Travelling Solo: What Should You Bear In Mind?

Solo travel has become increasingly popular as a form of adventure, particularly in the aftermath of pandemic and the isolative national policies that came along with it. Gap year students and frazzled Millennials on sabbatical are together taking the opportunity to see more of the world, and to do it without relying on others for help.

There is something undoubtedly magical about exploring new countries alone, but there is also something substantively dangerous about the undertaking. What should you consider when planning your solo backpacking adventure?

Get Insured

Boring as it may sound – and costly as it may be – travel insurance is a must-have for travellers of any stripe, let alone solo travellers. Anything could happen while abroad, and being prepared for the worst allows you to focus your energy on the best, at least until the worst potentially happens.

Breaking a bone in a foreign country with unclear public healthcare programmes can make treatment and recovery difficult as well as expensive, without insurance in place to ensure proper care and facilities. It is also the case that you may suffer an accident as a result of negligence on the part of someone else – which could open avenues for compensation via civil routes. The more prepared you are on a legal and logistic level, the better.

Keep an Itinerary

Travelling solo is all about freedom. You are not reliant on others to decide the makeup of your day, nor do you need to worry about your own enjoyment being derailed by the specific wants and needs of others. But with that kind of freedom comes a significant level of risk. Rather than being impulsive about your day-to-day movements, you should do your best to stick to an itinerary of your own making. This makes your movements predictable, and reduces the possibility of you getting lost in the process.

Don’t Share Information

You will meet a great many characters on your international travels, the vast majority of which will be glowing, radiant figures with nothing but the best in mind for you. But there is no avoiding the truth that there are bad actors out there, specifically on the lookout for naïve or unaccompanied tourists to profit from in some way, shape or form. To this end, you should be supremely careful about what you share with strangers. Even giving your full name could be a major risk to your wellbeing.

…Apart From to Family

Just as important as it is to tell very little to people you don’t know, you should make it a priority to ensure your friends and family know as much as possible about the shape and form of your journey. Sharing your location and itinerary with your family makes your chances of assistance much higher in the event of getting lost; if they expect to hear from you in a certain place at a certain time, and do not, that would be indication enough to them that you might be in trouble!

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