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7 Fantastic Tools That will Have You Solo Travelling with Confidence
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7 Fantastic Tools That will Have You Solo Travelling with Confidence

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Some people solo travel to escape their 9 to 5, get a break from reality, family or the simple difficulty in gathering friends to go away with. Whatever your reason is. I believe everyone should travel at least once in their life. Solo travelling is an exciting topic for many reasons.

So What is Solo Travel?

Solo travel is where you go somewhere alone. This can be anywhere you want. Wherever you go, you spend a significant chunk of time alone once you get to your destination. Now, as I said before, I never actually feel like I’m alone when I solo travel. And it’s real, just because you travel alone doesn’t mean you’ll always be alone during your travels. Unless you really want to be.

I absolutely adore solo travelling, but I don’t feel like I do it enough. This year I solo travelled to Singapore, Bali and Ireland. You can go wherever you like, whenever you want. It’s incredible how you are entitled to do exactly what you want when you want. 

However, I do understand that booking the first solo trip can be quite a daunting experience. That is why I’m going to give you the tools to schedule your first trip with real confidence.  

How to Travel With Confidence as A Solo Traveller 

1. Take Baby Steps…

This is advice from someone that has travelled solo for over 5 years. Please don’t do your first solo trip thousands of miles away from home. It might be a shock to the system, and you don’t want it to go to waste. Instead, start small. I recently went to Ireland for the day. It was great and was only a 55 min flight from home. Why not go for the day by yourself ? Or even do a one-night stopover in a city close to you. It doesn’t have to be a huge jump! Make it easy and start off small. 

When travelling alone, you have to feel so comfortable in your own company.  

You don’t even have to actually leave your city. You could go to the park alone. Or maybe cinemas/movies. Perhaps even think about heading to a restaurant alone. Whatever you do, do something that you are comfortable with. When solo travelling, you have to feel so comfortable in your own company.  

Me sitting on the steps at Trinity College.

I’m someone that enjoys my own company – a little too much in fact. Travelling solo pushes, you to be by yourself most of the time, so think where you want to go first. You will always feel nervous wherever you go (I still get worried, and I’ve been going solo for five years!!) but the more you practise going sooo and test your limits the further you can go.  Trust me. 

2. Get yourself booked onto a tour  

As cheesy as it sounds, it’s actually a good idea and a perfect way to make friends when travelling solo. When I was in Bali this year, I booked an Instagram tour. 

Me and Sandra.

Now if I didn’t book that tour, I would have never met another traveller and experienced another side of Bali. Going on tours and meeting with other travellers is an excellent way of sharing stories and tips, too! 

3. Do a little you know research   

I say this quite lightly because you can do all the research in the world and still be shocked upon arrival! I would say make sure you go with an open mind ready to learn and eager for a new experience.  

4. Plan the first couple of nights’ accommodations for your solo travels

This won’t be necessary if you’re only staying for a day.

However, it is essential if you have never travelled before to book accommodation. It’s just so you know where to go upon arrival. I’ve done solo travelling and have booked my accommodation on the day to my destination. This is fine, but I wouldn’t suggest it on your first solo trip. I want you to enjoy your first solo trip, so making sure you have everything planned is key to having to a smooth experience. I would suggest booking.com and Airbnb.

5. Stay active on social media  

This doesn’t apply to everyone, of course (not everyone has social media) but if you have a phone, I would suggest keeping your friends and family aware of things you are doing while travelling solo.

When I travelled solo to Las Vegas last year, I was always checking in with friends and family to let them know that I was okay.  

Use socials like:

6. Carry cash and a credit card and keep your money safe – In several places 

I tend to use my credit card everywhere I go. However, I do understand that this might not be an option in some areas. In Ireland and Singapore, this was and is fine. Countries like Bali or Malaysia you may want to have some cash with you – don’t carry massive amounts but enough for you to get by. 

My advice to you is, only take what you need for a day’s spend, you will know what to take through lots of planning. And if you have to hide some money in several places and only carry one plastic and have one at home.  Do so. Travelling solo you always need back up.

7. Present yourself with confidence hunnie when solo

After all these tools I have stated above, you should have NO problems with travelling solo. Walk with an air of confidence everywhere you go. You’ll give off a self-assured vibe, rather than a vulnerable one, and be less likely to attract unwelcome attention. 

Final Thoughts…

It can be hard to not look like a tourist, or a solo traveller, but never tell people where you’re staying unless you feel safe to do so. Although I was solo travelling in the States last year, I never once said to people where I was staying. In fact, I always made out that my boyfriend was at the hotel. 

If you ever find yourself lost, which can be fun sometimes (not always) go into a busy local bar, a restaurant or a hotel. Worst case scenario is you will have to pay for a taxi to get you home. I’ve done this before and felt no shame about it! 

Never worry about coming across as dismissive if you reject a seemingly kind local’s offers; your safety always comes first. Trust your instincts; they are your best defence. 

Use these tools, and I can assure you that solo travelling will be a smooth and one to remember.  

Thank you so much for having a read. If you have time, read on my other solo travel posts: 

Have you ever travelled solo? When was your last solo trip? What scares you the most if you haven’t gone solo before?

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What I Learnt on my Solo Travel to Vegas
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What I Learnt on my Solo Travel to Vegas

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If I were to say to you that I travelled from Los Angeles to Vegas on my lonesome by bus, would you believe me? Being the traveller that I am, I’m used to taking solo flights across country by myself with the small exception of someone always waiting for me on the other side. This year, I decided that I was going to attend Coachella with some friends who live America, who would then have to go back to their respective homes after the weekend festivities – unfortunately for my dear friends, Americans don’t get the best annual leave entitlements.

One thing I knew for sure though, after an 11-hour flight, a weekend just wouldn’t be enough for me and I wasn’t about to go home that quickly. I decided to stick around and travel solo to Vegas.

From then on, I knew I was going to have to do some travelling alone….

Now don’t get it twisted, I can admit that I may have been slightly dramatic about it at first, I had so many thoughts rushing through my head like, “isn’t it weird to travel by yourself?” or “what good is travelling if its not a shared experience?” let me not forget my personal fave, “who’s going to take my pictures?” – which actually didn’t turn out to be too bad, who would’ve known the world had so many budding photographers, believe me when I say they did better than some of my closest friends (I know my friends won’t take offence LOOL)

There is something truly special about traveling alone, I feel like I had enough me time to think through a lot of things, things that would be beneficial to myself, and others around me. It was a refreshing experience and I would like to share the seven things I learnt whilst travelling solo.

When you’re travelling with friends, you tend to spend too much time on entertaining each other rather than socialising and meeting new people. 

Travelling solo brought new confidence within me as I had to encourage myself to speak with the locals, I found that people tend to be more open and friendly when you tell them you’re from abroad and travelling by yourself, they would suggest cool and funky places I should visit during my time there.

Disclaimer – I wouldn’t suggest telling everybody that you are travelling by yourself, remember stranger danger, and not everybody is your friend. Use your discretion wisely.

5 Reason to Travel Solo

Do what you want to do, when you want to do it

Sometimes with friends, you aren’t able to do everything you would like to, as you would also have to take into consideration their wants and needs, which could prove to be difficult to coordinate in a short space of time. There seems to be an endless amount of planning (boring!) then you have those with the ‘assigned/ unassigned’ roles, you have your leaders, your followers, and the unbothered’s who just go with the flow. Travelling alone made me be all of those at once. It was amazing, when I wanted to go home, I went home; I went wherever I wanted to, whenever I wanted to, it was just GREAT!!

It’s empowering

When you travel alone, you can’t rely on someone else to read the map or carefully organise your day, you must do it all.  And it’s easy. you will find out very quickly at every step, that you can rise to the occasion. You have no choice. By making your own plans and caring for yourself, you’ll find you come away stronger, more confident and self-reliant.

Alone time is good for your soul 

Alone time is so therapeutic, naturally, I am an introvert and so is my boyfriend. We have always agreed that this sometimes can be a negative trait. At home, I’m a very distant person, that sometimes it can feel like it’s you against the world. However, when you are alone in another country, you can have time to really connect with yourself away from the bullshit reality that we live day in and day out. It forces you to search your soul. Then come back home with dreams you never knew you even had, its like a deeper spiritual feeling.

New friends are not that hard to come by

Being in America with a British accent really worked to my advantage. It can sometimes be intimidating speaking with new people but if you never try, how will you know where your conversation could lead you. On my way to the Grand Canyon from Las Vegas, I met a lovely lady and her mother who took me under their wing for the day. We had such a great time and I don’t regret plucking up the courage to speak with them. I have now met someone who I am very much likely to carry on speaking to for years to come.

Thank God for Social Media

My friends always knew where I was, we made sure to have quick check-ins. Despite being in different countries I knew that if my friends didn’t see an update on social media for more than 48 hours they would begin to worry; a definite plus was that I was in an English-speaking country so no language barriers, and being Daddy’s girl. My dad who also lives in the states was always checking up on me, making sure I wasn’t getting up to no good.

You were born in this world alone, you will die alone, so what’s stopping you from exploring the wonders of this world alone

It may sound a bit harsh but I mean this in the nicest way possible, I feel like people need to remember that you cannot rely on anybody but God and yourself. One of my realisations whilst travelling solo was that I was going to be fine by myself, and guess what I was, I met some beautiful people that I would now consider lifetime friends.

So GO ahead, take the leap, It’s time do real things by yourself, for yourself; If you have a place you’ve wanted to go. Don’t know anyone to go with, look no further, just do it, by yourself and travel solo.

What about yourself, would you ever travel solo, where?

Leave a comment in the description box, and let me know about your experience.

Also Read: How Did I Travel To 15 Countries In 7 Months??

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