Planning your first Solo Trip Dont know where to start from Here are some handy tips for you

Someone has rightly said – “If you wait for someone to travel with you, you may end up waiting a lifetime!!”

The above quote is totally true for most of us. It is not only our Goa plans that get canceled, but also any travel plans which we make with our friends. So, what do we do? not travel to the places that we so want to visit?

I did that for some time with the fear of not knowing how I will travel alone, that too being a girl where safety is the most important thing. And lot of other things in mind about how do I go about the plan, will that place be safe for me to travel, will be expenses be more if there is no one to share the cost and how will I travel once I reach the destination locally for sightseeing. The most important part – what do I tell my family about travelling solo. Phewwwwww……… too much work!

But do not worry I have got it all sorted for you. 😉

Let us get started,

Duration:

As most of us are confined in our corporate jobs. It is important to first know how many days I can be on my journey to solace without being in any stressful situation. So, having a clear picture on the days you want to spend alone is important. My advice to start with solo tripping you can try a 4-day trip to any destination. Since you are exploring to travel solo, you might or might not like the experience so 4 days I think are safer.

Choose a Destination of your Dream:

Choosing a destination is the most important part because you need to be excited about where you are going. This can be a nearby location to start with or anything else. I am sure we all have a bucket list of destinations to visit that we are eagerly waiting to be ticked off. Choose the best as per the time in your hand to travel. Tough we will talk about the budget in the later part but having a rough budget in your mind while choosing the location and number of days is important since you will have to work around your budget. (that’s how I do it 😉)

Reaching Destination:

How do you reach your destination? you need to figure out the best and easiest mode of transport to reach your destination. Also depends on how you wish you enjoy the journey. Do you want to get your sleep while you travel or talk to people around or enjoy the scenic beauty en-route your journey? I normally like night journey, so I get some sleep and I have the entire day to explore once I reach my destination.

Stay Options:

Today we have a lot of options for stay everywhere in the world and that too at a cheaper cost. Again, here we have a choice of stay on what kind of luxury do we want to explore. I always go for a local experience over luxury. So, what I do is find hidden local places to stay like a hostel/zostel. And you will find all the wanderlust people out there just like us.

Local Transport options:

So, once you reach the destination and you have your stay sorted, next question is how I will travel locally to visit the locations with in and around my destination. You can figure that out before reaching there by inquiring to the people who have been there before and doing little bit of R & D yourself. Mostly there are local buses you can take while travelling alone locally as hiring a car would cost you a bomb (unless you are travelling on a higher budget otherwise). I normally opt for local bus or also walk down some distance.

Must visit places in and around the destination:

You need to have a list places to visit in and around the destination ready and handy. If you google, you will find hundreds of places to visit nearby. But you need to shortlist from the huge lot on which are the places of your interest. Its important to shortlist because you don’t want to be disappointed after reaching there. I always search for the images of the places and then shortlist (very important to get good picture 😉)

Must try Cuisines:

This is my favorite part, foooddddd…

I being a very big foodie, I love trying new and unique cuisines. And hence on my research lists this is one of the most important items. I try to find must have local cuisine, local food joints, hidden jems etc. like all the list of must visit places I have a list of must try food/ cuisines/ café list handy too always.

The Perfect Picture:

As mentioned earlier, to get a good picture its important you find the right locations on your list of must visit places (unless you are not planning to post any pics but the purpose of your solo trip is only finding nemo……sorry yourself 😊)

I always get questioned that how do u manage to get such amazing pictures on your solo trips? Who clicks them for you?..... and I am like – I’m kind of lucky that way… 😊 Honestly it totally depends on how you want to get your pictures clicked and how you get someone to get that clicked for you.

Work and rework on budget:

As mentioned earlier, you need to have a rough budget in your mind before starting the trip which helps to finalize on your travel and stay options better and be within your budget. Once you have planned everything you can not get your budget worked. If you think you are going above budget, you can try to change dates of you travel to get better rates to your transport or you can relook at the stay options and so on. So you will have to work and rework your budget as per your priority.

I am sure this will help you plan your first solo trip in a much-structured way!!

Do write to me and tell me about the experience of your “First Solo Trip”………..

#happysolotripping