5 Ways to Make the Most Out of Your Solo Trip

Traveling on your own is not scary or lonely—it is an amazing opportunity to learn more about yourself and the destination that you are visiting without being encumbered by somebody else’s plans or itinerary. Here are ways to make the most out of the trip you are going on by yourself.

1. Accepting the fact that you will have to spend more for your trip will definitely help you enjoy your adventure. You will have to pay for your hotel or hostel alone (and we all know how splitting the costs of a room with another person saves a lot of money), eat alone (with no one to split the bill with), and do other things alone. Tours or group activities will be out of your range (unless you can find a group that will let you join in), but spending a bit more is a small price to pay to explore your destination on your own terms.

2. When you go on your trip alone, make sure that you have enough confidence to be independent. It might be a bit intimidating to decide on everything while on your trip, but the experience is extremely rewarding. You do not have to conform to other people’s wishes—if you want to eat at a certain restaurant and order a specific dish, you can do so; if you want to visit the museum instead of a shopping mall, you can freely do so, too.

3. Traveling on your own also means that you have to learn to be flexible—or at least, flexible beyond your travel itinerary. Talk to people (both locals and fellow tourists like yourself)—make new friends out of people from different backgrounds, with different ages and beliefs in life. Ask these people about their interests, hobbies, what their homes are like. You will be surprised with the answers that you will get.

4. Whenever you are traveling—whether with a group of friends or alone—researching your destination before you leave home will definitely prove invaluable. However, when you are traveling alone, it is not wise to leave the legwork (or “finger”-work these days, thanks to the numerous travel guides on the Internet) to someone else. Again, your solo journey is all about you and the discoveries that you will make on your own. You can use your guidebooks, as well various online resources such as travel websites and blogs. Doing your own research can help you design an itinerary that you will truly enjoy and will allow you to spread your budget the way you want it.

5. If you are still hesitant to go on your own to foreign destination, you can try taking a short (one or two days) trip to a nearby location. Test the waters first, find out more about your traveling style and learn from the things that you will do wrong during those first few trips. Then gradually ease yourself into longer holiday periods and into destinations father away from home.