Solo travel creates an incredible opportunity to see more of the world on your own time. But especially if you’re new to it, the idea can sound really daunting. The biggest concern many people have is safety.
How can you keep yourself safe while traveling alone?
Well as someone who’s traveled for years on my own as a woman to South Africa, Asia and now Latin America, I consider myself an expert in this area.
Below are my top solo travel safety tips that I follow on every trip just as a precaution (and let’s be honest, to give my parents some peace of mind). These will help you travel confidently and safely.
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RESEARCH YOUR DESTINATION
I cannot stress enough how important this is, especially if you’re a new solo traveler.
Researching your destination gives you the advantage of knowing what to expect when it comes to cultural customs, things to be aware of, current status of the country, and more.
When I research a destination it looks something like this:
- Googling and searching on tik tok, youtube and Facebook groups to get an idea of what other solo travelers experienced in that country. I.e. searching what’s it like to travel alone as a women in ___.
- Searching safety tips or solo travel safety tips/recommendations specifically in that destination.
- Researching if there’s any cultural norms I should be aware of i.e. modesty
- Don’t take this the wrong way, I think women should dress however they please, but if I’m traveling somewhere that dressing a certain way goes against the cultural norm then I may feel like more of a target compared to somewhere where it would be normal. This is not always true, but research is partially how you figure that out.
- Brushing up on any significant news to where I’m planning to travel. You can start off by heading to the U.S. Government Travel Advisory. I personally take their ‘Level’ recommendation with a grain of salt, but always check it anyways for awareness purposes.
- Lastly, a quick search to see if there’s any scams to be aware of specific to my destination.
Now this might sound like a really negative approach, as if you’re expecting the worst from a place. But in my experience it’s the opposite. When I research, it helps give me confidence to visit because I know what to expect and how to be prepared. And often online there’s really positive and useful feedback from solo travelers.
This type of research can also be paired with looking up inspo for places to see and things to do which will get you excited for your trip!
DOWNLOAD OFFLINE MAPS AND GOOGLE TRANSLATE
In an instance where you don’t have wifi or phone data, having offline maps and the local language downloaded to your phone can be really useful and a good precaution in case you get lost.
To download offline maps, you can either use the app called Maps.Me which automatically saves offline when you open it, or just use regular Google Maps. You can do this by navigating to the offline maps section via your profile and then downloading the selected area.
For offline translations, first download the Google Translate app and then navigate to Downloaded Languages to save your desired language.
Added tip: save the address of where you’re staying. You can pin it on your offline maps, I also copy and paste the address into my notes app just in case.
SHARE YOUR LOCATION AND FORWARD YOUR RESERVATIONS
While traveling alone, my location is always shared with two people: my mom and one of my sisters (I call them my “travel keepers”). I just do this through iCloud but you can also use Life360 or share your location through Google Maps.
I also make a habit of forwarding all of my reservations to my travel keepers. We have a group message together where I drop in updates of my whereabouts everytime I move location and screenshots of reservations if I haven’t already sent them via email.
This is a really good habit to get into and doesn’t take long.