You read our tips last week on how to have fun as a solo traveler. You’re ready for the challenge, aren’t you? We’ve convinced you that even if you’re absolutely positive that you’ll miss your friends, you’ll still have an excellent time.
Now on to the practical stuff.
This advice is what your mother assumes you don’t think about when you tell her you’re taking a solo trip. Most mothers will have a minor (or major) freakout, then they’ll calm down when you’ve allayed their fears and convinced them that you’re not completely oblivious to the dangers of the world.
1. Let People (Your Mom) Know Where You’re Going
This is basic, but it’s also crucial. If you’re in Nashville one day and decide last minute to catch a Greyhound bus to Tupelo, let somebody know. Text your mom, send your best friend an email, write a quick blog post about it, tell all your friends on Facebook. “Catching the 8am Greyhound to Tupelo. Crazy, right!”
Boom.
You’ve communicated something important and you did it in less than 140 characters, so if you’re tweeting it, you have plenty of room to include #tupelo #wanderlust #solotravel, and STILL have space for a selfie.
Letting others know where you’re going is important, but you should also give people the general gist of where you’re staying. Adventurous solo travelers often like to arrive in a new city without an agenda. They find a hotel, hostel, pension, or couch to crash on the very evening they need it. That’s great, but let someone know the name of that pension or the address of the home with the couch.
Giving people access to your travel plans is one feature that we’re really excited about for Trip30. You’ll be able to privately share minute details of your travel plans if you want to. This means Mom knows that you’re staying at the Super 8 Motel near Trinidad, Colorado, on March 5th.
When I was twenty I drove down to Taos, New Mexico with the plan of sleeping in my car. A coffee shop owner took pity on me and told me I could stay at his house. This was before I had a cellphone, and coffeeshops certainly didn’t have WiFi.
I knew I was being stupid, but I followed him down the winding roads to his beautiful (but seemingly remote) home. I jotted down his license plate number on a piece of paper in my car. Um, what good would that do if he murdered me in my sleep and burned my car in an arroyo? None. None at all.
Happily he was an incredibly good man. He cooked me tacos, and I slept in my sleeping bag in his yard because I felt too weird about staying in his house. The next morning he made me breakfast and espresso, and we talked about our lives. Then I hopped into my car–which was not charred at the bottom of a ditch–and drove back to Denver.
But I was stupid. And I’m very sorry, Mom.
Don’t be like me. Let people know where you’re going, who you’re staying with, and when you’ll be in touch again. And make sure the new people you meet know you’ve let others know. There’s no excuse now–almost every place you could go to has internet cafes, WiFi, and/or cellular connections.
2. Keep Your Valuable Stuff Out of Sight
This is a pretty obvious safety tip, but I’m often shocked to see tourists act oblivious to this. I went to Morocco with a few other travelers, and one of the guys I was with pulled out a huge wad of cash at an outdoor cafe in Fez, and asked our (sketchy) tour guide how much money he’d need. Not a good idea.
Tourists are an incredibly inviting target. While it’s tempting to walk around staring down at your smartphone as it navigates you to your next location, don’t do it. Smartphone robberies are skyrocketing worldwide, and according to this article they’re becoming increasingly violent.
So what should you do instead? Check out your directions in a safe location, then write them down. This is old school, we know, but people are rarely mugged for a piece of paper or a guidebook. Solo travelers are more at risk for robberies and muggings, so please keep this in mind.
You’ll want to take lots of photos, of course, but consider taking a cheaper camera or at least only using your expensive camera in busy parts of town, then keep it inside your backpack.
Thieves also steal backpacks in the hopes that you’ve got some expensive goodies in there, but there are ways to secure the backpack so it’s less easy for someone to yank and run. Don’t wear it on one shoulder, and clip the chest strap if you don’t mind being a little nerdy.
Also, you probably know this already, but don’t carry your passport on you unless you’re leaving one destination for another; if you’re cruising around town you don’t need it.
Back in the olden days, we used to buy travelers checks for our trips abroad. Now we take debit cards. Either way, if you have extra cash, extra credit cards, or Ye Olde Travelers Checks, then leave them locked up in the hotel safe or a hostel locker.
3. Have an Escape Plan
This tip might sound paranoid, but believe me–it isn’t. When you go somewhere new, with someone new, create a mental plan on what you’ll do if things go wrong. It’s like when the flight attendants make you stop reading Sky Mall (R.I.P) and find the exits nearest you. They do this so that if there’s a crazy emergency on the flight, you know how to escape.
And not to be too much of a downer, but you’re much more likely to be in a dangerous situation with another person than you are to be in a plane crash.
There are tons of horror stories online about terrible things that have happened to people traveling alone, and you could make yourself terrified of everything if you spend too much time reading those stories.
You shouldn’t obsess about it.
But when you go someplace new, especially if it’s a stranger’s home, pay attention to where you are and how to get out. The last thing you want to do, after having a couple glasses of wine, is find your way out of Dracula’s castle when he begins to stare longingly at your neck.
Happily, Dracula doesn’t really, you know, exist. And happily you’re more likely to be in an old apartment in Prague than in a labyrinthine castle in Romania. But you never know.
If your gut tells you something is wrong, don’t question it. Make an excuse and leave before you need to use your escape plan.
There’s always some risk in traveling, just like there is always some risk in everyday life. I strongly believe in giving people the benefit of the doubt, but that doesn’t mean you need to forget about staying safe.
Plus, if your mom knows you’re thinking about this stuff before you leave, she’s a lot less likely to obsessively email you ten times a day. You know Mom. She’ll worry that you’ve been dismembered by a monster or kidnapped by an international drug cartel. However, if you let her know the plan ahead of time, then maybe she’ll cut those emails down to five a day.
Next week we’ll post our final installment of advice for solo travelers: how to create the most memorable experience of your life.
Have any extra safety tips for solo travelers? Share with us below, or join the conversation on Facebook!
