Your First Trip as a Solo Travel Girl
You may find yourself in a difficult position… you want to travel the world and go to all the amazing places you see on your Instagram feed but as a woman, it’s hard to imagine travelling alone for the first time.
There are many hurdles you may face when deciding to start travelling the world and one of the biggest is, whether to go alone or with company. Going with company can be difficult to coordinate and arrange. Countless times, my friends and I have made ‘plans’ to go to this country or that place, but it never comes to fruition for several reasons. You may be in the same situation right now, wondering whether to keep persevering and hope you can make the plans work, or whether to just say f*ck it and go alone.
If you’ve already reached the stage of saying, ‘F*ck it, I’ll go alone’, then here are my top 5 tips for you as a solo female traveller, preparing to make her first solo travel trip.
1. Do Your Reseach
Research is one of the most important things you can do prior to taking a trip and it can help to relieve apprehensions about a new place. When travelling to somewhere further afield, like Asia or Latin America, it’s especially good practice to do your research on the country you’re travelling to. To cover off the basics, look up: what currency is used, what language is spoken there and how widely is it spoken. For more extensive research, you could search: areas in the country/place to avoid, typical tourist traps, ‘is it safe at night?’, ‘is *insert country* safe for a woman alone?’.
Knowledge is power so the more you know beforehand, the less likely you’ll run into trouble once you’re there!
2. Book a Tour
Going on organised tours can act as a brilliant ‘comfort blanket’ for those who are travelling alone for the first time. On my first solo travel trip, all I did was tours for the first week because I was still finding solo travel overwhelming at that point. Once I gained my confidence, I was able to go at it alone.
Don’t feel like you have to do everything completely alone if you’re still nervous; Use the tours as your comfort blanket and allow yourself time to build up the courage to venture out alone.
3. Find Other Travellers to Meet Up With
With the internet, it’s so easy to connect with a multitude of different people from across the globe. You can use websites, such as ‘workaway’, or join various Facebook groups to connect with people who are travelling at the same time as you. You might be able to organise meeting up for a day trip, or even do part of your trip together!
4. Use the Find Your Friends App
If you have a trusted friend or family member that you are in regular contact with, then it may be a good idea to share your location with them. Whilst I was travelling, I kept in regular contact with family so they always had a rough idea of what I was doing that day and where I would be. In the event that something happened to me, and they hadn’t heard from me for a while, having my location might help to locate me. Hopefully they’ll never need to do this, but it gives me peace of mind to know that someone has access to my whereabouts.
5. Find Hostels with Female-Only Dorms
When travelling, it’s miles cheaper to stay in a hostel, and it’s a great way to make friends. However, for a woman, the thought of sleeping in the same room as men you don’t know can be slightly daunting. Luckily, it’s really easy to find places with female-only dorms. It can be slightly more expensive at times (not by much) but it’s worth it if you feel uncomfortable sharing with the opposite sex. After a few weeks, I felt fine in either, but I appreciated having the option of both.
So, there we have my top 5 tips for first-time solo female travellers. Solo travel is something every woman should do once in her life. It will give you so much self-confidence and you’ll get to see the best of what the world has to offer. So, if you want to be a solo travel girl, then book those tickets! You can do it!
Char Aldred 