Solo Travel Pricing Tracker-First Solo Adventure Travel 5 Tips

Solo Travel Pricing Tracker-First Solo Adventure Travel 5 Tips

Adventure travel has been an active part of the growing solo travel trend. Baby Boomers and Millennials are all heading out to join this crowd.  My first solo adventure was as a college student. Like most students, I had a low to no travel budget, no car and not a real detailed idea of my itinerary. Undaunted, I boarded a bus with an open ticket from Washington to Los Angeles. (If you find yourself there solo, check out this up-to-date guide for the “20 Best Things to Do in LA”.)  For 5 weeks, my small overnight bag and I saw the US from the Art Institute of Chicago to a Midwest dairy farm and even the Salt Lake and on to California.

Having now seen all 50 states and 68 countries, I have these 5 tips for your first solo adventure.

Solo Travel Pricing Tracker-First Solo Adventure Travel 5 Tips: Before Leaving Home:

Tip One:  Plan to take your first solo adventure trip in your home country if possible.  Why is that best? 1. You will speak the language.  2, You will know the currency. 3. You will be on more or less the same  time zones. 4. You will be aware of the customs. 5. You will know the basics like where to eat, stay and get help. It should be almost the same as at home. 5. In case of a problem, you will be in easy reach to check in with friends and family.

Tip Two:  Research your chosen destination(s), and see how you can get there with time to spare.  In the past, flights with stop overs were well priced. Today that may not work as economically.  One past example I found was for New Year’s in Cambodia via Beijing.  China had up to 2 days stopovers without a visa or extra flight charges.

If you plan to hop scotch between places, be sure you can get there in time to see key sights. In southern Africa, I found that my connection to the safari camps of Botswana only ran every other day.  In SE Asia, I had only 45 minutes to go through passport control and customs and on to a different terminal even using the same airline. On a trip to Slovenia, a connecting flight was cancelled. As a result, in 18 hours, I was in transit in 5 countries!

Solo Travel Pricing Tracker-First Solo Adventure Travel 5 Tips: Keeping It Simple:

Tip Three:  Don’t make it too complicated.

Try a non-stop flight instead to just one destination. Keep the trip short as well.

It is tempting when you go a long way to try to see all the places in a region. With the price of airfare, that can make sense. If you do that as a first time solo trip, it may seem more like work than fun.

After going on solo trips since my teenage years, I took the most complex solo travel ever last year. I was able to build on what I had learned on stops in 64+ countries. Last year on Christmas Day, I flew to Beijing non-stop from DC. I then flew on to Bangkok. I slept for a few hours at a 4 star Novotel.  After just a few hours, I was back at the airport in Bangkok early AM. It was time to fly on to Siem Reap, Cambodia. I then caught a great river cruise through the Mekong Delta and was then back in Bangkok for a few days.  To make it worse, I had a glitch a few days before my trip. For work, I had a last minute 6,000 mile round trip from DC to California and back. After I packed and repacked, I arrived in SE Asia with a few missing items like having the first flight times at hand.

Solo Travel Pricing Tracker-First Solo Adventure Travel 5 Tips: Plan ahead:

Tip Four: Travel light. Not only is it cheaper, but it is safer. You need to be able to get away fast from unwanted attention or if there is a problem.

Tip Five: Have access to emergency funds. On my first adventure solo travel, I arrived back home with about $2.00 in my student bank account. It is true that went farther than it does now. In any case, it is key to have a way to have money wired or available in an emergency. Don’t just assume you can use your bank’s ATM card in all cases.

Solo Travel Pricing Tracker-First Solo Adventure Travel 5 Tips: Finding Your Destination:

Here are select spots around the world for a solo adventure trip.

Adventure Africa-Multiple safaris to choose from

Adventure Asia-Vietnam/Cambodia Mekong Delta river cruise

Adventure AU/NZ-Great Barruer Reef and Cairns

Adventure Europe-Hiking Through Iceland 

Adventure LATAM-Costa Rica 11 Ecotours

Adventure North America-Hiking National Parks

Adventure India-Adding on Nepal/Bhutan/Sri Lanka

For other ideas, return to our Home Page. Then click the tab at the top for an easy search with the Solo Travel Pricing Tracker. You can choose a destination and type of trip, each linked to no to low single supplement.