Hi everyone, wanted to throw together a quick how to on traveling by yourself. Lots of people want to visit other countries or cities but often want a friend to come with. For companionship, safety and just to plain out share the adventure with. Traveling alone does have some great benefits. They can be:
- Completely immerse yourself in the culture
- No drama
- Slightly cheaper
- Build confidence
- Meet new friends
- You’re on your own time
Before I got married I did a lot of traveling by myself and want to throw together some tips for you readers.
Lets kick it off:
Pre-trip Planning
This is probably one of the most important things to effectively travel alone. Decide on where you want to visit first. Dont worry about planning the travel logistics and local transportation yet. Ask yourself, where do you want to go? Then plot it out after doing some research. I use Google MyMaps and start to plot everything out. I color coded them differently so I could easily see the distances from place to place. I think it’s super important to stay organized and this will for sure help. Delineating the land marks from your hotel will give you a sense of distance from place to place. It will also give you a sense of how big the area is you’re willing to explore
Check out # hash tags of the places you want to visit!!!
I cant stress this enough, go on social media and check out the RECENT hash tags of the places you’re wanting to visit. There have been times when I wanted to go visit a place and it is either, closed (perminantly or temporarily), not what it looks like from the pictures or just boring. I find Instagram the most trust worthy source to find recent pictures.
How are you going to get there?
So now you’ve decided where to go and what you want to see. Now it’s time to figure out how to get there. I’ll skip the parts on finding the best travel deals and all that. Here I am using Iceland as an example so obviously, I will need to fly there. I personally use Google Flights but there are other options out there. I’ve found Google Flights the simplest, fastest and most intuitive to use. Note that not all airlines are supported.
If your schedule is flexible, try looking at various dates. The calendar will show you the prices for other dates. This can be super helpful.
Find a place to stay
Once you get there you’ll need to find a place to stay and this is where your plotting out where you’d like to visit comes into play. Think about are you going to stay in one spot or travel around to multiple hotels/hostels/air-bnbs. Find a couple that you like then plot them out on your saved map in Google MyMaps and have a look at the logistics. Below, I’ve picked out a spot that is close to a few spots I would like to visit. This will give you a good sense of the distance needed. Open up Google Maps and check out the route(s), distance and travel time. Once you’ve decided, book it!
Decide how you are going to get around
So in Iceland, obviously I will have to rent a car. Many travel booking websites can search those for you and give you the best rates. However, another option is to take those tourist buses that go around the city. A lot of travelers and locals shun those open top tourist buses but they can be a real easy and cheap way to get around. Check them out first. For this example, I’ll switch countries and show you Paris, France. I looked up a local tourist bus, found out the routes it goes and then mapped them out on Google MyMaps. These buses usually follow a lateral east/west route and a vertical north/south route. So why the tourist bus instead of the subway/mass transit. Well for some, mass transit can be a bit overwhelming. Thankfully Google Maps has that built right in to aid you to use mass transit. The tourist bus is just another option and can be super convenient since it’s hop on and off at all the major sites. No need to find a metro station.
Get a travel manager app to help you stay organized
Once you’ve booked everything get an app to help you stay organized. I use the Google Trips app, which shows me everything and gives recommendations on what see/do and quick info about the country/city I’m visiting.
Finally, go out there and explore!
After all this, go out there and explore a new place. Use the Google product suite to help you and stay organized. Now this is by far not a comprehensive list but I hope that it provides you with some tips to get around. Don’t be scared of traveling alone. Just be aware of your surroundings and be a bit more cautious. I really do believe that traveling alone can help you find yourself and can be therapeutic to some.
Safe travels everyone! If anyone is planning a trip to Baltimore, Maryland. Please let me know and I can provide some recommendations and tips!
