on the road (alone)
A FEW HANDY TIPS FOR THE SOLO TRAVELLER.
BE ALERT, NOT ALARMED The majority of people overseas are friendly and interesting and exotically handsome (we checked). But you can never be too careful when you’re wandering around a foreign country on your own. Research your destination carefully, including common scams or tourist traps (we’re looking at you, Las Ramblas). Don’t carry fat stacks of cash around. Study maps before you leave your room – or at least duck into Macca’s for some covert navigation. And always post your travel pics online after you’ve left a destination: geotagging your new Canada Goose jacket with #flyingsolo is, as the French say, potentially sub-optimal.
AVOID SINGLE SUPPS ‘Single supplement fees’ are what tour companies and cruise lines use to punish lonely people (and also to hedge against overheads, but it’s mostly the punishment thing). Always check whether you’re being slugged an extra fee for daring to occupy a room on your own, and don’t be afraid to shop around for alternatives. Many tour companies have launched entire trips for single travellers – no couples, no supplement, and no stigma. PACK LIGHT No seriously, lighter than that. You really don’t need to lug around 12 shirts and 14 pairs of undies when coin laundries exist. French writer Antoine de Saint-exupéry said, “He who would travel happily must travel lightly.” (And Saint-exupéry probably never had an airline lose his check-in luggage.) A good rule of thumb is to ‘pack for the 80 per cent’. That means taking stuff you’ll be using roughly 80 per cent of the time – and literally forgetting everything else. Shorts? Big tick. Fancy dress? Leave it at home. If you get seriously stuck, it’s a great excuse for some impromptu shopping.
DOWNLOAD SOME APPS It’s all well and good to be a proud solo traveller, battling alone against international adversity, but everyone gets lonely from time to time. Helpfully, there’s an app for that. Several, actually. If you want to make some easy friends on the road, you could download trusted meet-up apps like Travello and Solotraveller. There’s a lady-only option, too, called Tourlina. You just plug in your travel dates, enter your location, and boom: instant company. (Need another cheap, international ice-breaker? Pop a deck of playing cards in your luggage – it’s good for hotel breakfasts, airport lounges, 14-person dorms and 10-stop Hungarian bar crawls that you’ll definitely regret the next day.)
USE YOUR COMMON SENSE As always, common sense is your best mate. Before you even hit the airport, scan your passport and email it to yourself. Don’t skimp on insurance (you’ll want to see the words ‘theft’ and ‘repatriation’ somewhere on your policy). Send your itinerary to friends and family and check in regularly while you’re away. Read up on current DFAT warnings (they’re over on smartraveller.gov.au), and, you know, don’t get drunk and wander home through a strange neighbourhood at night. The obvious stuff.
SUIT YOURSELF Travelling solo can be one of life’s best experiences, because it’s just you. No, seriously, you’re all alone. You have to figure stuff out. You make mistakes and learn from them. You have surprises. And you do whatever the heck you want. Choose your own schedule, whether that’s sleeping in all day and exploring at night, or setting an alarm to catch the sunrise. Eat at a fancy restaurant or scoff convenience-store food in your hotel. Don’t put pressure on yourself to see all the ‘attractions’ if the idea of another church bores you right to death. Solo travel is all about you, and the person who comes back generally isn’t the same one who waved goodbye at the airport. And apart from meeting hot strangers, isn’t that what travel is all about?