“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all!” -Helen Keller
I’ve always enjoyed doing activities by myself, traveling is one of them! Many people might think it to be lonely but for me, it is liberating. I love being able to do exactly what I want to do, when I want to do it, without having to compromise with the desires of others. Traveling solo has also allowed me to engage in spontaneous activities which has led me to making tons of new friends.
As I’ve traveled solo, being totally responsible for myself, time and time again, I’ve discovered just how capable I am. It is the type of invaluable discovery one can only make while journeying across the world by oneself. Often, people ask me what motivated me to travel solo, particularly when I migrated to Spain for nine months. My response is simple, “if I waited for someone to go with me, I would have never gone!” Once I stopped waiting for someone to accompany me, I quickly started racking up stamps in my passport!
Although I rarely shy away from traveling solo, I understand that others may be hesitant to do so. Hence, here are my tips for traveling solo. Hopefully, they will encourage you to embark on that journey you’ve always wanted to take but simply lacked the courage or motivation.
Black Girls’ Tips for Traveling Solo
Research: Educate yourself on the customs, culture, laws and policies of the country you seek to journey to. It can be helpful to know where the nearest Embassy is just in case you experience an emergency such as losing your belongings/passport and needing to get home.
Plan: Create an itinerary of the sites you would like to see and the activities you would like to do. I always participate in a free walking tour. It's a great way to visit many of the sites on your list while gaining historical context at an affordable price. Most European cities offer free walking tours (donations are suggested), simple Google “Free walking tours (insert city name)” Hack: When booking flights, I tend to use a private browser. This prevents the prices from rising while you're completing your search .
Reserve: ensure that you make all necessary reservations to avoid time wasted on lines at popular museums and sites. Also, ensure that your accommodations are made for the correct dates. When I was on spring break I went to three cities: London, Paris and Amsterdam (in that order). As I was boarding my plane to go to Amsterdam, I finally gave my hostel confirmation email a good look. I reserved it for the month prior to my trip! Before I could even begin to panic, I immediately began searching for hostels. I was able to find a room and book it as the plane was leaving the runway and ascending into the sky. It cost me a lot more money and almost gave me an anxiety attack. Imagine, landing in a foreign country and having no where to stay. I won't make that mistake twice!
Remain Calm in all situations. Panicking doesn’t solve anything. You are more likely to think rationally and make good decisions when you are calm.
Try new things (food and activities) that you have never tried before. Indulge in the local customs. Be open-minded and holistic!
Stay at a hostel. A hostel is a form of low-cost, short-term shared sociable lodging where guests can rent a bed, usually a bunk bed in a dormitory, with shared use of a lounge and sometimes a kitchen. Rooms can be mixed or single-sex and have private or shared bathrooms. I highly recommend staying at a hostel when you're traveling alone. Not only is it affordable but it also offers you numerous opportunities to socialize and meet new people. Hostels host bar crawls and tours at discounted rates. I typically use HostelBookers or HostelWorld to book my hostels.
When I was 22 years old, I spent my first Christmas away from home (my entire family). At the time, I was living in Spain teaching English. Instead of going back home like many of my American friends/co-workers did, I decided to go somewhere I've never been before. I went to Lisbon, Portugal. At first I was excited but as my trip grew closer and closer, I became nervous as fuck! Who wants to be alone on Christmas? Luckily for me, I picked the best hostel! It was family-owned, located near all the sites I wanted to visit (as well as near a central train station), breakfast was included and for an extra 10 euros a chef cooked a traditional Portuguese 3-course dinner (from scratch). Of all the hostels I've stayed at, I loved this one the most because it gave me such a warm home feeling when I needed it the most. I remember it most for it's long communal tables. It prompt me to eat next to people and converse with them everyday while I was there.
The morning before Christmas, I was enjoying my breakfast when two other guys sat next to me and began talking about their plans for the day. I was so excited to find people who spoke english (being that that's the only language I speak) that I instantly joined their conversation. We all had plans of going to the same tourist sites so we decided to go all together. One other person who was eating at the table, also joined us. The four of us eagerly got dressed, met up in the common area and set out on our adventure. We spent the entire day together and it was the most natural thing I did! At the end of the night, we played cards and had a few drinks with other people staying at the hostel. We sat in circle and we told each other where we were from, "Moscow, Australia, Brazil, Chicago, Spain, Morocco, the Bronx!" My mind was blown! I was so afraid to be by myself during the holidays yet I organically made acquaintance with people from all four corners of the world. As the night went on, I learned that they too had the same worry of being alone during this time of year. They too were happy we hung out and I'm sure none of us will forget the epic journey that was born for a simple hostel reservation.
7. Network: Make small talk with friendly looking strangers, after all strangers are just friends you haven’t met yet. I tend to startup conversations with other women who look like they’re traveling solo. The conversation usually starts with me asking them to take a picture of me. I did this once while I was in Rome, Italy. I asked two women of color to take a picture of me at the Trevi Fountain. We ended up having dinner together that night. We enjoyed each others’ company so much that the following week, they came to visit me in Madrid (I was living there at the time). To this day, we keep in contact.
8. Be aware of your surroundings! I personally haven’t been a victim of a crime while abroad. I typically attribute that to the fact that I am from New York City. As a New Yorker, I am constantly observing my surroundings and on alert when people get too close to me. This is no different from when I am abroad. Movies often over exaggerate things but the reality is, anything can happen anywhere so you should always be on point!
9. Document your journey! Whether it is via pictures, videos or by writing your experiences down. It’s nice to be able to travel back in time to when you created these wonderful memories. Also, we would love to publish your experiences here on Black Girls Journey blog!
10. Remember, you are capable of anything you put your mind to. The only person stopping you, is you! Nothing is out of your reach!
"You never really travel alone. The world is full of friends waiting to get to know you!"
From the Black Girls here at #BGJ, we send you nothing but love, safe travels and the absolute best on your journey ahead!