Solo Female Travel
Everything you need to know.
So you’re considering travelling alone for the first time? That’s awesome!
No matter whether you’re looking for info on the best places to travel alone, what you need to pack or how to keep yourself safe when on the other side of the globe, you’ve come to the right place.
You may have heard me say this already but I’ll say it again, leaving New Zealand to travel the world by myself was the best decision I ever made and it’s my goal to empower you into taking the same step. Once we break it all down and dive into the nitty-gritty you’ll be feeling confident and ready to take on the world. You got this gal!
First Time Solo Female Travel Destinations
Travelling alone for the first time can be nerve-wracking and it is totally normal if you feel that way.
Now let me tell you, I used to be one of those people that said they could never travel alone and I mean NEVER. However, one day my mindset completely changed and my determination to travel the world overruled the fear of what might happen when it came to travelling as a solo female.
Yes, I still felt a bit anxious whenever it was time to move onto the country or city because of the unknown but that feeling would quickly disappear once I arrived and realised it wasn’t all that scary.
My number one message for you? If I can do it, you can do it too.
The secret is to just take it one step at a time. Don’t think too far ahead and overwhelm yourself and for the love of god, DON’T stress yourself out unnecessarily about something that hasn’t even happened yet…(guilty).
You are probably going to surprise yourself at how capable you actually are once you go on your first solo trip. And guess what? You are going to have the time of your life!
Solo travel is SO. MUCH. FUN.
Now as cheesy as the whole “travelling solo to find yourself” thing is, it’s kinda true… You become comfortable with your own company real quick and you have room to be 100% yourself without fear of judgement because guess what? When you travel to the other side of the world, nobody knows who you are. It’s the freshest of fresh starts.
Now with so many options out there for first time solo female travel destinations, how on earth do you choose?
Each country is quite different from one another, I’ve solo travelled in places like Europe, Mexico and South East Asia so you’ll get a pretty good overview of what it’s like in each of these places and hopefully feel inspired to head there for yourself!
Money Saving Hacks
When you’re travelling solo the bank account tends to take a little bit of a hit. At the end of the day the most important thing is your safety. Believe me, I’ve tried to cut corners and save $$ here and there and every time I regretted it. There was one time I was in the Philippines and I just had one night in Manilla before catching my flight out to the islands so I booked myself a night in a cheap motel room. Let’s just say I ended up in an incredibly dark and dodgy part of town and felt so unsafe I wanted to cry and throw up at the same time. In the end I was totally fine but it was NOT worth the stress OR the risk… So, safe to say I learnt my lesson.
However, there are other ways you can SAFELY save money. Flights, trains or buses is a great way because transport is going to be one of your biggest expenses. Even if you travel slow, it all adds up trying to get yourself from A to B.
Check on my post for 15 Cheap Flight Hacks for top tips and tricks I use when it comes to searching for cheap flights.
Another huge expense, if not your largest, is going to be your accommodation. I would highly highly recommend looking into volunteering in hostels during your travels! It cuts down your travel expenses significantly and not only that, it’s a cool experience!
How it works is you usually work on reception, or help out with a bit of cleaning or offer your skills to the hostel then in exchange you get free accommodation, free food and sometimes some free activities too!
It’s also an awesome way to meet people and can make the whole travelling solo thing seem a bit less scary cause more often than not, there will be other volunteers and they will also be solo travellers.
I wrote an in-depth list of the pros and cons of working in a hostel to help give you a bit of an idea on what you might be getting yourself in for.
How to make money on the road
Yes it’s all about baby steps and getting ready for your first solo trip but if you’re ready to dive right in there and quit your 9-5 to travel the world, I say GO FOT IT!
If your goal is to travel the world until you run out of money, why not figure out how to make money while you’re travelling so that you can travel the world long term?
Now before you say you don’t have any skills or experience that would translate to a remote job or give you the ability to become a freelancer, I’ve written a series of posts that will guide you through the steps you need to take to become a digital nomad.
What is a digital nomad?
It is someone who works remotely while being location independent. So in other words they aren’t chained to a desk in a certain city or timezone. One week they could work from Mexico and the next from Thailand, so it’s a pretty sweet deal.
The thing is, there a ton of jobs you can do that’ll help you achieve this location independence but first you need to think about what skills you need to learn to become a digital nomad and then you can start thinking about the best digital nomad jobs for beginners.
Once you’ve got that nailed down, the exciting part starts! Such as looking into what cities you want to travel to or base yourself in.
I spent some time living and working in Chiang Mai, Thailand and absolutely loved it! You can read about my experience here.
