 Every person should travel solo at least once in their lifetime. In my opinion, solo travel is the most liberating, exhilarating life experience that you can have. I just got back from a wonderful solo trip in the beautiful country of Guatemala and as I was traveling I was writing down some notes to hopefully help you and encourage you to plan your first solo travel adventure so let's get right into it. Tip number one is to start small. Your next adventure doesn't have to be miles away. It can be right around the corner. You could start with going to the museum by yourself. You could start with taking a day trip in the area where you live, weekend adventure, long weekend adventure and then you can go out the way to traveling outside of your state, maybe to the neighboring country and then you can have bigger and larger international adventures. Starting small also means that you don't want to go from having zero experience as a solo traveler to four weeks in Sudan. You want to take it step by step. This way you will allow yourself to understand if you really enjoy solo traveling, if it's for you, what are the things you're comfortable with and what are the things that you're not very comfortable with. Tip number two is to plan ahead of time, especially when it comes to accommodation and transportation. The last thing you want is to arrive to a new destination that you're not very familiar with and you have no idea how you are getting to your hotel or your Airbnb. You want to focus on planning out your transport. When you land at the airport, how are you getting to your accommodation? Are you going to take a taxi? Are you arranging transport through a company? Are you coordinating with the hotel to use their shuttle service because a lot of hotels would have a shuttle service that will pick you from the airport. Same thing at the tail end of your trip, when you are leaving your accommodation back to the airport, how are you getting there? Also, when it comes to accommodation, it's very important especially for the first few days when you just arrive to have your accommodation secured. You know where you're going to be spending the night because the last thing that you want is to arrive there and then you have to stress out about finding a place where you won't sleep. If it's a busy season, the prices might be very high or you may not find accommodation at all. For your first solo trip, try to come up with a solid plan, secure all of your accommodation, all your transportation. If you're visiting different regions of the country that you are going to and try to plan out also the activities that you want to do when you are at destination, what companies you're going to be doing these activities with. This way you have the least amount of stress. Tip number three is to write down information about your accommodation. If it's a hotel or an Airbnb, you want to write down the address, their contact information for your transportation. If there is a specific company transporting you, you want to have the name of that person transporting you and their contact information. And when I say write it down, not just as a note on your phone because you might lose your phone, your battery might die and you want to have that information somewhat secure. I like to always carry a small notebook with me like this one where I will have all of the important information, addresses and phone numbers in case I lose my phone. Next tip is to share your itinerary with a loved one, whether it's a family member or a friend. You want to make sure that someone at home knows where you are going including obviously the country you're traveling to, what is your itinerary, the hotels you're staying at and some of the activities that you are engaging in. Even better if you're comfortable with it is to share your location with that person. That's something that I prefer to do personally and it's very simple. I would go to Google Maps, go to the icon right here for my account and you would go and click share location and then you choose the person that you want to share that information with and you can either specify the duration of time you want to share your live location with them or you can share it continuously until you turn it off. I like to do this when I'm traveling to a foreign country. I would share my information with my partner. This way they have a trail of the places that I've been to should anything go wrong. It just gives you that assurance that someone out there knows you're whereabout. Next is to register with the STEP program. This is the smart traveler enrollment program especially for American citizens. This is a free program that you can go to in order to register with the embassy or the consulate in the foreign country that you are traveling to. All you have to do is to go to step.state.gov. You will have to create your account by providing some information about you, your emergency contact information and once your account is created you will be able to add in every trip that you go on. So when you want to add a trip you can add information about the country you're traveling to. When you are visiting, when you are leaving, what's the purpose of your visit, emergency contact information and that's it. The reason why registering with the STEP program is important is that you will receive notifications of what's happening in that country. For example when I was traveling in Guatemala I was constantly receiving email notifications about some protests that were happening around Guatemala, which streets, what areas, around what time and what are some of the regions that I should avoid. This is also important if there is a natural disaster or if there is a political coup in the country that you are traveling to. The consulate and embassy have support services for American citizens and this is a great way for them to reach out to you, contact you and support you if you need some help. Next tip is to arrive during the day. This can be difficult sometimes depending on what flight you are going on but it will just make you more comfortable especially if you are traveling for a long period of time from the airport to your accommodation. You want to see what's happening around you and it will just help you feel safer. Next tip is to pack light. This is super helpful especially if you are going to be traveling between regions or if you plan on taking public transportation from one area to the other it's a lot more manageable when you just have one back back to deal with. Next tip is to not show your valuables, valuables including your smartphone, your tablets, maybe your camera gear. This is a little bit difficult especially if you are someone who's into photography or videography or your content creator. You are traveling so that you can capture some content but just make sure that you are keeping your camera close to you. I love to use the peak design clips. They clip directly to my backpack. This way I have control over my camera or if you are traveling in areas that are not the most secure you can opt for a lower profile camera. I like to sometimes use my GoPro instead of using my big camera because the GoPro is so tiny you can hold it and you can still take photos and videos. Valuables also includes your jewelry, expensive sunglasses, expensive watches. You don't want to show that you have money. You don't want to show that you are rich. You want to blend in with the locals as much as possible. That includes the way you are dressed. Usually what I like to do is to look at women in the area where I'm traveling and try to imitate the way they dress to avoid any type of problems. Have an offline map with you in case you don't have access to the internet and you need to find your way around the city or the area where you are traveling. It's super easy. I like to use Google Maps so you can go to Google Maps. Let's say for example I am exploring the city of Antigua in Guatemala. I would type Antigua Guatemala and then you go in and you click download. When you download this specific region you will be able to use this map even if you don't have access to the internet. Even better if you can have a physical map with you in case you lose your phone, you drop your phone or your phone dies. A physical map can come in handy. Usually a lot of hotels or hustles they would have small physical maps of their surrounding area so it's a good idea to ask for one. They're usually free and then you can write down all of the regions of the landmarks that you plan on visiting. This way if you can't use your phone you still have a backup and you're not gonna end up lost. And talking about access to the internet there are many ways to make sure that you do have access to the internet so that you can use it either to make some research online or to find your way around. You can get a SIM card from the country where you are landing. Usually you can get one at the airport. They are pretty cheap. The one thing to keep in mind is that you want to make sure that your phone is unlocked and it can take other SIM cards other than the one that you already have. You also want to make sure that you have the little tool that you can use to remove your existing SIM card and replace it with the new SIM card. So that's the traditional route but there is a new technology that I started experimenting with and I'm really loving it. It's called the eSIM technology. There are so many brands out there that you can use. You can install an eSIM without having an actual SIM card. This way you can easily use data. The one that I use is called the AirAlo or AirAlo. All you have to do you go to the app store. You download the app. AirAlo is just one example of the one that I used and once you do that you obviously have to make sure that your phone can accommodate eSIM technology. I use an iPhone 12 Pro Max and I think all of the newer phones do accommodate eSIM technology. So you go into the app and then you search what country you're going to be visiting. Once you do that there will be different options of data plans that you can choose from. 1 gigabyte, 3 gigabyte for 7 days, 30 days so you choose whichever one works for you and then they are going to walk you through the process of setting up your eSIM. It's going to be very simple and then it's going to be added to your eSIM list. Once that's added you will be able to go to your settings and you will see your normal cellular data plan and the new data plan from the country that you are traveling to. Once you are there you can switch to the new plan and voila you have access to data. So you will be able to navigate the internet. You're not going to be able to make phone calls. You can only make phone calls through the internet using apps like WhatsApp for example, which I think it's important to make sure that you have WhatsApp on your phone. This is an app that a lot of country around the world use. So you can still make phone calls in WhatsApp and communicate with people that you need to communicate with. I'm going to leave a link in the description box for this app. I really found it to be super super useful and I'm planning on using it going forward. This next one is very unlikely to happen but it's the number one thing that I'm worried about when I'm traveling alone. That is what if someone can open the door of my hotel, especially when I'm staying in budget hotels. I know it's irrational but just to add another layer of safety, I like to use a portable door lock. This is amazing. They are very lightweight. I'm going to leave a link in the description box and you can see the video of how that works but basically just another lock on top of the existing lock of your door. In addition to that, I personally like to place a big or heavy backpack behind the door or a chair just in case. Don't tell people that you are traveling alone. You could say that you are meeting up with a partner, a family member, your sister, your friend. It's just unnecessary to tell people that you're traveling alone. Social media. When you're going to be traveling, you will be excited to share your photos and stories and videos which is great but you have to be careful if you have public profiles on Facebook or Instagram. Let's say for example, you are going to a restaurant by yourself. You just want to snap this story and you add in the location or the name of the restaurant. That is not the best thing to do because everyone can see where you are located if you are sharing that post in real time. Instead, you could wait until two hours later, a day later, two days later and then you can post those videos or photos to your public profile. That's just something to pay attention to. You don't want to leave a trail behind you but obviously if you have private profiles on Facebook, just family and friends, feel free to do so. Next tip is to pack a tripod and a remote. One of the challenges of traveling solo is not being able to take photos of yourself unless it's a selfie or if you ask someone else to take that photo of you which personally I'm not comfortable asking a stranger and handing my phone or my camera to take a photo. So instead, you can invest in a small tripod, a remote and use your phone to snap beautiful photos of yourself. It's nice to take photos of the landscape and the city but put yourself in that picture, smile, that's going to make for a great memory. Be aware of your surroundings. When you are walking in the streets or the markets, make sure that you see what's happening to your left, to your right, in front of you, behind you. If you're suspicious of something that's happening behind you, don't hesitate to just stop, go to the site, let that person pass by and then continue. It's not a good idea to wear your headphones all the time because you want to see and hear what's happening around you and react accordingly. Look confident. When you are walking in the street, don't give the impression that you are a shy person. Try to walk with your shoulders up, with your head up. Look people in the eye when you are talking to them. If you are shaking hands, make sure that your handshake is firm. Show people that you are confident even if you're not, even if you have moments of insecurity and you're not feeling great. Try to show that you got this. You are traveling by yourself. You are empowered. You are powerful. You are strong because people can easily read the look in your eye and the language of your body. So try to be strong and try to show confidence even if it's not there. And finally, remember that there are bad people out there, but there are also great people out there and that people are more likely to help you than harm you, especially if they know a little bit about your story, if they know that you are traveling alone, if they see you interested in their culture and the people and visiting their country for the first time. Believe me, more people will help you than harm you. But at the same time, you have to trust your feelings and trust your gut. If one thing doesn't feel right, it doesn't feel right for a reason. You have a lot of experiences as an adult. You know what feels good. You know what doesn't feel good. Just follow your instinct and you are going to have a great adventure. I hope that you guys found these tips to be useful. And if you did, please give this video a thumbs up and subscribe to the channel. My name is Habiba. You're watching Trekking Pals and I will see you very soon on a new adventure.