Both locally and abroad, I’m no stranger to traveling alone. Here are 3 things I’ve learned along the way:
1. Safety comes first.
Perhaps the biggest thing I’m aware of while traveling alone, especially as a woman, is safety. I avoid walking alone at night whenever possible and am always aware of my surroundings. As much as I don’t like crowds, I admit that they can be good when I’m alone. While traveling in Athens, a man was trying to corner me on the street. He asked if I was traveling alone, and I did what anyone in that situation should do—I lied. I told him I was on my way to meet some friends and needed to hurry or they’ll be wondering where I am. With my hand firmly on my purse (and most of my money shoved in my shoe), I darted around him, never fully turning my back on him, and crossed the street where there were more people milling about. If he was going to follow me, he’d have to contend with all the witnesses. He seemed to think better of it and left me alone.
Most people think about traveling alone in cities, but I’ve done most of my solo traveling in rural New England. This means I need to be aware of more than just people, but also animals and the environment.
Driving on rural roads is dangerous. There can be no phone service or people to turn to when you need help. One day, my car got stuck in the snow. Fortunately, I was able to wave down a truck to pull me out, but nowadays I always turn around if the road looks iffy. For when I have service, I have AAA, and when I don’t, I have a car emergency kit, snow shovel, and a bag of cat litter to throw in front of my wheels to give traction on a slick surface.
Another trick I’ve learned is to research the area ahead of time. Find the safe neighborhoods and book your stay there. Reddit and other internet forums are great resources for learning about the less marketable sides of tourist areas. They can tell you common scams as well.
2. You can do anything.
There is so much freedom in traveling alone, which is why I keep doing it. I can think to myself “What do I want to do?” and I can just do it! If I don’t feel like eating lunch until 2:30pm, I can. If I want to go back to the Athenian temples and just sit for a while because I didn’t get enough time there the first time, I can. If I want to wander around the stores along the waterfront—you guessed it—I can.
I can change my plans on a whim and prioritize the things that are most important to me. I like to wander when I travel. I like to see the different corners of a place and take pictures. I like to breathe in the environment and stand in stillness, so I can properly acknowledge the world around me. This means that I spend more time moving slowly from place to place. This means that I miss out on seeing a lot. I’ve shared the story before, but while traveling abroad, I forwent my plans to visit Amsterdam and Italy to spend more time in Athens and Norway. I never regretted that decision because I truly felt like I experienced what I needed to experience from those two places. If I can’t ever go back, I can be at peace with what I was able to see and do.
Something a lot of people prioritize while traveling is food, but I don’t. I have a finicky stomach, and I will certainly take the opportunity to try foods when they are presented to me, but I’m more comfortable packing food for a trip. Even when I was in Athens, I swung by the grocery store the first day and picked out food for the week. I saved a lot of money as a result, which made it much easier for me to buy tickets for a more comfortable plane ride.
3. Taking pictures can get complicated.
How many times have I heard that I should have pictures with me in them after traveling? Countless, and for good reason! I can google search images of all the places I’ve been that are far more beautiful than any of the pictures I took while there. I will never be able to google search an image with me in it. This has been an incredible challenge for me.
As someone with social anxiety, asking strangers for help is low on the list of things I like to do, but traveling alone has made me better at doing it. I always think to myself, “well, I will never see this stranger again, so it doesn’t matter if they think I’m doing something wrong or my question is dumb.” To be honest though, asking for someone to take your picture has never been wrong or dumb. I’ve taken plenty of pictures for strangers, and over time, I’ve gotten more comfortable with asking for them to take mine.
But when I’m feeling particularly anxious or there aren’t any strangers around, I’ve learned to take my own pictures. After falling down a rabbit hole of watching Sorelle Amore’s youtube (content warning: some nsfw content) tutorials for taking my own selfies, I got a tripod for my camera and began practicing. I’ve only done it a few times, and felt like I did it successfully even fewer, but I’ve learned a lot about taking a good picture. I have an added mount for the tripod that lets me use my phone for taking pictures, which has helped me frame myself in the shot. It’s been a fun exercise, if nothing else, and I’ve found that it's a skill most friends love because then we can take a picture of us together on a hiking trip that isn’t an arm’s length away from our faces.
Although I might prefer to share a travel experience with someone else, it’s not always possible. Despite a few creepy encounters, my experience traveling alone has been largely positive. It’s made me more courageous and given me endless opportunities to explore my own curiosity.
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