My First Solo Trip--Tips for Traveling Alone
My first solo trip was more like a spiritual sojourn. It was spur of the moment but incredibly pivotal for me as a person. I enjoyed every single minute of it. Of course, my destination was a place I was very familiar with and that helped me to feel safer traveling alone. I went to Kerrville. I spent four nights there. I've blogged about Kerrville before so this blog is more about staying safe on the road when you're traveling solo. Solo trips are worth the extra headache that safety precautions bring because when you're traveling solo, it's your own agenda that you have to worry about.
So here are some safety basics when you're traveling solo:
1.Travel during the day. It sounds like a cliché but it isn't. Daytime travel brings visibility and a bit of camouflage to your solo status. Service stations are busier during the daytime hours.
2. Stop in well lit, busy service stations. This one is especially important if you've got to travel at night.
3. This applies more to women than men but do not stop at rest areas at night. These may be busy places and seem like great places to stop but they are not. Keep traveling until you can get to a service station further down the road.
4. Do not post your selfies or other pictures on social media until after you've left or just before leaving that area. Many times these are tagged on social media with a location. When you're traveling solo, you do not want to get that specific about where you are at the time.
5. This one goes with the previous suggestion. Do not ever tag where you are staying. In our modern age, we like to tag our location and give reviews, etc. on social media. I would follow this rule even when I'm not traveling solo. It's too specific. If you want to tag that hotel and leave a review, then wait until you're checked out and about to pull out of the parking lot to move on.
6. If you are licensed, bring your gun. Bring your mace and/or pepper spray. Never hurts to be prepared if one through five doesn't keep you out of harms way.
7. Most importantly, be aware of your surroundings at all times. If something or someone makes you feel uncomfortable, then leave. Better to err on the side of caution than to become a statistic.
I really enjoyed being on my own agenda. I went to the grocery store after I checked in and I bought food and drinks to sustain me while I was there. The mini fridge worked perfectly and I was able to cut down on some of the fast food and expensive restaurant food by eating some quick and easy foods I could prepare in my hotel room using the microwave. Think salad with chopped ham and a baked potato. This idea works especially well for vegans and vegetarians that have a mostly raw diet.
My suggestion if you're going to go with a hotel based meal plan is plan ahead. Since my trip was spur of the moment, I didn't have time to really prepare. I could have saved myself some expense by using my camping supplies. I keep paper plates, salt and pepper and plastic utensils in my camping gear. The trick to making it most successful is to think about what you might need ahead of time and then pack that along with your suitcase. This idea is perfect for extended stays where you're going to be in the same place for several days but it can be adapted for multiple stops by bringing a cooler along to pack your refrigerated products in.
While I was on my solo trip, I used a combination of a the hotel based meal plan and sampling the local restaurants while I was out and about sight seeing. It worked out pretty well for me so I'm sharing the experience in case you want to try it, too.
Thanks for taking the time to read my thoughts today.
Many blessings,
Lisa
So here are some safety basics when you're traveling solo:
1.Travel during the day. It sounds like a cliché but it isn't. Daytime travel brings visibility and a bit of camouflage to your solo status. Service stations are busier during the daytime hours.
2. Stop in well lit, busy service stations. This one is especially important if you've got to travel at night.
3. This applies more to women than men but do not stop at rest areas at night. These may be busy places and seem like great places to stop but they are not. Keep traveling until you can get to a service station further down the road.
4. Do not post your selfies or other pictures on social media until after you've left or just before leaving that area. Many times these are tagged on social media with a location. When you're traveling solo, you do not want to get that specific about where you are at the time.
5. This one goes with the previous suggestion. Do not ever tag where you are staying. In our modern age, we like to tag our location and give reviews, etc. on social media. I would follow this rule even when I'm not traveling solo. It's too specific. If you want to tag that hotel and leave a review, then wait until you're checked out and about to pull out of the parking lot to move on.
6. If you are licensed, bring your gun. Bring your mace and/or pepper spray. Never hurts to be prepared if one through five doesn't keep you out of harms way.
7. Most importantly, be aware of your surroundings at all times. If something or someone makes you feel uncomfortable, then leave. Better to err on the side of caution than to become a statistic.
I really enjoyed being on my own agenda. I went to the grocery store after I checked in and I bought food and drinks to sustain me while I was there. The mini fridge worked perfectly and I was able to cut down on some of the fast food and expensive restaurant food by eating some quick and easy foods I could prepare in my hotel room using the microwave. Think salad with chopped ham and a baked potato. This idea works especially well for vegans and vegetarians that have a mostly raw diet.
My suggestion if you're going to go with a hotel based meal plan is plan ahead. Since my trip was spur of the moment, I didn't have time to really prepare. I could have saved myself some expense by using my camping supplies. I keep paper plates, salt and pepper and plastic utensils in my camping gear. The trick to making it most successful is to think about what you might need ahead of time and then pack that along with your suitcase. This idea is perfect for extended stays where you're going to be in the same place for several days but it can be adapted for multiple stops by bringing a cooler along to pack your refrigerated products in.
While I was on my solo trip, I used a combination of a the hotel based meal plan and sampling the local restaurants while I was out and about sight seeing. It worked out pretty well for me so I'm sharing the experience in case you want to try it, too.
Thanks for taking the time to read my thoughts today.
Many blessings,
Lisa
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