Things I Learned Traveling Alone

I recently took a trip completely by myself for the first time and, as much as I already knew, I definitely discovered some things along the way. Some of these are a little bit more tongue-in-cheek but they are things I discovered during my most recent trip. It’s all about making the most of your experience and adapting to traveling alone if you’re used to being with groups or at least one other person.1. You can diy a pillow top mattress.

This actually sounds super crazy, but if you find yourself in a hotel with either a super firm mattress or with just a box instead of a box spring underneath and you have four pillows on your bed, you can sleep on top of the pillows and it makes it so much more comfortable. It seems like a really weird thing to do, (because it is) but I did it and it made an uncomfortable bed a lot better. This is a traveling alone tip because it really only works if you’re by yourself. I don’t think your travel companion would appreciate you commandeering their pillows to make your own pillow top mattress.

2. You can take your time.

Or not. I am a very scheduled person. The beauty of being alone is that you can plan every second if you want to and there’s nobody there to complain, but when you decide to stop and stay somewhere for way longer than you anticipated it’s completely up to you.

3. Don’t post where you are exactly when you’re there.

This definitely has more to do with safety but also has a little bit to do with being present. When you’re by yourself in a strange city literally creating a map pinpointing exactly where you are every moment of every day is a terrible idea. There’s no reason that you can’t wait an extra hour to show the monument you were just at or wait until you’ve moved on to a new hotel to post about how cool your room was. Not only does it keep you safer, it also gives you time to edit pictures later on so that you can really be in the moment.

4. There is no pressure to go to dinner.

I write this having made dinner reservations for almost every night that I was away. Being out in a new place alone can be just as draining as traveling with a big group. When you’re with a group you can’t really ditch dinner plans. Traveling alone, if your days have been super long, you have the option to grab a doner kebab and head back to your room.

5. Buy the phone plan.

Things have come along way since I first traveled away from my parents to a foreign country when I was 16. The phone plan we got for me was exorbitant and I still managed to use data that I wasn’t supposed to. Things improved when Wi-Fi became more prevalent in other places as I studied abroad in college. The advent of iMessage and FaceTime really changed a lot. Recently a lot of data plan providers have come up with plans to where you can just pay by the day and it cost me $10 a day to just use my phone the way I normally would. That was so worth it. Not only was I less worried about being lost or that I wouldn’t have access to important things like reservations and tickets, but I also really appreciated being able to stay in contact with my friends and family.