Amazing first-time solo travel tips for making friends, exploring safely, traveling on a budget, and enjoying yourself!
Solo traveling for the first time can feel overwhelming and scary. When I started solo traveling (as a woman), I stuck to several things that helped me make my first trip successful, meet many new friends, and travel on a budget! Here are my best solo travel tips that you need for your first solo trip!
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Why travel solo?
Traveling solo is one of the things I think everyone should do at least once in their lives. The education you get from exploring places by yourself is priceless.
These are incredible benefits you’ll enjoy from traveling solo:
- You’ll experience true freedom (no more listening to others and compromising)
- You’ll meet many great people
- Solo travel allows you to become more open-minded
- Greatly improves your well-being and and helps you develop yourself
- You’ll learn how to enjoy your time alone
- You’ll learn how to solve problems and make decisions, giving you lifelong skills
- Learn about the cultures you place yourself in
- Leaving your comfort zone = more confidence!
- You’ll get to know yourself
And believe me, once you’re solo traveling you’ll find countless more benefits it brings you!
Traveling solo for the first time: Expectations
My best advice for your first solo trip is:
Eliminate all expectations.
Expectations might make you fill in the gaps and come up with the worst case scenarios. When I first hopped onto a plane alone, I made sure to be in the moment as best as possible (having no expectations can be HARD).
However, some abstract expectations are necessary. You have to keep in mind that traveling solo – as much fun as it can be – will sometimes push your limits. Problems are impossible to avoid, making you deal with them alone and stepping out of your comfort zone. For some people this will be easy, but for others it might be difficult (at first).
But staying home will also have problems of its own. Problems will always be there, but you get to choose what kind of problems you’ll have. Choose wisely; go on that solo trip!
The best solo traveling tips for first-timers
My personal best tip: Do work exchange!
My first 3 solo trips, were doing work exchange. This means you’ll exchange about 5 hours of work a day (5 days a week), for a bed and food.
I have done work at a horse farm, hostel, and some more similar places. Doing this allowed me to:
- Make many like-minded friends from all over the world
- Not having to worry about booking accommodation
- Travel on a budget
- Learn new skills
- Really learn about different cultures
- Make solo travel less scary!
Especially the last one makes that doing work exchange is perfect for first-time solo travelers! It takes most of the edge away.
Once you arrive at your host, they’ll take great care of you, making sure you’re comfortable and feel right at home. You don’t have to worry about sleeping, food, or meeting new people, as it’s all in one place and taken care of!
Worldpackers
After using both Workaway and Worldpackers to volunteer abroad, I found that Worldpackers gave me a much better and safer experience. With only verified hosts and transparent reviews, you’ll be able to have a safe experience, anywhere you like!
Read my post about Workaway vs Worldpackers here!
Or if you’re already sold on Worldpackers, read my Worldpackers review for more information about the platform.
Get your Worldpackers plan here with 10% off!
Now if you’re still unsure about doing work exchange, it’s worth checking out Worldpackers Epic Trips. They’re a bit more pricy than a regular year subscriptions (which is only $39 for a full year with my promo code: ‘’NOVAONTHEROAD’’), however, literally everything will be taken care of!
Epic Trips are specially designed for female first-time solo travelers. You’ll arrive at the host at the same time as 7+ more female solo travelers and enjoy 1 to 2 weeks together, with an amazing program!
And you’ll get an upgraded year subscription for free, so you can continue to travel for a full year after your Epic Trip!
Choose your solo trip destination carefully
One destination simply isn’t the other. If you go to an unpopular destination where not many other people go, your chance of making friends lessens.
You should choose your destination carefully. I once went to Austria (in the middle of nowhere), and didn’t meet many other travelers, just the few other volunteers that I didn’t click with.
Half a year later, I went on a trip to a hostel in Tenerife for a month. And it was incredible! I made so many close friends there, that we have the next trip together planned already!
What I’m trying to say is, go to a real solo-travel-hub for your first solo trip. This can be Bali, Sri Lanka, Malta, Tenerife, and so on.
Read about the best solo travel destinations here!
Prioritise safety
Safety is the most important thing for your solo trip!
From making sure nobody can steal your stuff, to having backups, to staying in safe places, there are many aspects when it comes to safety.
And believe me, as a woman, you’re going to feel unsafe sometimes. So better be prepared.
Here are some solo travel safety tips that might save your trip, if not more:
- Make sure your flight arrives at daytime (so you don’t have to find the way in the dark)
- Leave accommodations if they don’t feel safe (even if you don’t get your money back)
- Listen to your gut feeling (it could be wrong, it could be right. Better safe than sorry!)
- Don’t drink alcohol alone. This instantly makes your situation dangerous.
- Bring locks to hostels so your stuff can be safely locked away
- Always send your itinerary to your friends and family.
Safety is key in solo traveling. Check this post for more safety tips!
How to make friends
Making friends, I found, is never hard while solo traveling. Nevertheless, it used to be one of my greatest worries before a trip.
But once you’re alone, your complete mindset changes. In your hometown you might never walk up to strangers to make friends. But believe me, it’s going to be different abroad.
Even if you don’t walk up to strangers, they’ll come to you if you position yourself in the right places (hostels for example).
Here are some tips for making new friends more easily:
- Carry a game with you. People all over the world can become friends over a simple game!
- Join free walking tours. Many different people come together on these tours and you might just find some people you click with!
- Or book a GetYourGuide tour. If your adventurous, why not book an adventurous activity where you’ll meet many like-minded adventurists?
- Use facebook groups to find people to go hiking with, meet up with, etc.
There are so many creative ways to make new friends on your first solo trip, believe me, it won’t be hard!
Tackling nerves and anxiety
Now if you’re an overthinker (like me), tackling your nerves might be a bit of a challenge.
A way to keep your nerves and anxiety to a minimum is by being well prepared for your trip. Some ways to do this are:
- Make lists! Packing lists, to-do lists, etc. Organization ia key!
- Make sure to have your solo-trip-starter-kit, containing: copies of ID and bank card, flight tickets, copies of bookings, some emergency cash, information about your first destination, etc.
- Practice some mindfulness; do some breathing and meditation exercises, and learn how to talk to yourself in an empowering way.
- Do enough research (for example, ask chatgpt about what you need for your destination. It’ll give you all information about visas, local currency, etc)
One thing that really helped me was having some basic pinterest quotes in mind, especially these:
- Stop being afraid of what could go wrong and start being excited of what could go right.
- If it excites you and scares you at the same time, it probably means you should do it.
- Braveness comes from doing things scared.
- If you make friends with yourself you will never be alone.
I hope these quotes will empower you like they empowered me.
Budget tips
Solo traveling is often done on a budget. Some great budget tips I can give you are the following.
Work exchange!
Yes, I’ve mentioned it before, but by doing work exchange through Worldpackers, you’ll save over 75% of your travel costs! A year subscription to the platform is only $39 if you purchase it here!
Stay in hostels
Not only will you save tons of money, but you’ll also make tons of friends!
Discover couch surfing
I know that especially for women, couch surfing feels a bit unsafe and unreliable. However, with the review system of couch surfing, you’ll be able to find a verified host easily, making it safe to crash on their couch! If you want to do a really low budget trip, you should definitely have a look into this!
Travel in the shoulder season
The high season, in most places, is crazy expensive to travel in. Not only will the flight prices go up, tours, restaurants, and so on, will all be more expensive. Traveling in the low season might also not be your best bet, because, of course you don’t want to explore destinations in cold and rainy weather.
Which is why the shoulder season is great for you! In Europe this is mainly April/May and September/October. Other continents will have different shoulder seasons, you should definitely look into it!
Final thoughts on traveling solo for the first time
I hope now you have a better idea of what solo travel looks like, and how you can successfully go on your first solo trip.
I hope solo travel is going to be as good for you as it was for me!
Happy travels!
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