Go adventuring alone without being lonely.
As a veteran of almost two dozen solo trips, one of the most frequent questions I get about solo travel is about loneliness. How do you take off all on your own, for however many days it happens to be, without feeling stranded in your own company?
I would love to sit here and tell you that I never get lonely on solo trips, but that would be a lie. Traveling alone is weird. It's absolutely amazing, but yes, it can leave you wanting to share the experience with others, or missing someone to talk to.
When those feelings arise -and they do- there are some easy tips and tricks to help smooth those feelings over. Here they are:
1 - Call Your Friends!
Taking off on your own doesn’t mean you have to completely cut yourself off from the rest of your life!
I absolutely spend my solo trips messaging my friends, sending them Snaps, and sharing my adventures on social media. Being on vacation doesn’t mean my friends and I start ghosting each other! We can carry on digital conversations same as we do when we’re in the same city. And if I get particularly lonely, those same friends are just a text or a call away.
You don’t have to check any of your existing relationships at the door. In fact, staying in touch with friends back home, friends who will notice if you suddenly go silent, are a solo travel safety essential!
2 - Chat Up the Locals!
I have had some of the most memorable conversations of my life with complete strangers in foreign cities, and I’ve done this simply by opening up to the locals. If you’re in dire need of a face to face conversation, roll up to a restaurant, grab a seat at the bar, and start talking to your neighbors. Sure, some of them may not be into it, but more often than not, the community atmosphere that arises around barstools is amazing.
I once swapped life stories with a bar owner in Amsterdam who turned out to have grown up less than ten minutes from my apartment in Chicago. I once geeked out about Tolkien for a full half an hour with a gentleman I met at a winery in Ohio. A native Parisian once bought me escargot when she learned I’d never tried them before.
Talk to the locals! There’s a special freedom in being a visitor and knowing you’ll likely never see them again.
3 - Join a Tour
If talking to the locals doesn’t sound like your jam, find other travelers to team up with by joining a tour! Whether it’s a walking tour, a river cruise, a food tour, or anything in between, joining a group of travelers is an easy way to start conversations.
You start out by sharing this new experience together. You then swap stories and tips about what you’ve seen so far. And if you hit it off, you can absolutely continue to hang out! I’ve had some amazing travel adventures this way.
4 - Lean into It
But sometimes… there’s something to be said for leaning into your discomfort. Solo travel will challenge you. Solo travel can get lonely. There’s no getting around that. But there’s something wonderful about taking on a hard thing and learning how to handle it. When you’re traveling on your own, you inevitably find out what solutions work best for YOU.
There are Many Ways to Travel Solo without Getting Lonely
Solo travel is a crash course in self discovery and self care. And for both of those things, sometimes a little chaos and a good Cry in a Foreign Country(TM) is exactly what the doctor ordered.
Feel your feelings. Discover what alleviates them best. You got this babe.
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Love and Shenanigans,
Andi
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