Solo Travel Tips Continued
As the title suggests, this is the second set of travel tips to consider for first-time solo travelers.
There really isn’t any specific order you should read these in. I just decided to make slightly shorter posts to make them easier to read through.
So with that said, I’ll continue with three more tips to consider when traveling alone for the first time.
Travel Tips #4: Have a Specific Goal But Don’t Overthink It
When I left for my first solo travel experience, I didn’t really have a solid goal that I wanted to achieve.
My only goal was to see if I would be comfortable traveling solo without any help besides my own.
Which isn’t a bad goal, but I later found out that even though my goal was in line with what part of solo travel is about, it wasn’t specific enough.
I didn’t really put too much into planning what I would do when I actually got to my destination.
I did research on the destination, but ultimately I didn’t have any real specific reason for going other than wanting to see what solo travel would be like.
If I could go back, I would have really tried to have a more specific reason for wanting to travel solo.
Even if it was learning more about the history of the destination or really taking time to learn the language,.
It could even be career- or job-related (school or education) or even something less serious, like picking a hobby that would benefit from traveling.
What If You Don’t Have a Specific Goal?
If you decide to travel solo without any other goal other than to “see what it would be like,”.
What will most likely happen is that you’ll end up getting to your destination, and you’ll start to feel like you’re just wandering around aimlessly.
I’m not saying this is a bad thing; sometimes we need to be a little lost to find the right way, but having a more specific reason as to why you decided to travel solo would give your travels more “purpose.”.
Which in turn would make solo travel much more of an experience that you could benefit from.
Again, it isn’t wrong to want to travel and be a little lost if you really can’t find another reason (there’s no right or wrong way to solo travel).
If you can, try to have other goals so as to make the whole “solo travel experience” have more of an impact on your life and what you can learn from the experience.
Overplanning and Overthinking
On the other side of that spectrum, there are the people who plan everything to the last detail and follow every step on their “itinerary.”.
Again, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing; you just don’t want to spend too much time planning every little thing.
In the end, even though you might be well prepared, there will always be something that comes up that you just didn’t see coming.
When it comes to traveling in general, it’s always good to be prepared, but stressing yourself too much over the little things just isn’t necessary.
So if you’re seriously planning on traveling solo, it’s a good idea to have other sets of goals, but you shouldn’t stress yourself too much about how you would go about attaining those goals.
If you just can’t think of any other reason other than to just experience solo travel,.
It’s still a good idea to have that mindset of “what your goal is” in the back of your mind while you travel.
Travel Tips #5: Take a Chance With the Unexpected
From my experience, part of solo travel is experiencing things you weren’t expecting.
There will be moments when traveling where something happens or you might meet a certain person you weren’t expecting to meet.
And you either learn something you weren’t expecting to learn or you have an experience that gives you inspiration or changes the way you think.
I can only speak from my experience, but there were times where I met a specific person or went through a certain ordeal and had a moment of clarity or inspiration.
If you decide to travel solo for a long period of time, you’ll eventually come to that point, but only if you’re willing to take chances.
I know that might sound a little risky, but I really believe that taking a chance is a big part of solo travel.
If you think about it, just making the decision to travel solo is already considered a risky decision.
If you’ve already decided to take a chance on solo travel, why should that be the only chance you decide to take?
Weighing Risk
Of course, you don’t want to take every chance presented to you. Figuring out how to weigh your risks is important but tricky.
In my mind, everything requires some sort of balance. This is the same with taking risks or chances that you might not normally consider.
It’ll definitely be a hard decision, but if you weigh your risks and pick the right moments, the unexpected nature of solo travel could end up being well worth your time.
You might be wondering, “Well, how would I go about doing this?” I think the best way to start is to look at your own habits.
Are you normally the type of person who takes risks? Or do you tend to “play it safe” and take a cautious approach?
If you tend to play it safe, then it might make sense to try to step up your game and be a little more of a risk-taker.
If you’re already the type of person who tends to “live on the edge,” you might want to consider being a little less reckless and more mindful of your decisions.
Ultimately, you should consider taking on more risk, but also be cautious about the risks you take.
Which might sound contradictory, but there’s definitely a way to achieve a balance between caution and risk when traveling on your own.
Travel Tips #6: Take Your Time
Many travelers tend to make the mistake of traveling somewhere only to stay for a couple of days or weeks before leaving.
Again, if you really think about it, any place you travel to will take more than just a couple of days or weeks if you really want to see everything a destination has to offer.
I think it’s the excitement of travel that makes first-time solo travelers want to visit as many places as possible, but traveling in this way will only give you a shallow impression of what the place is about.
Everyone is different, and every traveler will have a different experience, but staying in a place for at least a month or longer (from my experience) would have the most impact on your impressions and overall experience in general.
Staying in a destination for at least a month or longer will also give you a better feel for what the local culture is like. Not only that, but a month or longer is a good amount of time to see and experience most, if not all, of the sites and activities a destination has to offer.
Staying for a longer period of time will also allow you to have more meaningful relationships with the people you meet while traveling. Which, in turn, would help you meet more people on a deeper level.
Taking Time To Build Real Relationships
Another reason you might want to take your time with solo travel is to build better relationships with other travelers and the local people you meet while traveling.
One of the challenges of solo travel and travel in general is that it’s easy to meet a lot more people, but you’ll find that it’s difficult to build lasting relationships.
No matter how you look at it, it takes time to have a meaningful relationship with anyone. It takes time to really have those specific experiences.
If you’re jumping from one place to another, trying to visit as many places as possible, you won’t be able to form those types of relationships.
That’s why I personally recommend staying in a place for at least a month or longer. I find that a month (for me at least) is a good amount of time to really experience a place and meet people on a deeper level.
You might even find a month to be too short. There’s no right or wrong way to decide how long you should stay in any one place, but staying longer will give you more of a chance to experience a destination and its people on a deeper level.
More Tips on Solo Travel?
I still have other tips to share when traveling solo. These are just three more tips I thought I should share with people who decide to go out and take on solo travel for the first time.
Deciding to travel solo is a big decision, and it’s understandable to look for tips and advice on what to know or what to expect.
Approaching solo travel with the right mindset can help you create a more interesting and unique travel experience that could potentially have more of an impact on your life in general.
If you’d like to learn more about solo travel, check out the blog at Traks&Paks.
