Traveling solo is more than just all day and night solo and spending the entire vacation by yourself, girl. Of course, traveling solo includes time when you are by yourself and this is excellent as it allows you to reflect on yourself, listen to your mind without distractions and find your true and authentic you. However, staying totally without communicating with others must not be part of the solo travel deal! I totally feel you, as we humans don’t want to be alone and want to belong to other people, to a group of humans and want to give ourselves a meaning.
Thus starting on a solo trip might sound scary at first sight because of the big SOLO in it. Fears such as being totally alone, don’t making connections, don’t meeting people, don’t being able to talk etc. are well-known to me from my own solo travels! As I said, this must not be part of the deal and I will tell you how you can avoid it even before you start your solo journey. Let’s dive into this, beautiful.
Interested in more mindset tips? Hop onto my instagram @storiesoutofthesuitcase and I am super happy to connect with you! Or when feeling lonely while traveling, don’t hesitate to send me a DM!
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Story Contents
1. Be aware of travel loneliness
Yes, it will happen when traveling solo. There will be times when you will urge for a companion, someone to talk to, and someone to share your experiences with! However, don’t be afraid of traveling solo. Whenever the feeling of loneliness will arise, don’t push it away. Better acknowledge it and allowing it to tell you that you would need some connection and interaction right now. This is a good sign to go out and engage more with people. Use the feeling as your motivator and see how you can transform it into something amazing!
Feeling the ‘what could’ and ‘what would’ inside my head manifested into one of my toughest self-limiting beliefs when it came to solo travel! You are not alone – click here to read about my personal self-limiting beliefs and how my mindset changed through solo traveling.
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2. Connect on social media
Even before going on your solo trip, you can connect on social media to beat travel loneliness later. There are great traveller groups on facebook and super nice traveling accounts on Instagram. Have a look, get inspired and DM people for advices, meet-ups, and so much more. You can use this for preparing your trip and knowing you will meet other people there, this is great feeling, um? And also while traveling, don’t hesitate to reach out for other travellers! All solo travellers feel the same like you do and I do, thus they all want to connect and are usually super friendly to help you out, babe.
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3. Find like-minded solo travellers
In line with connecting on social media, you can perfectly make use of the travel communities showing up there. Groups on facebook such as e.g. ‘Traveling in Thailand’ or ‘Digital Nomads in Bali’ will do you an amazing favor. You can set up a post and ask who is there at your time of visit. Or ask for help for an accommodation or a tour or general travel tips for a specific destination. And in these terms you are about to interact with your new travel buddies right away, form a connection, and you can reach out to them anytime when feeling lonely.
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4. Stay in touch with family & friends
To have your family & friends with you is always great. Why not to prearrange some face time with them before starting traveling alone? Or to keep them updated with daily or regularly pictures and messages? They will be happy to hear from you and you will have someone who listens to you when you need some support. I am pretty sure that your loved ones would highly appreciate to accompany you virtually on your trip to the most beautiful destinations on our planet.
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5. Be open minded and self-confident
All starts with you! And let’s face it, there’s nothing that much powerful as is your own mindset. Imagine a woman traveling solo who is totally open minded, loves herself, and is super comfy in exploring new things and in interacting with local people in a completely new country. And imagine how much fun she will have, how many great new people she will encounter and how this will all impact her life to the most positive ever. Thus, don’t block yourself with limiting beliefs and don’t talk yourself smaller than you really are! YOU ARE AMAZING! I mean you go there solo, this is an incredible step and a super powerful achievement! Always remember that.
You need more inspo for your travel mindset? Here’s is my ebook on how to boost your self-confidence as a solo female traveller and 10 techniques to boost your confidence (works also when already traveling).
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6. Participate in outdoor events
Let’s hop over to the activities you can participate in when traveling alone. Especially outdoor events will do you a big big favor. Whether it is some kind of outdoor festival, a street festival, a pool party or a Christmas Market. People will hang out there and the relaxed atmosphere will make it super easy for you to get involved in interactions. Grab some food or drinks and get yourself out there, girl!
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7. Interact with locals
This is truly my favorite way to beat travel loneliness on my solo trips: chat with locals literally about anything and everything. Ask hotel staff, restaurant waiters, taxi drivers, tour guides, cashiers, people on the street about anything you are interested in. You can start conversations pretty easy when eating out or taking a class somewhere. Just be open minded and start to interact. The best things you will always learn from locals and they are often super friendly to tell you more about their country.
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8. Stay in small accommodations
I highly recommend to stay in smaller accommodations, such as hostels. The more intimate atmosphere will bring you automatically closer to other travellers. If the hostel thing is not for you, smaller boutique hotels or local private accommodations like home stays or guest houses work also really great! Having breakfast together or events organized by the accommodation will support you in beating the travel loneliness. Imagine a nice fireplace that attracts the guests in the evenings or a cocktail mixing class at the hotel bar allows for easy and nice conversations.
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9. Join classes or courses
This brings me to the next way how to beat travel loneliness: participating in classes or courses. Classes and courses are perfect because they bring people together with the same interest in learning or practicing some kind of thing. For instance, a language course to learn the local language or a cooking class wherein you create delicious local tastes together with others. Further, you can engage in local sports activities like a yoga class or a fitness course in a local gym facility. Besides meeting new people, you can chat with the trainers and locals and gain more connections on your solo trip.
Need some inspiration on how to workout while traveling? Here are my ultimate tips for you and approved on my own solo travels.
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10. Get lost somewhere
I really mean this – get lost! This happens when you start e.g. a walking journey in a beautiful city and without using Google Maps, start walking around randomly. Turn right or left, whatever feels right for you and see how it will take you. In any case you get really lost, ask some people around you for help or chat with them in a new cafe that you randomly discovered on your walkie.
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11. Eat out at communicative places
Eating out will definitely be on your solo travel list! How to beat travel loneliness when eating out? It makes it ways easier to eat out in a smaller restaurant and having a more relaxed dining atmosphere that comes with more communicative guests. Thus, an Italian bar will work easier for you than a high-class multi-course venue in Italy. It could be a bar, a food court or a small venue at the beach that all foster new encounters.
Want to make eating out alone an unforgettable date with yourself? Here’s my guide for free.
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12. Use public transportation
Another way how to beat loneliness when traveling solo is hopping onto public transportation. Of course, this depends on the destination your are about to travel to! However, imagine how fruitful a train ride in New York or Tokyo can be with meeting so many people randomly than taking a lonesome cab. Same for taking an electric scooter in the streets of Paris or Berlin where you will meet other people and might get stuck in a scooter jam, but hey, you can interact with others so easily.
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13. Visit local places
I already mentioned that meeting locals and talking to them is super motivating for solo female travellers. But where to meet them? Visit local places that you already know from home. For example go to the gym, watch a movie in the cinema, grab a coffee in a nice cafe, buy some pastries in a bakery or food in a supermarket. There will be so many great encounter possibilities throughout these local places.
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Want to know which destinations I recommend for first-time solo female travellers? Check out my list here.
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14. Go on a group tour
Apart from joining classes or courses, a group tour is another amazing way to beat travel loneliness. Day trips are just perfect to gain travel companions for a day. For instance you hop an a whale watching tour or a diving trip. Apart from experiencing great times, you find like-minded people. And let’s see, if you might end up with your new travel buddies on another day trip or even a dinner date after the tour because your came along together so well.
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15. Go out and party together
Meeting new people is always super easy when going out and having a great time together. I know this might sound a bit weird first, but why not to grab your favorite drink and mix between people? This can be in a bar, a beach club or even a night club. You will see that this will work perfectly as people are super communicative when partying. And why not having such a great night together with making you a couple of new friends.
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16. Decide for group traveling
As an enlargement of your solo travels, you can decide for some group traveling. This could be a daily excursion or a multiple day adventure. Especially, when you don’t feel too confident to go solo all the time or want companions in terms of general safety, traveling together with a group is always a good choice. Let’s think about a hiking experience or a multiple days and nights adventure in the jungle, traveling in a group gives more comfort and besides, it’s a super way to meet new people and beat your travel loneliness.
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17. Take part in local meet-ups
Same as you can use social media to interact and connect with like-minded travellers, you will also find new events popping up there. So called pub crawls are just perfect for solo travellers to hang around in various bars and meet new travellers. Apart from pub crawls, some events are focused on pool parties, come with a motto or are just dedicated to “who is new in”. Be brave and throw yourself into this, babe! And always remember, other travellers are also alone and open and happy to meet you.
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18. Ask for recommendations
Another great way how to beat travel loneliness is interacting with people while asking them about their personal recommendations. In this way you can easily connect with locals and get to know them and get yourself happy with some communication and travel tips for your next days. You could ask them e.g. about their favorite restaurant, their favorite event that will take place soon, their favorite places, recommended activities or just “what is” or “how do I do that” etc. I’ll promise you a lot of enlightening and super special moments.
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19. Spent the day like a local
I really mean this! Depending on the destination you are about to visit, the day proceeds differently. For instance, when locals get up early to exercise, do it that way. When locals regularly have dinner at 8pm then have that at that time as well. In these terms, you will understand their country even better, their lifestyle and you will meet them exactly where they are and at what they’re doing.
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20. Embrace your solo time!
As you see, you will never be alone, even when traveling just by yourself. You should definitely embrace your time alone, this is why you started your journey, right? So your solo time is perfect for self-care and practicing self-love that will further boost your self-confidence. And in case that you need communication, then head to one of the amazing ways described above.
You want to know more great reasons why solo traveling is just so damn good for you? Check out my post and get motivated!
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Travel anxiety overwhelms you? Here is my EFT guide for you that will help you out in just 5 mins.
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What do you think about traveling alone? Have any questions about the mindset of a solo traveller? Anything that I can help you out with? Please leave your comments and thoughts below or on Instagram @storiesoutofthesuitcase. Happy Traveling ♥
