While I was traveling abroad, I had a lot of you emailing or snapchat messaging me asking for tips on how to travel alone and if I felt safe. I figured this was a great opportunity to share how I managed it and traveled with confidence! Here are few things I did on each trip that made me feel prepared for any situation:
- Plan ahead – ask any one of my friends and they’ll tell you I’m a planner. I constantly worry about being late and I HATE not having a plan. While it’s rather annoying to my friends when figuring out weekend plans in Dallas, it’s a personality trait I’ve found very useful while traveling. I do a lot of research on the cities I visit, from which restaurants to go to, to what area I’m in, to the culture and interacting with the locals. I create a pretty elaborate itinerary for every trip, featuring the names, addresses and phone numbers of each place I plan to visit. Not only does this help when I eventually map out my routes to each spot, but I often send it to my mom so she knows where I am at all times (in case anything should happen or she needs to get in touch with me). I also reach out to the concierge of my hotel prior to my stay for their recommendations so I can do research with their suggestions.
- Pack only basics – I never pack anything flashy or wear a lot of makeup when I’m traveling solo. There’s no point in drawing attention to myself when I’m not planning on being in any of the photos I take. Leave your expensive jewelry at home and don’t bring along your designer bags. You’re just asking to get robbed if you look like you’re wearing anything remotely nice.
- Map your route before you leave the hotel – this is something I didn’t have to do in London since I had a UK phone, but when traveling to other countries, I always Google mapped the attractions and screenshotted the maps before leaving my hotel. That way I didn’t have to constantly have my head in a paper map and draw attention to the fact that I’m a tourist. It just looked like I was on my phone!
- Always have cash in the local currency before arriving – not everyone takes credit cards, especially cab drivers abroad, so it’s smart to have some money ready to go when you get off your flight. I also don’t like using the ATM’s at airports – it just seems like a trap.
- Check in with people – I used Viber and WhatsApp to stay in touch with my family while I was abroad. I checked in with my mom nearly every day by just sending her a text to let her know I was alive. In addition to checking in at home, I recommend getting friendly with the hotel staff. I always make a point to chat with the people at the front desk so they know who I am. That way they sort of keep track of my comings and goings. God forbid something does happen to me while abroad, they’d at least know when I left the hotel last.
- Take the roads most traveled – I make a point to avoid side streets and smaller alley ways when walking to my next destination. While there may be a greater chance for pickpocketing on a busy street, you’re less likely to get accosted or “taken”. Better to lose your wallet then get assaulted, am I right?
- Avoid staying out late – I made great use of daylight when traveling. I got up early and made it back to the hotel just an hour or two after dark. I like eating dinner on the early side anyway, so it wasn’t much of a change for me. This time of year it gets dark really early, but generally the streets are very crowded with families and other normal people until 8 or 9pm. I usually grabbed dinner at 6 or 7 and made it back to the hotel by 8! I also didn’t overindulge at dinner – just a glass or two of wine so I was able to focus and stay alert while walking home.
- Be confident – nothing makes you look more like an outsider than not knowing what you’re doing or where you’re going. Whether or not I knew which direction I was going, I made it look like I did. Keep your head up and walk with purpose. This is also true of eating at restaurants alone – instead of just playing on my phone during dinner, I engaged the waiters in conversation each time they dropped something off. The chef at a couple of the restaurants even came over to chat and brought me free stuff – it’s a win win! Just act like you know what you’re doing and where you’re going.
I hope these tips help you feel a little safer when you are traveling on your own. It can be a very fun and freeing experience, so as long as you plan ahead and follow these steps, you are going to LOVE traveling solo!
{ photography by The Style Scribe }