Solo Traveling 103

I recently came back from my first solo trip abroad in a long time. Which gave me some more good tips to give to people. Especially for longer trips in a country that does not speak English. Because all these combined can make your trip great or difficult if you do not plan for it.

Decision Fatigue

You will be making all your decisions on this trip. No matter how much you love making all the decisions and never having to ask someone else what they want to do, it gets tiring. It’s the same as running a business. You need to have a system in place to combat it. With traveling it’s planning ahead. It doesn't have to be a stringent schedule, but even just ideas on what to do in every area you want to visit. This includes shops to see, all options for food, and just places to walk to. Having all that figured out can take time and energy out of everything. This can also be a tour you take so someone else gets you where you need to be, sets the time you are there, and you just get to have fun.

You are going to want to talk to someone

Even the most introverted of us will want to have a conversation at some point. And that’s another reason to plan a few tours. There are so many options for those that speak English. There will be other English speakers there too if you want to talk with them. I did a food tour in Seoul, which was great, and we all got to enjoy great food and conversation. We even went to karaoke afterward because we enjoyed each other so much.

Learn the language and cultural norms before you go

We’ve all heard the stories of someone doing something normal in their country, but doing it somewhere else and getting arrested. There are a lot of similarities between people, but also a lot of differences in cultures. Knowing some basic phrases honestly is the polite thing to do when you are visiting their country. Some people don’t realize that it’s rude to wear short shorts in a Buddhist temple, even though it’s perfectly fine to wear them for many other occasions. Some don’t even like you showing shoulders. It’s just little things just so you don’t get on people’s bad side.

Hope these tips will be helpful for you on your next trip. Check out my other posts and podcast episodes on traveling (solo, groups).