My Best Advice for Joyous Solo Travel

If you’re thinking of solo travel, or if you’re already a seasoned independent and solo traveler, check out my advice for ensuring a joyous solo traveling experience.

Plan Ahead for Solo Travel

When you’re traveling solo, you don’t want to risk getting into difficult situations, such as not having a place to stay or not having a backup plan if a train is canceled (a not infrequent occurrence in the UK these days). Get all your ducks in a row ahead of your trip and have a detailed itinerary stored on your phone and on paper that includes addresses, opening times, schedules, etc.

While you don’t need to over-plan, you do want to have a good sense of where you’re going and when you’re doing things. The peace of mind will add to your enjoyment of solo travel.

Find Ways to Making Dining Alone Fun

Let’s face it, dining alone can feel a bit awkward. But it doesn’t have to. When you’re traveling solo, look for ways to enjoy dining solo.

My preference is for restaurants that are not too busy. I like a quiet atmosphere in which I can concentrate on reading or writing—I always bring along a notebook and pen so I can jot down notes and deep thoughts. I also like to appreciate my surroundings and chat with servers when they are not too busy. If I’m the only solo diner in a sea of boisterous tables, I feel out of place.

If a restaurant looks too crowded for comfort, consider going elsewhere. But always, always, check restaurant reviews and pay close attention to reviews written by solo travelers. If you’re traveling in Europe, check out my post on Happy Budget Dining.

As a solo traveler, you may be shown to a table by the kitchen or another undesirable location more often than if traveling with a companion. Don’t be shy! Ask to be moved if you don’t like the table you’re offered. Usually, you’ll be accommodated and if you’re not, well then, move on. As my granny used to say, they won’t see you again.

Engaging with Others

Enhance your experience by engaging with the servers, who are often friendly and happy to ask you where you’re from—and these days, at least in Europe, most servers speak English. Recently, at a hotel in Bristol, I got to chatting with three young servers who were all students at the university. One wanted to be a writer, so we had a great old talk when she wasn’t busy serving other customers, and she was also interested to hear about my novels.

Dining solo can lead to great interactions both with servers and sometimes fellow diners.

Choose Take-out Dinners

If you can’t find a well-rated restaurant that’s quiet, it’s take-out to the rescue! I’ve had some of my best meals sitting comfortably in my hotel room.

On a solo trip to Kauai, I had take-out pretty much every night because the restaurants were very crowded. Also, by getting take-out just before sunset, I avoided having to drive home along very dark roads.

Travel Light when Traveling Solo

When you’re traveling on your own, having easy-to-manage luggage makes for a more pleasant experience. You won’t need to ask for help getting a small carry-on and backpack on and off trains, and you’ll be able to store them easily. Often trains do not have much storage space for large bags, unless you travel first class (see next point!).

Here are some stylish options for carry-on bags you can buy online:

Upgrade to First Class on Trains

Traveling first class if your train journey is longer than three hours is well worth the extra expense. You get more comfort and more privacy. Most first-class carriages have single-seat rows, whereas most second-class carriages have only double-seat rows.

You might end up seated next to someone whom you may not want to interact with, and those second-class seats are not roomy!

Often the difference in price between first and second class is not as high as you might expect, particularly if you book in advance. Use Trainline to find the best deals.

Stock Up on Audiobooks

Since you want to travel light, don’t weigh yourself down with reading material. While eBooks are a great option while traveling, consider listening to audiobooks instead. Rather than focusing on a screen, you can watch the world go by while staying aware of your surroundings, which makes for a safer journey.

Take along two or three sets of earphones, at least one of which doesn’t need charging. When you’re riding or waiting for transit, standing in line at a museum, or just wanting to tune out the busy world around you, pop in your earphones and enjoy a few chapters of an audiobook.

I recommend listening to audiobooks set in the region you’re traveling through. While riding a bus from Delphi to Athens on a recent trip to Greece, I listened to Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon, which is about Greek theater in the ancient world. Seeing a landscape go by that was very similar to what was described really brought the novel to life.

Intrigued? Check out my interview with Ferdia Lennon about Glorious Exploits on The Art In Fiction Podcast.

Audiobook Suggestions

Here are some options for great audiobooks to enjoy while traveling in Italy, France, and Spain.

Take Walking Tours and Small Group Tours

You are quite likely to meet other solo travelers when you take a walking tour or a small group tour. And if you’d rather not engage, you can enjoy simply focusing on the tour as opposed to worrying that your companion is getting bored or tired. If you get bored or tired, well, that’s okay because you only have yourself to please!

Walking Tours

A great place to find walking tours led by enthusiastic locals is GuruWalk. Many tours specialize in specific interests, such as the architecture tour I took in Bath and the Hidden Gems tour I went on in Athens.

Here are some GuruWalks to check out in Paris.

You can also sign up for tours in museums. Led by curators, these tours are usually very informative and provide a more in-depth understanding of the exhibits than you may get on your own.

Day Tours

I typically don’t rent a car when I’m traveling solo. Even with GPS, navigating can be a challenge, especially in Europe and the UK where the traffic, not to mention parking, is frequently horrendous. The easiest and safest way to see the local countryside is to take small group day tours.

You can read about my tour of the Cotswolds in Exploring the Cotswolds with Go Cotswolds Tours and Yorkshire in Discover Yorkshire: Best Places for the Artsy Traveler.

Choose tours that don’t involve long commutes to get to the tour location. For example, instead of taking a tour of the Cotswolds that embarks from London, spend a night or two in Oxford, Bath or Stratford-upon-Avon and pick up a tour from there. You’ll spend most of your day touring the Cotswolds rather than spending two hours each way on the motorway.

Multi-Day Tours

You may also wish to take the occasional multi-day tour when you’re traveling solo. Recently, I took a four-day tour around Southwest England with Rabbie’s Tours – Get the Best Out of Southwest England on a Rabbie’s Small Group Tour. Only four other people were on the 16-seat bus so there was lots of room to stretch out!

While these tours can be a bit exhausting, you do cover a lot of ground efficiently and see hidden corners that you might miss if traveling by train.

To find good tours, check GetYourGuide and Tiqets.com. Here are a few options in Germany, France, and Italy from GetYourGuide.

Enjoy Solitary Museum-Going

While sharing a museum visit with a companion is great, you can have just as much fun on your own. You can linger for as long as you want in front of an exhibit or walk quickly through galleries that don’t interest you. You also have the time and space to indulge your imagination to the full.

On a recent visit to London’s National Gallery, I swooned in solitary joy before my favorite masterpieces. It was glorious!

I also enjoy listening to audio guides—an inherently anti-social pursuit. When you’re traveling with someone who doesn’t enjoy audio guides, you may decide to forgo getting one yourself. When you travel alone, you can do what you want!

Choose a Double Room When Solo Traveling

You may be disappointed if you opt for a single room instead of a double room, particularly in small B & Bs and budget hotels where single rooms are often little more than closets. The savings in cost between a single room and a double room may not be worth the often significant reduction in space.

Book a double room and enjoy more space and a larger bed.

A Note About Single Supplements

If you’re taking a guided tour, you may be required to pay a single supplement, especially if the tour includes accommodation. To avoid this extra cost, look for tours that do not include accommodation and allow you to make your own arrangements.

While large group bus tours will typically not allow this, some small group tour companies will. For example, with Rabbie’s Tours, I was not charged a single supplement. I booked my own accommodations and then told the company the names of the hotels so the driver could drop me off every evening and pick me up the next morning. I avoided paying a single supplement and was able to choose double rooms in the places I stayed. Win-win.

Black Friday Deal – Up to 20% Off Rabbie’s Tours

Take Taxis and Rideshares

Don’t stint on transportation when you’re traveling solo. If taking a bus or subway is an easy and safe option, then go for it. But if not, choose taxis or rideshares. You get door-to-door service and avoid long walks through underground tunnels or hanging out in potentially dodgy areas waiting for a bus.

These days, the proliferation of rideshare apps, many of which are linked to local taxi services, is a boon for the solo traveler.

Keep Your Valuables Close

The current fashion for cross-body bags is good news for solo travelers. While they may not be chic, they are extremely practical. Over the years, I’ve carried many different kinds of bags while traveling, and my small cross-body bag is my favorite. It fits my phone, sunglasses, and a small wallet that I always have safety-pinned to the lining of the bag so I can never inadvertently drop it.

Once, while wearing my cross-body bag, I went into a purse store in Paris in search of something a little nicer to carry while dining out. The salesperson raised her eyebrows at my scuffed bag and intoned “Ce n’est pas chic.”

Right she was, but there’s a time for being chic and a time for being safe. When you’re traveling solo, the practical cross-body bag is your best choice.

Here are some cross-body bag options.

Valuables on the Beach

Connect with Others—Or Not

I confess that I’m wary of strangers when traveling solo. While I’m always super friendly with service people in restaurants and hotels, I don’t engage much with others, particularly if they strike me as overly friendly.

If you’re looking for companionship, join a walking tour or a small group tour and chat with the other participants. This level of interaction may be enough to keep you from feeling lonely on the road.

I believe that one of the keys to success as a solo traveler is to embrace the solitude, to enjoy your own company, and to always look for ways in which to deepen your solo experience through enjoyment of the sites, the landscapes, and the passing parade of humanity.

Put Safety First when Traveling Solo

The best tip for any solo traveler is to prioritize safety above all else. You never want to compromise your safety to save money. A twenty-minute walk to your hotel through dark streets in an unfamiliar town may be free, but it could also be dangerous.

If you can take a taxi, then do so. If you can’t, walk quickly and look purposeful. Plot out your route before you set out so you’re not staring at a phone screen rather than paying attention to your surroundings. You don’t want to look like a wide-eyed tourist who doesn’t know where she’s going.

Conclusion

Traveling solo makes you self-reliant and gives you confidence. I like keeping my wits sharp as I make my way on and off trains, check into hotels, find the right meeting area for a tour, stay safe on the road, keep myself well fed and watered, and interact with people safely.

And let’s face it, the proliferation of smartphones makes solo travel much less solitary than it once was. You can be walking along a beach in Brighton and have a conversation with your significant other who is 10,000 miles away on another continent or you can post your activities on social media and in moments have plenty of people to chat with, albeit digitally.

Safety check: Avoid posting in ‘real time’ when you’re traveling or eating/staying at a particular restaurant, bar or hotel. You can share your experiences with friends and family privately but save public social media posts for when you’re back home or have moved on to a new travel destination.

When I drove across the US in the 1980s, I spoke to my family once a week from a pay phone, read from my stash of paperback books, and did a lot of solitary staring at the landscape.

While it’s apples and oranges to compare then with now, the one constant is that solo traveling can lead you to many joyous experiences when you plan well and stay open to seeing and learning new things.

What’s your advice about traveling solo? Share your tips and thoughts in the Comments below.

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