A Few Lessons Learned About Long Term Solo Travel

(Manuel Antonio beach.) I learned a lot of things about traveling long term, and it felt noteworthy to share them. Some things surprised me, and others are just valuable insights. So, here are some tips:

• Don’t be on your cell phone all day. This is an abysmal habit more Americans seem to have than other cultures. If you’re solo traveling, you want to meet people and be present to your surroundings. You can’t do either if you’re staring at your phone all day. Leave it in your bag and enjoy where you are!
• Get those shots. Thought not always necessary, seems to me it’s better to be safe than sorry when you travel – I got a Hep A and a Typhoid shot. Maybe I didn’t need them, but why worry?
• Pack as light as possible. As mentioned in my last post, there will be times you have to carry your luggage, alone, up flights of stairs, or bumpy surfaces. You don’t want to be carrying loads of luggage or if you’re in certain places of the world, look like you’re carrying lots of stuff.
• Stay in one place for a meaningful amount of time and get to know some locals. I found that in Costa Rica if I ate at the same place just twice, many places greeted me almost like a regular, and I got to know some lovely people and gain a lot more local knowledge because of this habit I developed.
• Just say hi. Especially if you’re alone, try and strike up a conversation with everyone you can. The easiest one is, “where are you from?” We’re all travelers, and it’s awesome to meet other people that share your joy. Don’t be shy!
• Ask if it’s safe at night. Some of us are lucky enough to take our safety for granted. When you’re in a place you don’t know, ask if there are areas that are dangerous, or times to avoid certain places.
• Eat where the locals go. You’ll get to taste local cuisine, and, most of the time, save a lot of money over restaurants set up to welcome tourists.
• Bring a water bottle. I didn’t and regretted it because I had to buy a lot of bottled water when the tap was fine.
• Check your shoes before you go. I didn’t and when the rubber bottoms of my hiking shoes came off and caused me a bad fall, I realized I’d had them about 20 years. You might not be able to get the same quality shoes in another country, so make sure your gear is in good shape! (Also, Amazon doesn’t deliver everywhere, so don’t count on easily replacing things.)
• Suck up bad WiFi. We are so spoiled in the US. Other places have very poor WiFi connections. Back to point one, you shouldn’t be on your phone all day anyway, and unless your sole purpose is to work (in which case you should invest in a WiFi hotspot for yourself) expect poor signals instead of complaining about them
• Be Flexible. By NOT booking hotels or anything for long amounts of time, you can allow yourself to decide whether or not you like a place. If you don’t, just change your plans and go someplace else. If you do, then find a way to stay longer.
• It can get lonely on the road. When I was surrounded by couples traveling together, I sometimes noticed that I was alone, and wished I wasn’t. Luckily, I’m great at chatting up strangers, so loneliness didn’t last long, but you might have some lonely moments.