, identify a time in the future when it will be possible for you to take time out of your life and travel! Even if it is not as long as you would prefer.
Also, you need to have a budget, one that is both attainable and sensible to be able to make the journey you are planning. Look into how long time you will need to save up for your first planned solo journey.
And then you Make The Decision, and you hold yourself accountable!
Solo Trip Planning – The Important Budget!
Your BUDGET is the important next step. You need to identify how much money you can spend on your journey in total.
Your budget is pretty much divided into two parts. The expenses before departure, and the expenses during your journey.
Keep in mind you may have to make some particular investments before departure if you are going somewhere that calls for particular preparations and equipment, or you are planning to do some special activities.
Expenses before departure can be:
- Clothes and equipment
- Travel gear
- Extra travel insurance for your destination and duration
- Visa expenses
- Vaccines for your particular destination
- Pre-paid flights and accommodation if you prefer
- Pre-paid activities
- Travel books
- Medical equipment
For long journeys, it can be smart to have some parts of the journey preplanned, and others open.
Preplanned and pre-paid parts of the journey are good for predictability but bad for flexibility. Make sure to leave time slots (and money) open for impulsive whims as well!
You are going to meet people who tell you stuff you did not know before you left. And you probably are going to want to change your plan or priorities now and then, stay longer or shorter in places – or go somewhere you didn`t know existed before you left home.
So when you have decided on the costs of preparation and pre-planning before you leave, you also know what the rest of your budget will look like. This will influence how long you can travel, in what style you can travel, and what activities you can participate in on the way.
You need to identify your requirements and set a general daily budget for yourself.
Life is full of ruthless priorities, good luck!
Slow Travel Or Adventure Travel Or Fast-Lane Travel?
Based on your time available, prepaid flights, accommodation, and all the other things above, you are left with a playing budget for your journey!
If you have a set return date to go home, you can predict your daily budget. The money you distribute within your start- and end dates are dependent on your defined interests.
If you do not have a set return date, this is the money that will decide the duration of your journey – shorter or longer – dependent on you.
Remember that this budget will also cover all the things you did not plan for. The impulsive changes of plans and activities change of flights, the amazing dive trip you suddenly heard about, or the extra bus ride and hotel or hostel at a place you found out about.
So the key is to be able to keep the fun-output high, and the living expenses as low as possible.
Make sure you know what you may expect to pay for accommodation in your chosen destinations, so you do not get any surprises. Also, prices of food and options for transport are smart to research beforehand.
Although many websites will help you find accommodation, there are a lot of apps that are a great help to find amazingly chic or, amazingly cheap very last-minute bookings when you are in your impulsive phase!
If you are flexible and can handle the lack of pre-planning to a certain extent – this is a great option.
Every destination has its own special features and activities, courses, or adventures you may enjoy. Check out the list below for a few ideas as to what you may try out, and remember that fear of feeling lonely?
Participating in cool and interesting things like this will probably stall your feeling of solitude more than enough!
- Practice photography or take a course
- Learn a language while traveling, there are lots of schools giving lessons
- Register to do voluntary work before you go
- Work for room and board – to increase your total travel time. Many hostels offer this.
- Learn a skill
- Surfing
- Yoga
- Dancing
- Meditation
- Cooking, take a local cooking course
- Anything that you love, and that is available to you
Wrap-Up Solo Trip Planning – Ready To Go Solo?
Let me say it again, there are sooo many reasons why traveling alone is the most beautiful gem of travel, you might say, and none of them really are about being egoistic.
You see things differently, you learn things in a different way – and you will get to know yourself a lot better.
Who are you when everyone you know is not around?
Do you have any questions, worries, comments, or need advice about solo travel? Leave a comment, or send me an e-mail! Happy to help!
Contact me at post@theworldbyhege.com with any questions or comments!
