Travelling around the world seems like the same old, same old story of how people been dreaming of doing it, but never get the chance to do it. You know, sunbathing by the beach of Maldives with your significant other, or having fun at parties in Europe’s Summer Festival with your friends, or just having a shopping spree in Paris’ Shopping Paradise of Champs Elysees with your girl friends. It will create some awesome travel stories that you’re able to share to your future kids, or grandkids.
Yet, not everyone has the privilege of travelling with their friends, or family members. Which left them, (or us), the option of travelling alone, or solo travel if you’d like to call it. Travelling alone can be wonderful and eye-opening experience but it also can induce a lot of worries or concerns especially if it’s our first time doing it. A myriad of questions will flood in like how to keep safe? Where should we go for a visit? Well, fret no more, here are some of the tips travelling alone for the first time.
Make a plan (and a backup plan)
One of the top tips travelling alone for the first time? Always make sure to make plans. It’s easy to get lost or get overwhelm when you’re travelling alone, notably when it’s your first time outside in the foreign world. Plan the place that you wanted to visit, calculate the expenses and miscellaneous things. Download all the travelling apps, local maps for your convenience. Take note of the route and transport you will take. And, it’s also a good reminder to make backup plans. We know how frustrating it is when our plans got cancelled unexpectedly.
Blending in with the Crowd
One of the vital tips travelling alone for the first time is to lay-low. You heard of all the terrifying(or annoying) stories of how tourists got scam, especially when they’re alone. Well, to fix it, you just have to lay-low. Act like you know the way around, even though you already lost your way 15 minutes ago, in other words, act like local. Don’t worry about how your face doesn’t look the part of being local, just don’t look like you’re clueless as that signals as an easy target for scammers to approach.
Talk to people
Sure, we ask you to lay-low, but that doesn’t mean you can’t talk to anyone. You’re there to experience a whole other country aside your own, and the best way is to have a chat with the locals or fellow solo traveller, and there are a lot out there. Greet them with a smile. If you’re in a country that doesn’t have a mutual language as you, take the time to learn a bit their language. It’s like killing two birds with one stone, who knows you might make friends with the locals, and you get to apprehend their language.
Follow Your Guts
It’s a gutsy move to decide to do so, therefore we hope these tips travelling alone for the first time would help you be at ease. And really it’s a no brainer to be using your gut too while you’re travelling. You’ll meet a people from all walks of life while travelling, while walking to unfamiliar streets. Sure it’s an exciting experience to be meeting someone from another country who is travelling like you. But, remember not all people are nice as they seem. So, listen to your instincts before you walk on that road less travelled, or before you tag-along another solo traveller.
Pack light
Since you are travelling solo, always bear in mind that you have to carry all of your belongings, you guessed it, ALONE. So keep your luggage or cabin bag light. You don’t really need to pack all those cute clothes to bring along for your trip. Opt for practicality instead. Wear a piece that can be mixed and matched with other pieces of clothing. Don’t worry about your clothes being dirty, you can always do laundry. Packing light can save yourself from carrying around the unnecessary load.
Pack the right stuff
Even though you have to pack light, another tip for travelling alone for the first time is to pack the right stuff. Pack that ziploc bag, maybe a few small locks, some snacks for your walks and strolls, and also that good book that you’ve been postponing to read since forever. These unusual things will help you in your trip. Ziplocs are good for keeping toiletries or protect your gadgets from water. Locks? There are a lot of bad people, so just pack it up. A book? Well, you don’t want to get bored do you?
Inform Your Trustworthy Acquaintance
Travelling alone for the first time can cause distress to our family more than ourselves. So, our next on the tips travelling alone for the first time is to not let your loved ones to worry. Update them about your itinerary and so on. Doesn’t have to be detailed, but at least they know your whereabouts if any emergency were to occur. You can keep them updated through emails. Or if you find it lousy to keep sending emails, apps like WhatsApp allows you to share your live location with the chosen person.
Copies of Personal Documents
We can’t emphasize this enough of keeping copies of all your personal documents in multiple places. This is an important tip of travelling alone for the first time as we tend to misplace stuff or clumsy enough to left our passport in the taxi after we got off. Yes, this do happen. So, keep that in mind. Make extra copies, either hard copies or soft copies in your phones or drives, of your passport, IDs, hotel bookings, flight tickets etc, so that if the inevitable were supposed to happen, you came prepared.
Keep a journal
It is a given that you would want to share your wondrous travel stories once you got back home. But, you need to remember them first for you to be able to tell. So, another tip for travelling alone for the first time is to keep a journal. Write about your first flight abroad, the local people you met, the places you visited, the food you ate. Some personal remarks about it such as did you like it? Will you come back again? And don’t forget pictures as a picture worth a thousand words.
Embrace The Newfound Feelings
All in all, out of all the tips travelling alone for the first time ever existed in the world wouldn’t be helpful unless you’re willing to open up to new things. Be more adventurous in your trip, don’t get cooped up in your hostel or hotel room. It might gives you a little jitter or some fright, but that’s what part of embarking on a first trip means. First, you got scared, yet as time goes by, you grew stronger and more confident to take over the world. It’s a first big step to a whole new you.
Don’t forget to Pack Up Travel Insurance
Travelling alone can be fun if you plan it right. Also, if you do follow some of listed tips travelling alone for the first time! Especially if you’re travelling solo for the first time. Any right plans and number one on our tips of travelling alone for the first time includes equipping yourself up with a good travel insurance. Good news for you! We are providing a premium travel policy from Allianz Travel Care 8 Travel Plans for Smart Travellers starting from RM16 per trip. We also reimburse medical expenses if any emergency occur up to RM300,000. For more info, log onto PolicyStreet.com.
