Hello everyone! Today I thought I would share my top 5 tips for solo travelling for BirthMay!

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This is my third annual BirthMay! What is BirthMay, you ask? Well I blog every day in May because it’s my birth month! I started BirthMay in 2017 and did it again in 2018 so I knew I had to do it again this year.

I can’t believe BirthMay is almost done! Per usual, I haven’t missed a single day although I have changed up my calendar a bit which which posts had been scheduled for when and even written some posts the day of. I suppose I didn’t start writing the posts or just didn’t write enough of them ahead of time. Maybe Blogmas will be the time I finally get it right?

Anyway, I’ve done a few solo travel trips by now. I recently did a week on my own in San Antonio, which I blogged about, and before starting my blog I did a solo trip over spring break while abroad in Venice and Paris, as well as a few days in Sevilla solo. I was usually by myself while exploring Barcelona, where I studied, as well. Here’s my top five tips for being a solo traveller.

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Tip #1: Trust your gut

I’m starting with the most important! Always, always, always, trust your gut while travelling solo. This is for everything, safety yes, but everything. If you feel ill, take it easy that day or it’ll just get worse. If you don’t feel like going on a hike you’d planned for that day, just switch it with plans for another day. If you don’t feel safe in a location, or even if you do at the moment but feel like it could change quickly (i.e. a protest starts gathering) then get out of there quickly just in case. You’re travelling to have fun, but you need to make sure you’re taking care of you at all times!

Tip #2: Pack light and consolidate what you have

The last thing you want to do while travelling solo is have to lug around five pieces of luggage, plus your phone/handbag/etc. on your own. It’s just easier to have one light bag or at least everything in one bag. Also, it’s easy to lose stuff in the hustle and bustle so make sure you take the extra time when taking out your wallet or something to put everything back neatly and orderly every time. It’ll save headaches and frantic searching later on!

Tip #3: Have your phone charger & fully charged battery pack with you

I have a generally great phone (Google Pixel 2, not spon, I wish!) but it is getting older so while before the battery would have easily lasted all day, now it generally is about 3/4ths of the day before I start seeing it go on “power saving” mode. Even at it’s best though I always have a fully charged battery pack and my charger so I can always just have it in case it’s needed. It can be annoying to lug this around but it’s best to have it since usually my phone is not just my camera, but also my main way to get around with Google Maps, Lyft, and so on.

Tip #4: Share your plans with friends & family back home

Before I left for San Antonio I wrote down where I was staying in for my parents and shared the AirBnB location with my two best friends as well. Throughout the trip I was in constant communication with all of them, texting my friends updates or sending them Snapchats with my location, calling my mom every night with plans on what I was doing the next day. I did this because they were interested in my travels for sure, but also it’s a peace of mind that they knew were I was for both sides.

Tip #5: Do what YOU want to do!

Here’s a little reminder: you’re travelling for YOU. Want to eat at that cool restaurant you saw in Instagram? Go for it! Feel like checking out that random light show the nice lady at the store you were browsing at the other day told you about? Look it up online and then add it to your schedule! You’re in charge of your trip and it’s all up to you to enjoy it so just make the most of every moment.

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And those are my top 5 tips as a solo traveller! Let me know what yours would be. I’d love to know!

Thanks for reading!

Pamela

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