I love being able to travel on my own and I think it’s something that everyone should experience at least once in their lifetime. There’s something special about experiencing a new place for the first time alone. I have taken a solo weekend trip, solo day trips, and my most recent solo road trip. Over the years, I’ve picked up some tips that I thought I would share, as well as give advice on how to plan your own trip.

Budget

Before I even begin to start planning a trip, I evaluate my budget and decide how much I would like to spend. In most cases, I have specific destinations in mind. But sometimes I don’t. Last September, I knew I wanted to leave Los Angeles for Labor Day weekend but had no idea where I wanted to go. I went to Google Flights (a great tool that everyone should utilize) and input the dates of my trip. From there, I was able to view a map with various prices and ended up picking Dallas.

If I’m flying, I typically pick the flight first and then budget accordingly. If it was an expensive flight, I prefer spending less on accommodations. If it was a cheap flight, I may splurge for a nicer Airbnb. This is totally up to you and your personal preferences!

Once I have my flights and accommodations booked, I can determine how much is left in my budget for transportation and other activities. This includes a lot of decision-making, sometimes last minute, and figuring out how I want to allocate my money. I could take that $60+ Uber from the airport to my Airbnb OR I could take public transportation for $2.50 and spend that money elsewhere.

If you’re trying to stay within a specific budget, track your expenses on the trip in real-time. Once you’re back at the Airbnb for the night, you can categorize everything and can see where the bulk of your money was spent that day.

Plan

This is the most important step. Plan ahead. Since you’re going to be by yourself, it’s important to know where you’re going and how you’re getting there. Do as much research as you can.

• Book your flights, hotel and/or Airbnb, car rental, etc. ahead of time and save all your confirmation emails in a folder so you can easily find them

• If you’re flying, figure out how far the destination airport is from where you’re staying

• If you’re leaving the country, make sure your passport won’t be expiring anytime soon and triple-check all visa requirements and laws for your destination

• Check out the map of the area you’ll be in and study the public transportation options

• Find out the best places to visit in the area

• See what restaurants are in the area and where you will want to get food upon arrival, because you are going to be both hungry and tired from a long travel day

• Look online for deals on entrance fees and activities

• Do as much homework as possible so you can relax and enjoy the trip

Resources

I thought that I would share a few resources of mine that I’ve used for planning my trips.

• Google Flights - Flights

• Hopper - Flights

• Google Maps - Public transportation/map

• Citymapper - Public transportation/map

• Groupon - Discounts and trip ideas

• Yelp - Reviews

• Recreation.gov - National Park reservations

• All Trails - Hiking trail reviews

• Turo - Car rentals

Tips

A lot of people are weary of solo travel due to safety reasons. I have never felt uncomfortable or unsafe during my travels. Please stop reading scary stories and psyching yourself out. It’s okay to be cautious, but don’t let that ruin your trip or prevent you from going.

• Share your itinerary with friends and family

• Turn your location on in Find My Friends and let a few people track you while you’re gone

• Try to arrive during the day so that you can get adjusted to the surroundings before it gets dark outside

• Purchase travel insurance, especially if you’re going abroad

• Pack light so that you don’t have to carry around a bunch of stuff (I brought a small duffel bag on my road trip and still ended up with clothes that I didn’t wear)

• You’re going to want photos of yourself, even if you won’t admit it, and I have the perfect solution so you don’t end up with blurry photos taken by strangers: iPhone Tripod (with Bluetooth Remote Control)

• Follow your intuition and trust yourself

• Have fun!

At the end of the day, traveling alone is not much different than traveling with somebody else. There is a 99.9% chance that you will meet others who are traveling alone and people who will be impressed by your solo adventure. If you need help with anything, kind strangers will absolutely step up. So get out there and have fun exploring the world. Have any specific questions? Leave them in the comments below.