Solo Travel: Tips for Your First, or Next, Solo Trip (2/3)

Speaker A: 00:00:02

Solo travel doesn't just show you the world, it shows you how you handle the world. Welcome back to All About Being Single, or welcome if you're new here. I'm Wioleta, your host, and I'm very happy that you're listening.

This is a continuation of last week's episode. So if you haven't yet, go listen to last week's episode.

I mean, and you don't really have to listen to that one first because either way you're going to get some good tips on how to solo travel best.

But if you don't want to listen to the previous one right now, definitely go listen to it after this episode and I'll link that episode in the show notes for you so that it's a nice click away if that makes it easier. But so let's go ahead and keep talking about different solo travel tips.

And some of these are very like solo life things, but some of them are just also tips I've learned from just traveling in general. So. So a big one is keep an ID and some cash or cards separate from your wallet.

Just in case for some reason you were to leave your wallet someplace, somebody was to steal it from you.

This way you have them maybe like back in the hotel room, whatever the case might be, so that you can get it back on a plane or wherever you're going because you have a backup. The next tip is screenshot important documents before too.

And I know I keep talking about screenshotting stuff however you want to do this, but basically have important documents somehow on hand for yourself, just so that again, if maybe you do lose your ID and you lose both the one that you have on your wallet and the one that you have in a backpack, or maybe the airline loses your bag, you know, whatever the case might be, you have stuff someplace saved. This one's a huge one. Carry and charge at least nightly or every couple of days. A portable charger.

Because I think sometimes, especially if you're taking a lot of videos or photos, and I think we tend to do that a little bit more maybe when we're by ourselves traveling, because again, there's nobody there with us to like experience what we're seeing out in the world. I think it's a good idea to just carry a portable charger so you can charge your phone in the case. You're like gone for the whole day.

Definitely use luggage that you can manage alone. So for most of the time, most of the time now when I travel, I just bring like a carry on and like a big Purse.

So I try not to over pack nowadays because especially if you're traveling by yourself, there's nobody there to help you with your bags. You kind of have to carry it all by yourself. It's just a little bit simpler if you have like a smaller carry on over like big luggage.

And that brings me to the next point. Just don't overpack. Like, the lighter the bags are, the more places you can visit.

If you haven't traveled solo yet, know that your first ever trip might feel awkward and lonely at times. It definitely gets easier the more you do it. You might even start craving going on more solo trips, which again, is. Has been the case for me.

I love my solo trips. Another one is if you're able to. And I know I'm not big into journaling, so I say this, but I also am not very good at this.

But if you're able to do an after the trip journal, you know, especially if you miss doing it daily, just kind of like, what surprised you about the trip? What maybe felt uncomfortable? What did you love? What did you learn about yourself?

Because like the beginning, at the beginning of the episode, I know I mentioned that solo travel doesn't just show you the world, it shows you how you handle the world. I think journaling, especially after a trip or daily, again if you're able to, I think helps you.

Helps show you how you handle the world and how you handle yourself in the larger world.

So I think it's a good idea to just at least write down something from that trip or maybe like a gratitude thing, you know, maybe a list of things that you're grateful for, things that you've learned about yourself and how you handle the world while being solo on a trip, and definitely expect emotional swings.

I think sometimes we might go from like being euphoric at 10am too lonely at 4pm, and then to empowered at the end of the day because you did the whole day by yourself while being someplace you've never been before. You are outside of your normal routine.

And especially in your very first solo trip, I think you can expect a little bit more of those emotional swings. Again, I do think they get easier and just you just get used to it and you start to enjoy it the more solo trips you take. Not for everybody.

And again, as always, take what resonates and leave the rest. Not everything applies to everybody, but if you've never given it a try, you definitely don't know.

Okay, the next tip is spice things up by buying cards with daily challenges on them. So I say this because my sister for quite a few years now, one of my sisters, she gets me these cards for example, I have one right here.

They're by a company called we're not really Strangers. This is not sponsored by them. But at some point it'd be nice if I was.

But I have like a self reflection series of cards or like a self love or healing series of cards and they're basically just like these questions that you get to answer daily. And I actually did those. I. I don't remember which one. I think I did the healing ones when I went on my very first solo trip to New York City.

And also I talk about that in the very first episode of this miniseries on solo travel. So that's two episodes back. Definitely highly recommend listening to it if you haven't yet.

And I'll link that one as well in the show notes so you can click on that.

But yeah, basically like those challenge cards give you something to do if you get bored on the trip or if you just want to keep things maybe a little more low key and like just hang out by yourself or with yourself if you want to, you know, maybe just do them. Like if you go to a beach, for example, and you're just relaxing can just kind of helps you have something to journal about.

The last one I'm going to leave you with and it actually ties into one of the ones I mentioned on the previous episode. Download stuff before you go.

So like download the offline Google Maps to certain places that you know you're going to need to go to or the airline app so that you have the tickets right there in easy or any music or you know, your podcasts, any audio books, anything that you know you're going to want to listen to, whether it's on the plane or on the train, wherever. And also any local transit apps, I highly recommend digging into those and downloading those beforehand.

So when I was cat sitting for my, one of my sisters, she and her fiance, they live in Los Angeles and I actually took the bus to like Santa Monica to one time and I downloaded that app during one of my days while I was there and just took so long and I had to figure out what app I gotta get, how to get the tickets and it was.

And sure, you know, you could sometimes just pay obviously at the bus but like it was just, it would have just made such a big difference had I downloaded that before when I have the time when I'm not already there and I just want to get up and go straight there instead of Having to like, figure out the logistics so that can save you some time. Hillel Diane is one of the best ways to get over a heartbreak is by going on a solo trip. Highly recommend it.

And never again will I think I look stupid eating alone.

Because what it really means is I'm more independent, more individual and most courageous than most people to go and take myself out on a solo trip and to go and eat by myself. And our note to sell for this week is this. Who might you become if you trusted yourself enough to go somewhere alone?

So that one's a little bit more something for you to ponder on. And if you've listened to the show before, then after this, I give you, I give you a little bit of time to think about it. So write your answer down.

Think about, just think about it. Write in a journal, write it on a piece of paper, on a receipt of some sort. Or don't write it down at all.

Maybe just do the next part with me, dance with me. Because I do believe in dancing every day. So we're gonna take about a 30 second break. Highly recommend dancing with me right now.

And once we get back, we'll do our glow up. Okay, I'm back. So as far as the note to self, I think I'm someone who lives life no matter who joins or who doesn't.

And I know I've learned that through my very first, through taking my very first solo trip to New York City. And I waited forever to take one. I didn't take one till I was 35, which is insanity. I should have taken one way before then.

And I could have been living my life so much better way before then and not waiting on men or friends to go places or my family to go places where I really wanted to go to. And now I no longer wait. And if somebody joins me or if I want to go on a trip with somebody, then that's great.

But sometimes I don't want to go on a trip with somebody and I just go by myself. And if you haven't taken a trip solo yet, I highly recommend it.

If you haven't already, please subscribe to this show or follow it, you know, wherever you're listening. Now let's get down to the glow up. So this is the very last thing we do. This one's a simple one.

So it's not really like an active one, but just journal on what scares you most about solo travel, even if you already traveled solo before. Because I know there's things that still scare me like driving or like renting a car by myself and having to drive by like mountains and stuff.

So that's something that scares me. But yeah, journal or what scares you the most about solo solo travel and what you can do to ease this fear.

And you don't even have to fully like journal, journal this, even if it's just like one word for something that scares you most and one way to ease that fear.

Just take a little bit of time and reflect on that this week because I do think that that will help help maybe move the needle for you and maybe scheduling that first solo trip or knowing that you.

Also if you have any other good ideas on solo travels and some tips, please go to allaboutbeingsingle.com and drop me a voice note so that I can share that with anybody else who's listening on a future episode. I appreciate you listening and I also appreciate you calling in.

And before I leave you for the time being, if you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment and share it with somebody who you think might benefit from it as well. I'd love to keep growing our little community. Thank you so much for listening as always. Even if we're late, we're right on time.

I will talk to you next Tuesday.