Let’s Help You Figure Out Where To Travel Solo For The First Time

Are you finally ready to start planning your first solo trip? Wondering where to travel solo for the first time? Look no further! I’m going to help you decide where you should go for your first trip.

Going on your first solo trip is such an exciting time. It’s brand new, exciting, and you have NO idea what to expect. I wish I could go back to that feeling because it’s truly so fun. Now that I’ve been traveling full time for the last 6 years, it has become a routine.

This doesn’t mean that it’s not fun anymore, believe me, I LOVE traveling. But I feel like an expert at it I guess you could say, it comes so naturally to me that I don’t even have to think about all of the things that concerned me when I first started.

Solo Travel Should Be Experienced At Least Once

Solo travel provides such a wealth of benefits that I truly believe everyone should try it once. There is something so empowering about being truly independent. You have the freedom to do what you want, when you want, with whom you want. We don’t usually get this level of freedom in our everyday lives.

Break Free From Society With Solo Travel

Our days are dictated by work or school, our families, our responsibilities, etc. This leaves almost no room for figuring out who the heck it is we REALLY are behind all of those layers. What it is we actually like and what it is we are wanting to get out of this life. Stepping away from all of that allows you to think clearly, in a way I promise that you’ve never thought before.

Overcoming Your Fears With Solo Travel

If you’re having some fears while planning out your first trip, that’s completely normal. We all have them. Heck I’d be lying if I didn’t still have some fears even now, doing this for 6 years. When I book a trip to somewhere new, I still get that tingly nervous feeling before going.

I worry about all of the same things you are. It’s just a way to keep ourselves safe, but don’t sucumb to it. Living out of fear is not a way to live life. Recognize the fear and do your research to overcome the things that you worry might happen. 

Factors to Consider For Where To Travel Solo For The First Time

There’s so many things to consider when choosing where to go for your first solo trip. We’ll go through them together. Really take the time to consider your feelings on certain things because we want to make sure you’re feeling prepared. The last thing I want to happen is for you to end up going somewhere that you don’t have a great time, and end up writing off solo travel for good.

First: How long do you plan on going for on your first solo trip:?

Now I wrote another post that ties into this one quite closely. It covers how long your first solo trip should be. The reason they tie in so closely is because one of the considerations for the length of trip should be based on where your trip is to.

How long you plan on going for can open up a door to where you might go. For example, if you can only go for a week, you might end up choosing somewhere closer like Mexico. Whereas if you plan on going for a month, this opens up the door to you flying to the other side of the world and going to somewhere like Australia.

My rough guidelines for distance and time for deciding where to travel solo for the first time:

If I’m going somewhere within my country, a long weekend at minimum. If I’m going to a neighboring country like Mexico, Canada or the Caribbean, I would say 1 week minimum. If I’m going somewhere further like South America, Europe, Or Africa, I would want a minimum of 2 weeks. If I’m heading even further to Asia, Australia, etc, then I woud want 3-4 weeks at minimum.

These rough guidelines to take into consideration for the distance traveled, how long you’ll actually be traveling for, and the jet lag. For example, it takes about 2 travel days to get to and from Asia. If you only go for 1 week, that leaves you just 3 days to explore. Plus those 3 days you’ll really be battling the time difference and may end up going to sleep super early, or waking up in the middle of the night. That’s hardly a trip, is it?

Second: What Is Your Budget For Your First Solo Trip?

This is important because your budget will dictate where you can go. One reason is the cost of getting there. For example flying to Mexico will be a lot cheaper than flying to Italy, and Italy will be a lot cheaper to fly to than flying to Japan. Flight prices might not be an issue for you though if you have been collecting travel points. If you aren’t already doing this, this is something you can start right away and by the time you’re ready to go on your first trip you may be able to fly for free!

Budget also impacts where you can go due to how much you will be able to spend while there. A great way to figure this out is learning the average cost of living there and how far your dollar stretches. For example you will spend more traveling for 2 weeks in France than you will traveling 2 weeks in Vietnam.

So if you have a limited budget, you may want to travel somewhere closer for a cheaper flight or you may want to go where your dollar stretches further like Southeast Asia. If your budget is larger, you might not care if a flight costs more to go somewhere further away or you may want to check out countries that cost a bit more like in Europe.

What to factor into your budget when where to travel solo for the first time:

When budgeting for your trip, you want to consider the price of getting there, your accommodation, eating, tours, shopping, insurance, things going wrong, visas, etc. The costs can add up.

So I recommend you putting aside savings each week or month to put towards this solo trip fund. Figure out how much you will have to spend. Then work backwards from there for budgeting.

My rough guidelines for budgeting to decide where to travel solo for the first time:

These are just estimates and will vary based on your interests, comfort level, and ability to budget. I like to say that you can get away with $1200-$1500 per month in Southeast Asia, about $2000+ per month in Europe & Northeast Asia. I haven’t done South America yet but I would imagine it might be in the middle of a Southeast Asia and Europe budget.

For additional context I did 5 weeks in South Africa and spent $1000 . I spent $2000 for 4 weeks in South Korea. I’ve spent $1200 for a month in Bali. I’ve spent $500 for a month in India.

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Third: What’s The Safety Concerns For Your First Solo Trip?

It’s important to take into consideration how safe a place is that you plan to travel to. In my personal experience I know that the media and people’s preconceived notions about where is safe can often times be wrong. I have been told by many people to “watch out” for going to XYZ because they heard it’s not safe.

Well that is just the thing, they heard. They haven’t actually been for themselves. And I’ve gone to these places and felt like they were completely fine.

Consider a group trip for your first solo trip 

Bad things happen everywhere. I mean look at home, you can get shot up doing almost anything. We aren’t necessarily safe there. So yes, take note if a place is safe or not, but do your own research from people who have actually been to the places you’re interested in going.

If there is somewhere you’re really wanting to go but feel like it might not be that safe or you’re truly concerned, you can always opt to do a group tour. Lots of people try group tours for the first time as a solo trip. And yes, it still counts as traveling solo.

A common misconception people have is that traveling solo means traveling alone. While it can mean that, it’s just simply not the case. If you show up on a trip, by yourself, and you don’t know anyone on it, that’s a solo trip.

For example, when I went to Egypt, I did a group tour. It’s the only trip I’ve ever done on a group tour and that was because I felt concerned about my safety going there. In the end I felt fine and I believed I could have probably done that trip without it, but again I didn’t know that until I went and checked it out myself.

Fourth: How Long Can You Take Off Work For This First Solo Trip?

If you don’t have a lot of time to take off work, you’re going to be limited as to where you can go. If you don’t have much PTO (which let’s be real, in the USA we hardly have any), then you may want to just do a long weekend trip somewhere in the USA or a trip to a nearby country.

You could go to Mexico, Costa Rica, Canada, or somewhere in the Caribbean. If you’re able to get 2 weeks off work I’d say you could go somewhere in South America or to Europe. If you’re able to get 3-4 weeks off work, then maybe you’d want to go over to Asia or Australia.

Use your PTO to determine where to travel solo for the first time:

If you’re reading this, please don’t be one of the 46% of Americans who don’t use their PTO. You deserve to travel. You deserve to see the world and tick off your bucket list. You do not exist just to work or to serve your employer. The world is big and beautiful and there’s more to life than working. Use your GD PTO please, I’m begging you.

So your trip length might very well be dictated by how long you can get off work. If you can get off work for the full month, go for it. If you can only get 1 week, go for it. If you can still only get a long weekend by planning your trip over a 3 day holiday weekend and taking an extra day off to get 4 days, by all means, still go for it.

If You Work Remotely:

Now if you’re someone who works remotely, you have a unique advantage that you can probably take your work with you. If your work allows people to travel, then go. If you’re unsure, then ask them if you’d be able to work from X country, so long as you still work your normal hours. If they approve, then freaking go for it!

If you don’t work remotely and are looking for ways to break into a remote role or become a digital nomad, head over to this page. This is where I reveal 1 digital nomad job a week so you can learn from others who share what it is they do that allows them to work and travel.

Figure out what are your minimum requirements for choosing where to solo travel for the first time:

You’re comfort level should be taken into consideration when deciding where to go. Some countries don’t have air conditioning in all buildings or elevators, some don’t have regularly paved roads and normal traffic systems,and some places you might find it hard to find a hot shower. These are just some examples of what you might experience. I think going to places that are dramatically different than our own can really push us out of our comfort zone.

If you know right off the bat that you are somene who HAS to have certain things like: air conditioning, taking ubers, staying in a nice hotel in a private room, doing organized tours, eating at nice restaurants, going shopping, etc. Then you are going to know right away that you are 1) going to need a higher budget 2) go to places that are going to meet your standards.

You can find places that will meet your standards in every country, but it’s the areas around it that you might find challenging. For example if you don’t like dust, dirt, pollution, trash, people trying to scam you, people touting at you, loud noises, animals roaming around, you might not want to go to India or some places in Southeast Asia for the first time. Or if you are someone who needs AC or doesn’t like to do a lot of walking or hates taking the stairs then maybe you want to be weary on certain places in Europe.

If you are someone though who has absolutely no requirements, you can go with the flow, adaptable in any situation, and have zero expectations, then I say that opens the doors to you most likely enjoying anywhere you go.

Sixth: Is Language An Issue For Your First Solo Trip?

I believe that everyone should do a solo trip to a completely different country with a different culture, language, customs, etc. to really immerse in something that’s way outside of your comfort zone. But is this something you should do for your first solo trip?

In America, we unfortuately only speak English, unless we have family from a different country that taught us. Generally the 2 years of langauge we get in highschool is not enough for us to be able to speak fluent. This means that most countries we go to, we won’t be able to speak the language. Fortunately for us though, a lot of people learn and know how to speak English.

This should NOT be expected though. When you are new to a country, you shouldn’t be feeling entitled that others should accommodate you in speaking English. This means come prepared to be able to figure things out in their language.

Have your google translate ready to go, learn a few important phrases, and be willing to figure out a way to communicate with them. Remember you are a guest in their country and you’d be surprised at how far hand motions can take you.

Figure out if this is something you are willing to navigate. If not, then perhaps stick to countries where English is their language like in the UK, Australia, Canada or New Zealand. Or stick to countries where you know for a fact a lot of the locals cater to English speaking tourists.

Guidelines For Where To Travel Solo For The First Time

Okay so now that you know all of the main factors to consider for choosing where to go, let’s put some of the concepts into practice.

Analyze your factors:

Let’s say you have a big budget and only a small amount of PTO. You would want to go somewhere that’s close by. Now whether to choose a more expensive country or a cheaper country will depend: Do you want to ball out with your budget? Then choose a cheaper country. Do you have enough to do all of the things you would want to do, in a more expensive country? If so, choose that one.

Now let’s say you have a small budget, but a large amount of PTO. Now I’d say go somewhere far but choose a country where the dollar stretches further. Now you can maximize your budget and be able to see somewhere far away, for a longer amount of time. If the plane ticket will eat too much into your budget because you aren’t utilizing the travel hack for free flights I mentioned earlier, then choose somewhere closer where the dollar still stretches further.

More Expensive Countries For Solo Travel:

• Canada
• Chile
• United Kingdom
• Ireland
• Iceland
• Mainland European Countries
• South Korea
• Japan
• Australia
• New Zealand

Most Popular Destinations For Solo Travelers

Solo travelers explore every corner of the globe. There is literally no where untouched. They go on cruises to Anarctica to bicycling through the middle east. Everywhere is fair game when it comes to where people are daring to explore on their own. There are however more popular spots that you can say are more “main stream” when it comes to solo traveling that might be the perfect destination for your first solo trip.

I recommend these more popular solo destinations because they are frequented by solo travelers all the time and will already have the environments in place for you to thrive and truly enjoy your first trip.

10 Popular Destinations For Solo Travelers:

• Thailand
• Indonesia
• Vietnam
• Philippines
• Japan
• Colombia
• Australia
• Portugal
• Spain
• Ireland

No matter how you manage to work it into your life, just find a way to make it work. Travel is one of those few things in life that are way more rewarding than we can give it credit for. You’ll come away with so many new lessons and a fresh perspective of looking at life.

I promise you it’ll be one of the most life-changing things you’ll ever do. I mean look at me, I went on 1 solo trip and then turned it into my entire life and it’s been 6 years and I’ve never looked back.

If you’re ready to start planning your trip, then let’s get you started on how to plan your first solo trip!

xx, Christine

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