Nobody tells you that the scariest part of solo travel isn’t the travelling. It’s the twenty minutes before you leave the house, standing in your room surrounded by half-packed bags, wondering if you’ve made a terrible, expensive mistake.
I remember mine vividly – in fact, it kinda happened twice for me. My first, real solo trip was to 2017 Poland – a country very different from the 2026 Poland that I visited this year. No English anywhere, post-soviet vibes still going a lot stronger than nowadays, and generally less touristic. I had been convinced to dive into this adventure by my Rotterdam flatmate – an experienced solo traveller who had spent days recounting his travels around the world to a young and easily swayed Nina. So here I was: booking the cheapest flight I could find from Aberdeen and landing at an indecent time of night, alone, in a foreign land, without knowing anyone. That week turned out to be amazing and I ended up kickstarting my short-haul solo travelling career.
My second big solo travel challenge was long-haul trips. Despite having ranked up years of solo travel experience, in 2022 I still had to hit the big stakes: travelling intercontinentally alone. My first time was to Thailand but for a couple of weeks, then afterwards I ventured into Indonesia for over a month and finally mastered the art of solo travelling.
It took years to get to where I am now. So, in the spirit of saving someone else the same spiral, here’s what I wish someone had grabbed me by the shoulders and told me before my first trip alone.
1. You will get lonely, and that’s not a sign you’re doing it wrong. I used to think that if I felt lonely, it meant solo travel wasn’t for me. It took me embarrassingly long to realise that missing people while doing something incredible are not mutually exclusive feelings. You can love your trip and still want to call your mum at 9pm because the silence in your hostel room feels too loud. Both things are allowed.
2. Your itinerary is a suggestion, not a contract. The beauty of solo travelling is you are free to change and adapt your plans as you wish. While you’re very welcome to plan everything in advance if that’s your style, being in a new place alone will actually open up an entire world of possibilities for you: meeting new people who suggest places, activities, or who offer tips on things to skip and things to do instead. Most of the time, you don’t need to overly stress about what you’re doing to do: you will certainly meet people who can guide you and help you out! So take a deep breath and enjoy it – I promise you it’s the difference between touring a place and actually experiencing it!
3. Nobody is looking at you as much as you think. This one sounds obvious written down, but it took me actual years to internalise. Eating alone at a restaurant, taking a photo of yourself in public, asking for directions in broken language skills – none of it is the spectacle your anxious brain thinks it is. Now, I am completely comfortable doing literally everything alone, and ironically I now find it strange when OTHER people find it strange.
4. Budget for comfort, not just for survival. This is such a big one. I was so determined to do things cheaply that I made my first trip harder than it needed to be, choosing the worst possible bus routes and the most miserable hostels to save a few euros. Some of that is a necessary part of being a broke student abroad, sure, but there’s a difference between being frugal and making yourself needlessly miserable. In fact, sometimes being frugal actually ends up costing you more – the cheaper hostel that’s a bit farther away will cost you time and transport money, the cheap food will cost you health bills when and if you get sick, not to mention your own mental health. Learn where it’s worth spending a little extra, even if it’s just on a decent night’s sleep before a long travel day.
5. And finally: you will come back different, and that’s the whole point. I don’t think I fully understood, before that first trip, that solo travel isn’t really about the places. It’s about finding out what you’re like when there’s no one else around to shape the story for you. Years down the line, this is literally my main mover for any trip I plan – I take it easy and don’t care about ticking all the touristic boxes, because what I truly value are the human connections that I’ve built along the way.
So to end today’s blog post: if you’re standing in your room right now, surrounded by half-packed bags, having the same spiral I had: take a deep breath, don’t think about it and just go! You will love the experience and yourself – I am sure of it!
As always, wishing you all a lovely day!
Nina
