It can be the most exhilarating and freeing experience to be able to travel the world on your own.
I was 14 years old when I convinced my parents to let me go to Florence during the summer to learn Italian. I found a language school (I had been to Brighton when I was 12 with my girlfriend, staying with a family to study English), and applied to the same system to receive my parents’ approval.
I stayed with an elderly lady and went to the language school every morning. In the afternoons, I was entirely by myself. I never really felt a desire to bond or connect with others; instead, I cruised through Florence by myself and went clubbing at night. Studying and learning fluent Italian was my main priority. During that summer, I missed class only once! (It was a particularly hot morning at 40 degrees Celsius, so I went to a city park with a pool – who could blame me?!)
For me, solo is “normal.” I’ve always preferred being by myself to hanging out with groups. I’m a highly social person when I decide to interact with others, but I prefer to do my own thing. And if you’re itching to travel solo, you probably feel the same way!
Discover Your Love for Solo Travel
Are you curious about solo travel? Ready to embark on your first solo travel adventure? There are a few essential things to keep in mind when traveling solo as a female:
Always Trust Your Intuition
Never compromise in a situation or place if it feels off. Dress accordingly to the culture. I prefer to stay in luxury hotels for safety reasons. Take a taxi if you don’t feel comfortable with the public transportation in the area. You can always ask the concierge or join a tour group somewhere if you do not feel at ease about your safety. If you’re concerned about safety, prioritize this during the planning process. Be sure to choose a country that’s known to be generally safe!
Make Yourself a Priority
I believe if someone chooses solo travel, it’s ok to make solo the top priority. We do not need to adjust who we are to fit in while traveling solo. If you meet someone along the way that you connect with, that’s great! But travel with the intention of just being ourselves and being with ourselves. Anyone else is a bonus. And the bonus must be worth it like the cherry in a cocktail.
Recognize that everything is perfect already with ourselves. The others that we might encounter must enrich our experience. If not, keep it solo.
Reinvent Yourself
Solo Travel is the most wonderful opportunity to reinvent yourself. There’s no shared past with friends. No image that you have to live by. You could go to a foreign country for a week and decide to be quite different, or different only in one aspect. Every new day you are the most evolved version of yourself. You are wiser and more grown than yesterday. This allows you to build connections with new people from the newest version of yourself. You’ll always stay the same if you’re only meeting with the same friends or visiting the same places you usually go.
Love Your Own Company
Solo travel is always a journey to ourselves. Being timid when we are young is perhaps a smart asset. When we are growing into a woman, timidness serves nothing. Timidness can serve as an obstacle to living life to the fullest.
If you are an introvert, you already know how to be by yourself. Instead of reading your book at home on the sofa, take it with you when exploring new places. Solo travel does not mean we have to be social. Solo means we do exactly what we want to do every moment with no need to compromise.
My Solo Adventures Around the World
My passion for solo travel started at a very young age. I’ve always loved to be by myself. When I met my husband at 21, I didn’t stop. In fact, I kept on traveling solo as he was usually very busy working. When deciding where I want to travel, I usually choose great deals in luxury hotels that I love and then work my way through the country or place. I like to look up new hotel openings (at the Four Seasons, for example!), and get great deals on the opening rates. This is exactly how I did it in Egypt, India, the USA, the Middle East, and Scandinavia. There’s nothing wrong with deciding to follow your favorite hotel chain around the world! (In fact, I encourage loyalty where possible as you’ll get extra travel perks!)
Here are some of my favorite solo travel memories that I hope will inspire your plans to travel the world:
- Swimming with a whale shark while diving in the Red Sea
- Paragliding in the Austrian Alps
- Dining at the world’s best restaurant Noma in Copenhagen
- Attending a diamond dealer event at an antique Palazzo in Venice
- Taking a Reindeer sled tour through the Tundra in Sweden
- Relaxing yacht days in the Persian Gulf in Qatar
- Hiking in the Himalayas
- Visiting a rice plantation in Jakarta
- Witnessing sunrises in Malta
I do everything in my everyday life to be by myself as much as possible. Being with myself is my natural state of being, where no compromise is required. I live on a Swiss mountain top and can hike for hours without seeing a soul. Always my own time schedule. No schedule. Going with the flow and mood. That’s the beauty of solo travel, and it’s a beauty I hope you get to enjoy if not every day or every year, at least every once in a while.
I hope I have inspired you beautiful and strong women to venture out into the world to travel solo and discover yourself in the process. What is your dream solo travel adventure? Where are you headed next? Let me know in the comments below or on my Instagram!
