In this episode we share our solo traveling experiences! We talk about our first trip alone, the biggest misconceptions about solo traveling and our most memorable solo travel experiences. We discuss what we think is the biggest difference between solo traveling for men and women and we have some advice on how to feel more confident and safe while traveling solo. Also we open up about our saddest solo travel moment and we share what traveling solo taught us about life and about ourselves.
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With love, April Betts & Anna Jirina.
About From Lisbon With Love
A podcast about real stories of love, laughter, and life in Lisbon โ from women who have left it all behind. We share real stories about moving abroad, starting over and figuring life out along the way. We talk love, dating, friendships, breakups, healing, growing, all of it. Basically, the stuff we usually talk about over coffee โ๏ธ or vinho ๐ท. If youโre thinking about moving to Lisbon, already here or just love honest conversations with heart: youโre in the right place! Learn more about our story here.
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Traveling solo: the pros and cons
However traveling solo is a unique experience that’s definitely worth it, there’s pros and cons. The biggest benefit of traveling solo is that it gives a lot of freedom – you are literally the boss of your itinerary. You can move at your own pace and visit the places you want, without having to negotiate or compromise with your travel buddy.
Also you’re in control of your budget. If you want to save money on groceries, day trips, eating out or on your stay, it’s totally up to you! Despite this, traveling solo is a great opportunity to meet new people. Also traveling solo helps you a lot with self discovery and building confidence.
But of course there’s also some downsides to traveling alone. You’ll might experience feelings of loneliness, since you’ll experience every highlight alone, without a travel companion to share it with. As a solo traveler you also bear the entire burden of necessary expenses, like taxi rides, hotel rooms and tour tickets that are usually split by two or more people. Lastly you don’t have a support system when traveling solo, which means you’ll have to be extra careful: especially because you’re a more vulnerable target for scammers and thefts.
Misconceptions about solo traveling
Unfortunately there are a lot of misconceptions about solo traveling – something we also discuss in the episode. One of the biggest misconceptions about solo traveling is that it’s boring and that it’s dangerous. But if you fill your trip with doing things you like to do, if you take safety precautions and if you don’t do stupid things, traveling solo really is amazing!
What we love the most about solo traveling is that there’s so many ways to do it – you can choose any destination and itinerary that fits you. Most people think about backpacking and hostels when they think about solo traveling (because this is mostly what you see on social media), but there’s so much more options. If you’d rather go to a city (with a big suitcase ;-)), a non-tropical place or if you want to stay in a luxury private room, you can do that! When it comes to solo traveling, there are no rules on how to do it – just do what feels right for you and what fills your cup.
Traveling solo as a woman
You can imagine that traveling solo as a woman (unfortunately) comes with more challenges, depending on the destination you choose. When traveling solo as a woman it’s even more important to take safety precautions, like arriving at your destination in daylight, sharing your itinerary with family and friends, avoid going out late at night and maybe even bring pepper spray in your bag. Luckily we’ve never felt unsafe on our solo trips, but it’s always a good thing to be careful – no matter where you are.
Also we discovered that solo traveling is a great preparation to eventually move abroad alone. If you’re thinking of moving abroad alone, we definitely recommend going on a solo trip first to get a glimpse of what it’s like living in another country by yourself. If this sounds scary to you, definitely listen our episode about overcoming the fear of moving abroad.
