An Ordinary Odyssey

#SoloTravel is definitely trending right now. You can go out and read a hundred blogs with the title “Top 10 Reasons to Travel Solo” and they are completely accurate. I have my list below, of course, but mostly I want to talk to you about HOW to solo travel, which is something missing from a lot of the discussion! In my experience, most people fall into three camps: the people who already love solo travel, the people who already know it isn’t for them, and the people who are anxious about it.

If you are camp one, you don’t need my advice ya’ll are out there killin’ it already! Camp two, you probably already have the gang lined up for your next cruise. Camp three, you are the ones who have likely read a blog or two and see the merit, but have no idea how to take the plunge. So, let’s get down to business and get you out there exploring!

First up, let’s re-cap the WHY of it all! Why do I think you should travel solo at least once in your life? Here’s my 5 main reasons.

1. Discover The Rad Skills You Already Have

Trust me, you already know how to do so many more things than you know. Many of us have either rarely travelled or have only travelled with other people. You have the safety net of your companions, which is great. But that safety net can sometimes become a crutch. It makes you forget that you do actually know how to do these things yourself. Maybe you aren’t an expert traveller on your own, but if you know how to live and navigate around and do fun things in your own city, you can translate all of that into a solo trip. Once you get out there and realize just how much you know how to do, you’ll feel incredibly proud of yourself.

2. Learning Rad New Skills

Whatever skills you don’t know, you will learn them quickly when you travel solo! Whether that is realizing you have never been the one to book a hotel, have never had to take public transportation, haven’t been in an airport alone, have never read a hiking map, or whatever. Traveling solo will make you do more research and ask more questions. It will make you feel like an idiot for not knowing how the subway works or how to pay tolls. But you’ll figure it out and it will feel damn good later!

3. Dig Deep Into Your Identity

Solo travel means that you will be in a place where no one knows you. No one has any pre-conceived notions about who you are and how you behave. No one has any demands on your time. None of your past mistakes, failures, triumphs, or accolades are there to define you. It’s just you out there. There’s a good chance that you don’t even know who you are without all that baggage (good and bad) to define you. So it’s a great chance to reflect, to try out new identities, to showcase parts of your personality you usually hide, and to just discover who you really are.

4. Stop Waiting Around And Do The Thing

How big is your travel bucket list? Hmmm?! I’m betting pretty long. I’m also betting that you have very few concrete plans to cross those off, but quite a few vague ones! Most of those plans probably hinge on waiting for someone else to be ready to go with you. They need to save money, they are too busy with young kids, they need to settle into their new job first, they need to accumulate PTO, they need to finish grad school, they need to do all sorts of totally reasonable things. But you don’t have to wait for them! The longer you wait to act, the less likely you are to actually do the thing. Study after study shows that people reaching the end of their life regret the things they didn’t do far more than whatever mistakes they made. So go solo and go NOW. You can always go back somewhere with other people!

5. No Compromises

No matter how much you love the people you are with, every trip with other people is full of compromises. No two people are exactly the same and they definitely don’t travel the same way! Whether it is the itinerary itself or the day to day choices like what restaurant to eat at, what time to get up, how much to tip, whose turn is it to buy, which attraction to go to etc. It’s definitely still fun! But the first time you travel solo you will immediately realize the freedom that comes with making no compromises and doing things just exactly the way you want!

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Now I want to talk to you about HOW to travel solo. Like I said, many of us are either total travel newbs or we’ve only ever gone with a group. Many people tend to go to the same few places over and over again and it doesn’t take much planning. You’ve never had to plan out every aspect of a trip yourself. And when you start to look into the reality of it, it really can get quite overwhelming. So here’s my tips for testing the waters with solo travel.

Practice Being Alone Without Getting Lonely

Even the most die-hard introverts can sometimes struggle with feeling lonely, and I’ve found that this is especially true when trying to do fun things out in public. We’re so used to being with other people when we do things that it can be hard to even imagine doing them alone. Now, when we are forced to do those things, we usually turn to our phones and social media to distract us. That’s fine, but do you really want to be on your solo adventure of a lifetime and have to have your face glued to a screen to stay sane?!

Luckily, you can easily practice at home. Just put your phone on silent (bonus, download an app that limits your use of social media for a time!) and go do things in your own community. Eat at a sit-down restaurant, go to a movie, visit a museum, take a walk the woods, read a book at the beach, have a picnic in the park, go to a farmer’s market, etc. Get to the point where you can spend a whole day with yourself, out in the world actively doing things that aren’t errands. Sometimes you’ll be uncomfortable or even bored. Push through! Try anything you found dull at least one more time. Challenge yourself to strike up a conversation with a stranger too, as you’ll need that skill when you are out there alone for real. Whatever you do, I just advise you not to jump into a two-week solo journey without at least practicing being a one a few times first.

Start Small

Whatever type of travel you are interested in trying out, start small! I generally recommend trying out solo travel with a weekend getaway somewhere new but nearby. So get to a city by car/bus that’s just a few hours away but has interesting things to do. Book a cheap hotel or campground, whatever is your jam. Plan out two main things you want to do and pick out one interesting restaurant to eat at. That’s it. Just enough for you to test out planning and executing a solo itinerary.

This allows you to get a taste of what the experience is like with very low risk. You can always drive right back home if you absolutely hate it and you didn’t lose much money. It’s only a night (or two at most), so if you forgot something you can likely live without it or replace it cheaply, and then note it down for next time. It also gives you the chance to plan, without those plans absolutely needing to work out, since you aren’t doing a multi-day, jam-packed itinerary in a whole new country or something. Finally, it’s low pressure on the Bucket List standard. Because you aren’t flying to Italy, you don’t absolutely have to eat only authentic food for every meal, or see every iconic tourist attraction, or whatever thing you think you HAVE to do cause this is a once-in-a-lifetime trip. This city or park is a few hours away. No big deal if you miss something or end up eating fast food three meals in a row. This is just a test drive for you to see how solo travel works and figure out what it is you don’t know yet!

Test Out Your Gear

Related to my first tip, I cannot stress enough how important it is to test out anything new at home! If you’ve never gone camping alone, please try out all your gear before leaving! Better yet, camp in your backyard for a night! Break in your new hiking shoes. Practice using your travel apps. Test out hauling your baggage down your sidewalk if you plan on taking subways. Set up your new tent.
Cook a meal on a propane stove. Test out navigating! Seriously….so many of us rely on our phones to tell us where to go, even in our own cities. But you may not have service or your battery may die or whatever! So go out into your city and practice navigating without the talking phone! Get lost and and learn how to find yourself again.

Network

I know, you wanted to travel to get away from work! But trust me, a little “networking” now will go a long way. What I mean is, get yourself into some social media groups related to what you want to do. Facebook and Reddit are great resources. Pretty much every interest you have, there’s a group for that! Roadtripping, scenic trains, cruises, island hopping, lighthouses, war memorials, national parks, festivals, country/region specific, general solo travel etc. Join some groups and start following along. You’ll see people asking questions you didn’t even know to ask. Start commenting and asking your own questions. Be kind and you’ll discover that most people (most, it is the internet after all!) are willing to help out, no matter how “dumb” you think your question is.

You’ll also find with the very specific groups that you have a community to lean on! For example, I’m in several solo female road tripper type groups and these ladies are the best people on the planet! I cannot tell you the number of times I’ve seen someone have a problem on the road and reach out to the group, only to be helped out within half an hour with a lift to a mechanic, a safe last minute driveway to park in, or a person to hang out with at a coffee shop/hike when that person was just feeling too lonely. This should be my 6th reason for solo travel, really. That you’ll find so many kind and amazing people along the way, because you aren’t staying in your insular group of travel companions!

Give Yourself a Deadline

Seriously. Sit down with your calendar right now and plan out when your weekend test(s) will be! Then, look ahead a few months and schedule your actual trip. Seriously. DO IT NOW. Request the PTO, arrange for a pet sitter, whatever you need to do. And in-between those weekend tests and the Real Deal, schedule other things too. Block out two hours to test out you new tent the day it is supposed to be delivered by Amazon! Dedicate an afternoon to booking accommodations. Heck, schedule your social media networking if you have to. Just give yourself a deadline and start actively working towards it. Talk about it with your people. Get what ever inner or outer accountability measures you need in place ASAP! Otherwise, you’ll fall into the waiting trap. Waiting for conditions to be “just right” to go or waiting for someone else to instigate the travel plans. But conditions will NEVER be perfect. You’ll never have enough money or time or knowledge. And no one is going with you, so no one will remind you to check your passport expiration date or get your car tuned up. It’s all on you. The sooner you get started, the less pre-anxiety you will build up. The sooner you sink some time, money, and effort into the process the less likely you will be to chicken out.

Research That First Trip To Death

Most resources about solo travel will tell you not to over plan, to give yourself wiggle room in your itinerary and not overtax yourself. I agree that you don’t want to try to cram every single thing in and plan out every minute of your itinerary. But, I think for some people, doing loads of research can go a long way into soothing your anxiety before the trip.

If you’ve made it this far into this article, you are likely an anxious girly like me and you clearly have reading stamina! Put those traits to use. Once you’ve scheduled some test runs or your actual trip, give yourself permission to research every aspect of it to death. Dive deep. Knowing as much as possible about the technical details of your trip and all the possible things to do will help you feel more at ease in the place. For me, it kind of feels familiar once I am there. Here’s a quick, non-exhaustive run-down of all the things you can do to familiarize yourself:

• Get lost in Google Maps — use street and satellite views to creep on your hotels the attractions, the airports, the city centers etc.
• Make a list of possible attractions you want to see and put in the days/times they are open, cost, any special details (parking fees, advance reservations etc), and distance from your accommodations. You don’t have to schedule everything into your itinerary. Just having the list and info handy will help you make decisions during your trip. Just pick one off the list and go!
• Social Media! Go back to those networking groups to tell them about where you are going and ask for advice/tips. You’ll get so many ideas of where to go, places to avoid, and important things you might have overlooked (i.e. hey, in Colorado they close all those roads in winter! You’ll have to drive around and make time in your itinerary for that!)
• Request free travel brochures! Lots of places have tourist centers that will physically mail you a copy of their yearly travel brochure. You can read through all the highlights of what they think is the biggest draw to their area and often they will provide one. tothree day itinerary ideas for you.
• Read travel blogs & watch travel vlogs. All of us travel bloggers have likely put out content from your locations and it will be filled with tips for little hidden gems and best restaurants. But likely also big WHOOPS moments they had and how you can avoid them.
• Check. out the weather and climate in detail. Go beyond just Googling “average temp. of Arizona in March” and instead look for the details of the exact places you are going and travel weather advisories/reports for tourists. Otherwise you might not know that Rocky Mountain National Park can have dangerous lightning storms in summer afternoons or that dense fog tend to roll in early in the morning at the valley you are staying in so don’t expect sunrises!