Solo Travel Tips for First Timers: Everything I Wish Someone Had Told Me Before I Left
The first time I traveled solo, I sat in my hotel room the first night and genuinely wondered what I’d been thinking. It was quiet. Too quiet. Nobody to share the excitement of the flight with. Nobody to discuss dinner options with. Just me, a slightly questionable mattress, and a city I didn’t know.
By day three, I’d stopped eating dinner alone and started eating with interesting strangers I’d just met. By day five, I was making plans I never would have made if I’d had someone to check in with. By the time I got home, I was already planning the next trip.
Solo travel is one of those things that sounds intimidating and then becomes transformative faster than you expect. But there are things I wish someone had laid out for me before I left — things that would have made the start less wobbly and more wonderful.
Here they are.
1. Start With a Destination That’s Beginner-Friendly
Not all solo travel destinations are created equal for first-timers. Starting somewhere with: – An English-speaking population (or at least widely understood English) – Good transport infrastructure – A well-developed tourism industry – Low crime rates
…makes your first solo experience significantly less stressful.
Top beginner-friendly solo destinations include Portugal, Thailand, Japan, New Zealand, the Netherlands, and Colombia (specifically Medellín and Cartagena). These places are safe, navigable, and have communities of solo travelers, which means you’ll easily find people in the same situation.
Save the more remote or complex destinations for once you’ve got a few solo trips under your belt.
2. Plan the Big Things, Leave Room for Everything Else
A common mistake among first-time solo travelers is either over-planning (every hour scheduled, no flexibility) or under-planning (arriving with zero idea of where to stay or what to do).
The sweet spot: book your accommodation for the first two or three nights and have a loose sense of the main things you want to see or do. Leave the rest open.
Why? Because once you’re there and you meet other travelers, you’ll get recommendations you couldn’t have found online. You’ll want to stay an extra day somewhere. You’ll want to skip something you thought you’d love. Solo travel gives you complete freedom — don’t plan it away before you even arrive.
3. Tell Someone Your Itinerary
Before you leave, share your itinerary — even a rough one — with someone at home. Not because you’re expecting anything to go wrong, but because if something does, someone knows where you are.
This takes ten minutes and buys you (and the people who care about you) a lot of peace of mind.
4. Stay in Hostels at Least for the First Few Nights
Even if you’re not a “hostel person,” staying in one for the first few nights of a solo trip solves several problems at once. You’ll instantly be surrounded by other solo travelers, you’ll get up-to-date information about the area from people who just explored it, and you’ll have built-in social opportunities.
You don’t have to sleep in a 20-person dorm if that’s not your style — many hostels offer private rooms. But the common areas, shared kitchens, and organized activities at a good hostel make meeting people almost effortless.
5. Learn a Few Words in the Local Language
You don’t need to be fluent. Even knowing “hello,” “thank you,” “how much,” and “where is the bathroom” in the local language changes how locals perceive you. It shows respect. It opens doors. People are genuinely warmer to travelers who make even a small effort.
Download the Google Translate app with the relevant language available for offline use. It’s not perfect, but it handles most practical situations.
6. Trust Your Instincts — They’re Usually Right
Solo travel forces you to make all your own decisions, which is uncomfortable at first and empowering very quickly. The one thing I’d ask you to trust above all else is your gut.
If a situation feels wrong, leave it. If someone makes you uncomfortable, create distance. If a neighborhood seems sketchy at night, don’t walk through it to save ten minutes. Your instincts process a huge amount of information subconsciously. They’re not infallible, but they’re usually giving you useful signals.
Don’t override them to seem adventurous or to avoid seeming rude.
7. Have Multiple Ways to Access Money
Arriving in a new country and finding your card doesn’t work is a genuinely stressful experience. Have at least two bank cards (ideally from different networks), know where the ATMs are in relation to your accommodation, and carry a small amount of local currency when you arrive.
Wise (formerly TransferWise) and Revolut both offer excellent travel-friendly accounts with low fees for international withdrawals. Worth setting up before your trip.
Also, tell your bank you’re traveling before you leave. Otherwise they may flag your transactions as suspicious and block your card.
8. Pack Light — Seriously, Lighter Than You Think
First-time solo travelers almost always overpack. When you’re alone, you’re carrying everything yourself. There’s no partner to help haul an overstuffed bag up a flight of stairs or through cobblestoned streets.
A good rule of thumb: lay out everything you’re planning to pack, then take out 30%. You almost certainly won’t miss it.
Aim for a 35-40L backpack that fits as carry-on luggage. It’ll save you baggage fees, make navigation dramatically easier, and force you to be selective about what you actually need.
9. Download the Essential Apps Before You Go
A short list of apps that genuinely make solo travel easier:
- Google Maps (download offline maps for your destination)
- Google Translate (download the language pack for offline use)
- Wise or Revolut (for international money transfers)
- iOverlander or Maps.me (for off-the-beaten-path navigation)
- WhatsApp (almost universal for staying in touch internationally)
- Hostelworld or Booking.com (for last-minute accommodation)
10. Embrace Eating Alone (It’s Actually Great)
If there’s one thing first-time solo travelers dread, it’s eating alone in restaurants. It can feel uncomfortable, especially in the beginning.
Here’s what actually happens: you get to eat exactly what you want, you pay attention to the food instead of a conversation, you sometimes get chatted up by the person next to you, and you often end up having more interesting dining experiences than you would at a table full of people sticking to safe conversation.
Bring a book, journal, or podcast if you need something to do with your hands. Within a few meals, it’ll feel completely natural.
11. Stay Connected — But Not Too Connected
Check in with home regularly enough that people know you’re okay. But resist the urge to spend your trip on your phone, narrating everything to people back home in real time.
Being present — genuinely present — in a new place is one of the great gifts of solo travel. It’s easier to stay present when you’re not constantly managing how the trip looks to other people.
Post the photos when you get home. Experience it now.
12. Know What to Do If Things Go Wrong
Things will go wrong. Not dramatically — just the small things. A bus will be late. A booking will be lost. You’ll take the wrong train. These moments are part of solo travel, and how you respond to them is genuinely character-building.
Before you go, know: – The address of your country’s nearest embassy or consulate at your destination – Your travel insurance emergency number – Who to call if your cards are stolen – The local emergency number for police, ambulance, or fire
Having this information organized takes 20 minutes and dramatically reduces the chance that a small problem escalates into a big one.
13. Give Yourself Permission to Have Bad Days
Solo travel is not Instagram. Some days you’ll be lonely. Some days you’ll question why you thought this was a good idea. Some days the weather will be bad and you’ll be tired and everything will feel harder than it should.
That’s normal. Completely, universally normal. Every experienced solo traveler has had those days.
The best thing you can do is give yourself permission to have a low-key day — read a book in a café, watch a movie, do laundry, sleep. You don’t have to perform adventure every single day. Rest is part of the trip.
14. Talk to People — Even the Uncomfortable Kind of Talking
Solo travel rewards people who are willing to strike up conversations. Talk to the person next to you on the bus. Ask the owner of the guesthouse for a restaurant recommendation. Start a conversation with the other solo traveler eating breakfast alone.
You will sometimes be awkward. You will sometimes misread a situation. You will also, far more often, have conversations that become the best parts of your trip.
15. Do It Again
After your first solo trip, you’ll have a list of things you’d do differently — places you’d stay longer, things you’d pack (or not pack), ways you’d approach planning. Use all of it on the next trip.
Solo travel is a skill that compounds. Every trip makes you more capable, more confident, more comfortable in unfamiliar situations. The first time is always the hardest. After that, it just keeps getting better.