If you’ve been following me for a while, then you’ll know how obsessed I am with travel, especially with solo travel.
Solo travel represents freedom and independence, and I can definitely attest that a lot of my confidence now comes from traveling solo in foreign countries.
I hope to encourage you to travel alone at least once in your life, because it is honestly a life-changing and empowering experience.
If you’re set on taking this challenge, here are-
7 Things You Should Know Before Travelling By Yourself:
1. It’s not as hard as you think.
If you can plan a wedding, stay married, raise kids and still stay sane,then travelling by yourself is a walk in the park.
I tend to overplan and map out all the tiny details and things can seem complicated when you’re just reading about them online.
But the truth is, things are simpler once you arrive at your destination.
For example, I would spend hours trying to find out where the Orange sim card booth would be located in Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris. When I arrived, and without much effort, it was just right outside the baggage claim area, a few steps after the immigration checks.
And trust me, you won’t have time to be lonely.
When you’re on your own, you will be busy navigating, talking to strangers at the airport and in your hostels; you’ll be busy gasping at all the new and wonderful things you’re seeing for the first time.
Loneliness is not a thing at all when you travel solo.
A lonely person will always feel alone even when they are in the company of friends.
2. The world is not like how you see it on the news.
The world is kind.
I want to put this out there because there is a very distorted view online about different countries around the world.
Research is good but should be taken with a grain of salt.
You have to understand that people who share their experiences online do so from their own eyes and lenses, with their own fears and biases.
Istanbul, for instance, is 99.9% muslim. I have bowed at their mosques,
taken countless videos inside their holy places of worship, and ate at their homes all by myself. I honestly felt safer walking in the streets of Sultanahmet alone than walking by myself in the alleys of Manila.
People say Paris is full of pickpockets and that it is a scary place. I have been there and it is not true. You need to be aware of your surroundings when you are in tight public places like trains, but the same can be said for any major city in the world.
Yes, there are bad elements, just like in our home country. But, they do not represent the majority.
I’m gonna say that 99% of the people in the world are good and kind, and they always have the right intentions at heart.
You will not hear about them in the news because being mundane is not newsworthy. But trust me, the majority of people are as ordinary as we are, also just mothers, fathers and daughters going about their business.
3. Have your wits about you at all times.
This is not just for when you’re travelling by yourself.
Being able to react calmly and think quickly when something unexpected happens is useful in any situation.
It is especially necessary when you are travelling to a foreign country by yourself.
No matter how much you plan, something unexpected is always going to come up, and you need to decide ahead how you’ll want to act. There’s a funny story about how I almost got lost while making a connection in Switzerland.
I had arrived at a train station where the platforms had no numbers and everybody only spoke German. I mostly studied French and forgot that some parts of Switzerland only spoke German.
I had circled the station three times and no one could tell me where the correct platform was.
I was silently telling myself that If I took the wrong train and ended up in a different part of Switzerland, I would not really be lost because I’d still be in Switzerland. I can just book a hotel anywhere. I had mobile data on my phone and I had my debit card with me. I can make this work regardless of how it turns out.
I boarded the train with half the confidence I carried when I first arrived in Paris, but not once did I falter. Thankfully, I arrived at my intended destination, with an interesting lesson to share.
4. Bring only what you can carry. . .
. . . and practice lifting your luggage before your flight.
No, I’m not kidding.
When you board the plane with a carry-on, you will find that the stewardess will not lift your luggage for you to put in the overhead bin. You will have to do this yourself with your two arms. You cannot rely on other people to help you because they will also have their own stuff to think about.
So, it becomes necessary to make sure that you can actually lift your luggage over your head. Otherwise, just check it in.
Once you travel on your own, you will have to carry your things with you everywhere you go, even in the toilet.
While leaving Switzerland and heading to Rome, I had to stop in Milan and make a connection. I only had a 15-minute window, and you can imagine my panic when I realized there were 24 platforms and mine was 8 minutes away.
I literally ran and dragged my luggage and only made it 2 minutes before the train started moving.
As a rule of thumb, I don’t pack clothes that I only mean to wear once, or just for a photo. It really is not worth it.
5. Book your accommodation in a hostel.
Hostels might be new for Filipino travelers because we’re more
accustomed to hotels or Airbnbs, but Europe is actually filled with them.
Hostels are not only practical but also a safe way to meet fellow travelers when you’re on your own.
This is one of the reasons why travel is such a rewarding experience,
because you get to meet people from different countries from all walks
of life.
Having breakfast at a hostel can be one of the most interesting experiences one can have because you get to see how people from
different parts of the world prepare and eat their first meal of the day.
My Brazilian roommate has her acai bowl for breakfast, while my
friend from Iceland just eats yogurt. The Koreans are always cooking something spicy and aromatic, while the giant guys from Norway make chopping sounds with the bread knife every morning.
Even if you are an introvert, there is no way that you cannot
strike a conversation with your roommate in the hostel. Many of them are also solo travelers and you will find that it’s quite easy to connect with them.
I was instant best friends with my roommates from Brazil and Iceland,
and we would talk casually about who gets to use the shower first
in the morning or when we wanted to turn the lights off at night.
Some of the most beautiful hostels I’ve stayed at are
Hotel Bahnhof Zermatt in Switzerland and The People Paris Marais in Paris.
6. Stay sober. . .
. . . or don’t drink at all.
When you’re out on your own in a foreign country, you need to be always aware of what’s going on around you.
And I don’t mean this in a scary way, but apply the same caution the way you would walking alone at night in your own city.
When I first arrived in Amsterdam, I was literally mesmerized. It’s one of those cities that you have to see for yourself because stories just can’t fully grasp it all.
I stayed in the “red light” district when I was there. And while I wasn’t conservative, the sight of all those almost naked women in the display windows still made me feel uneasy.
I quickly learned that “coffee shops” do not sell coffee and that space cakes are not your average pastry.
Amsterdam is famous for its vice and debauchery, and it’s easy to get swayed by all the things that are forbidden at home, but are now suddenly publicly sold all over the city.
While I am a huge advocate for psychedelic drugs, experimenting with them while travelling alone is something I would not recommend.
7. Google maps is your best friend.
There are several suggested apps for each destination, but I like to keep things simple.
I’ve always relied on Google maps for everything, including trains and flights and just got by fine.
Again, if you’re not savvy with Google maps, practice at home.
Try using Google maps right within your own city until you feel confident enough to navigate on your own.
Google maps is not just for navigating a new country.
I use it most often for planning my itinerary.
I like to plot the places I want to visit and see if my destinations are close to each other, to make sure I don’t spend most of the day riding trains.
And if you’re like me and want to know how things look in a particular street or station, Google maps can provide virtual walks along streets and can even show you inside some buildings,
In conclusion, I believe that everyone should take a trip alone, at least once in their lives.
When you travel alone, you learn to trust yourself and learn how to trust your instincts.
Traveling alone will raise your confidence in ways you never imagined. From planning the trip to navigating a foreign country, you’ll find new independence that will stay with you long after your travels.
When you’re traveling alone and you hit a roadblock, you have to problem-solve by yourself. It can be a scary feat but it will teach you self-reliance.
Rather than relying on others for help, you’ll realize you’re capable of handling tough things all on your own.
It is a guarantee that after traveling alone, you will come back a new person, a better and stronger version of yourself.
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