Holidays alone – some can’t even imagine it, others can’t stop raving about it. Five tips that will make your solo trip a complete success.
Traveling alone can be both an advantage and a disadvantage: if the great independence is a blessing on one day, the lack of company makes you bored on another. One thing is for sure – when you travel alone you get to know yourself a little better. In order for the experience to be a success, other things have to be considered before the trip than when planning a trip for two or for a whole group. It’s not just about organizational matters, but also about the mental preparation for the holiday without a companion.
Choosing the right travel destination
While it’s not so bad when traveling with several people if the destination isn’t as exciting as you thought at the end of the day, the success of the vacation depends heavily on the destination alone: Those who travel with family or friends usually also do so to spend time with these people – and if the destination doesn’t convince, you still have the company of the others. This is not the case when traveling alone. Therefore, it is important to choose a travel destination that suits your interests and where you can be expected to be able to keep yourself busy. Which place that is is a matter of type: some prefer a lively city, others a quiet house in nature to really enjoy the holiday alone. When choosing a travel destination, you should definitely think carefully about how exactly you want to spend your free time.
Create opportunities to meet other people
If you are traveling alone, you will usually get into conversation with other travelers or locals quite quickly – a clear advantage compared to traveling in a group or as a couple. So you don’t have to worry about not getting to know anyone. Nevertheless, with a few tricks you can influence which people you get to know.
The choice of accommodation: It is rather difficult to meet new people in an anonymous hotel. Hostels or youth hostels, for example, offer the perfect opportunity to meet other (solo) travelers – be it in the shared kitchen or in the dormitory. And with couch surfing, contact with the locals is guaranteed. Of course, a holiday is also about feeling good and many also want a bit of luxury – these aspects should also be taken into account when choosing accommodation.
Take care of your own safety
The question of safety often only really comes up when it comes to traveling alone: you can’t plan to appear as a group and it’s easier to attack in an emergency – especially as a woman. It is therefore important to find out about the security situation in the destination country before you travel and before you choose your accommodation. This works particularly well on the website of the Federal Foreign Office. Couchsurfing in particular is perceived as unsafe by many people traveling alone. So it might be worth the extra cost of a hostel or hotel after all.
Your own need for security is very individual, so it is very important to always keep your eyes open when traveling and to trust your gut feeling and common sense. It also makes sense if at least one person from home knows the travel plan and knows when you are where. You can then give this person regular updates so that, in the worst case, someone knows where and when something might have happened.
The right level of contact with family and friends
Of course everything usually goes well – then the regular updates are a nice opportunity to share the experiences with someone. It makes sense to think about how much contact you want to have with friends and family before you travel: If you just want to think about yourself for three weeks, you might put your cell phone aside and just let them know that everything is fine once a week. If, on the other hand, you haven’t talked to a good friend for a long time, who you rarely see, you can take the time for a detailed phone call on vacation.
However, it makes sense to limit cell phone time in order to be able to travel through the travel destination with your eyes wide open and to get a lot of the surroundings.
What should you do alone for so long?
If you travel alone, you have to keep yourself busy. This can be quite difficult at first – especially if everyday life is normally full of tasks and a close social environment. That’s why you should definitely plan the first days of the trip relatively well. This gives you time to arrive without getting bored and you can get used to the destination. Once you have found out what you like to do at your travel destination and how you would like to spend your days, a fixed plan is no longer absolutely necessary.
Editorial office finanzen.net