5 tips for traveling alone

5 TIPS FORTRAVELING

ALONE

Many people fear traveling solo, but in reality itcan be a life-changing experience. Traveling

with your family, your significant other or yourfriends can be great, but traveling alone has a

certain magic to it. Through a solo vacation, youcan learn more about yourself, do exactly whatyou want to do and have an overall great time.

But before you take a vacation on your own,you’ll need to be prepared for some of the

obstacles you’re bound to encounter. While youcan’t predict everything, preparing for a solo

trip will help you make the most of yourvacation. Here are a few solo travel tips:

Go somewherethat matches your

personality

When you travel alone, you get to thinkabout exactly which vacation destination

suits you. If you’re a social person whowants to meet people, make sure you go toa location where you know the language.

If you can’t communicate, you may end uphaving a bad time. If you’re an introvert,

you don’t need to worry so much aboutlanguage barriers. Instead, go for passive

entertainment, perhaps in a city with agood cafe culture such as Paris.

Bring a book

While there’s nothing wrong with going toa coffee shop or restaurant alone, there is

a definite possibility that you will feel abit exposed and uncomfortable in this

situation.

Even if you aren’t the type to feelembarrassed eating alone, there are manyinstances in which you might get bored on

your own.

Bring a good book or magazine. Reading isa perfectly normal activity to engage inwhile you’re sitting alone. You can even

bring a travel journal to jot in orpostcards to write.

That being said, don’t end up getting lostin your book for the entire vacation and

missing out on great sightseeingopportunities.

Go to nicerestaurants

One of the aspects of solo travel that canworry people the most is eating alone.Don’t let this fear cause you to only eat

fast food in an attempt to avoid awkwardrestaurant situations. Servers at fancyestablishments are happy to help solo

diners.

While some sociable people will want toeat at the bar, it’s okay to take a table fortwo. You travelled to your destination toenjoy its culture and a big part of that is

the food. Don’t miss out on the food due tosocial concerns.

Take pictures

When you’re travelling with other people,it’s easy to feel like you are

inconveniencing people by stopping totake pictures of the little things.

While you’re traveling alone, takeadvantage of the fact that there’s no one

waiting for you. Photography can also adda little structure to your day if you make it

a mission.

Push yourself to take pictures of the oddlittle details about the place. With the

extra time you have to look around, you’llnotice a lot of interesting details that give

a place its charm.

Stay Safe

Traveling solo can be extremely relaxingand empowering, but don’t lose sight of

safety concerns. Make sure you tellsomeone back home your itinerary and

stay in contact with that person by phonethroughout your trip so they know you’re

okay.

If you go your whole life without travelingalone, you’re missing out. Solo travel can

be a truly wonderful and enlighteningexperience.

If you make sure to fully immerse yourselfin the beauty if traveling alone, you’ll

discover some incredible things about theworld and about yourself.