My Best Advice for Joyous Solo Travel
Do you enjoy solo travel? I love traveling on my own and have done so ever since my first solo trip when I drove from Vancouver to New York across the United States in my twenties.
I even camped along the way, although nowadays I don’t think I’d be quite that adventurous!
While I also enjoy traveling with my husband, daughter, and friends, there’s something about solo travel that feeds my love of independent travel.
When you travel alone, you get to go where you want to go when you want to go there. You can spend all day rushing from site to site or take the afternoon off for a nap. And after a long day of sightseeing, you can dine at restaurants that serve food your usual travel companions may not enjoy.
If you’re thinking of embarking on your first solo travel adventure, or if you’re already a seasoned independent and solo traveler, check out these solo travel tips and have 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.
What if your train is canceled?
That happened to me twice during one recent trip to the UK. The first time, I just had to wait a few hours. But the second time required me to get a hotel for the night. I had to be open to zigging when I should have been zagging! I also had to suck up the extra cost.
Sometimes, a budget is only a guideline. You never want to be in a position where you have to put saving money ahead of safety and convenience.
Have a Detailed Travel Itinerary
So, get all your ducks in a row ahead of your trip. Have a detailed itinerary stored on your phone and on paper that includes hotel addresses, places to visit, 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.
Always Know Where You’re Going
Hurrah for Google maps! It’s thanks to them and SmartPhones that you can tackle a new city with confidence, and know at all times where you are geographically.
I still shudder when I remember a time in Holland back in the 1990s when I went for a walk without a map, got lost, and couldn’t find anyone who spoke English to direct me. I found my way back to the hotel–eventually–but it was a bit touch and go.
Before you go anywhere on your own, program in your route on your SmartPhone. Also make sure you have a few taxi and ride share apps installed for quick access.
And don’t go out with a phone that’s running out of battery unless you’re carrying a reliable backup battery. I speak from painful experience…!
Also take photos of your hotel that include the street number, your parking space if you’re driving, and any other landmarks you might need. When you’re traveling solo, you only have yourself to rely on so make sure you’re prepared!
Find Ways to Make 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, and I always bring along a notebook and pen so I can jot down 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. 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. Push yourself out of your comfort zone now and again and strike up a conversation with your neighbor.
Choose Take-out Dinners
If you can’t find a well-rated restaurant that’s quiet, then 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. You’ll also be able to store them easily.
Also, not all trains have sufficient 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 books 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 and Small Group Tours
You are quite likely to meet other solo travelers when you take a walking or a small group tour. And if you’d rather not engage, you can enjoy simply listening to the tour guide 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 of the guides specialize in specific interests. In Bath, the guide was enthusiastic about architecture, while in Athens, the guide loved sharing his extensive knowledge of ancient history.
Here are some GuruWalks to check out in Paris.
You can also sign up for guided tours in museums. Led by curators and usually free, these tours are almost always very informative and provide a more in-depth understanding of the exhibits than you may get on your own.
Guided 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 and the two day tours I took to explore Yorkshire during a solo trip to England.
Choose tours that don’t involve long commutes to get to the destination. 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 joyriding around the Cotswolds rather than spending two hours each way on the motorway.
If you’re looking to meet new people while traveling, a day tour may be just the ticket.
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. 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, they can also be a great way to meet people if you’re so inclined. You also cover a lot of ground efficiently and see hidden corners 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 instead, 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.
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 passport, phone, sunglasses, and a small wallet containing a bank card, two Visa cards, my driver’s license, and my travel insurance card. I always safety-pin the wallet to the lining of the bag so it can never fall out.
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 good cross-body bag options.
Valuables on the Beach
What do you do when you’re alone in a foreign country and your travels take you to the beach? Obviously, leaving your valuables on your towel, even if cunningly covered with a T-shirt, is not wise.
Instead, bring along a waterproof pouch designed to snugly fit a phone, car keys, your ID, and a small wallet. You can then be 100% sure your valuables are safe while you enjoy bobbing in solitary splendor.
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 worried you may get lonely, join a walking or small group tour and chat with the other participants. This level of interaction may be enough to keep you from feeling isolated on the road.
When I was younger, I easily met fellow travelers at youth hostels, but now when I stay in hotels, opportunities for making friends are limited. That suits me fine, but if it doesn’t suit you, then find ways to step out of your shell to meet people.
Sign up for a cooking class and learn to make the local food (I love cooking classes!). Or maybe find a meetup group of people who share your interests (crocheters in Catalonia, perhaps, or ex-pat writers in Warsaw).
Thanks to the Internet, there are no end of opportunities for finding like-minded people. Just make sure any meetings take place in public places with plenty of people around!
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 appreciation 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. As mentioned above, plot your route before you set out so you’re not staring at a phone screen rather than paying attention to your surroundings.
You never want to look like a wide-eyed tourist who doesn’t know where she’s going.
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 from Vancouver to New York across the United States 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.
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.
Are you planning your next solo adventure–or your first? What’s your best advice for traveling on your own? Share your tips for solo travel and thoughts in the Comments below.