How to Plan for Your Solo Trip – Breaking it down

Planning trips is one of my favorite things to do on the planet. I like it so much my best friend Shanelle once told me I should start charging people to plan their trips for them. Is this next business venture? Probably not. But do I have a true passion for planning and executing any type of trip abroad? Absolutely.

Because there are many ways to go about planning any trip, it can feel super overwhelming to most people.  And while there are many ways to plan a trip, I am going to break it down for you in simple steps over a few handy posts. So let’s get started with how to PLAN your solo trip!

Breaking It Down

Like I mentioned in this post, breaking down where you want to go and how you want to go is the first step to any trip.

So first, I you to consider the following three questions:

1. Where do you want to go?
2. How much money do you have now?
3. How much money do you need to save?

By answering these simple questions, you can get to the core of what you need to do. Breaking it down, and getting the answers to these questions, will help you a great deal. See, you just took the first steps for your first solo trip!

Itinerary Planning

OK, now you have your budget and where you want to go.  Now it is time to start working through the days that you have available. From 3 days to 3 months,  you need to roughly map out where you want to go in the time you have. Planning to just sit on the beach the whole time? No problem! But you want to make sure you allocate for any day trips or sites you want to see. Think about all of this, and the best days to go. For example, the coliseum in Rome probably isn’t best to go to on a Saturday at noon. If you are Rome for a week, consider going to the hot tourist spots on off days and times so you don’t have to wait in line so long. Consider time and date for all items on your list of things to do.

Where to stay

Picking the spot where you can lay your head for the night that is safe and affordable is important. But as I mentioned in this post, I don’t think this should be your biggest worry. Yes, safety is always a concern, especially when your traveling alone, so consider this a priority, but then think about all the other options you can consider. Are you into couch surfing? Air BnB? Or maybe the top hostel in Lonely Planet? I have tried them all and recommend them all, and this let’s you get outside your usual hotel bubble. This will give you more options and more places to stay throughout the journey. Now write these all down for each designation you are going on

Buy your flights & train

Now that you sort of know where you are going, and how long you are staying there, and that they have a place for you to sleep, book those plane, train, and bus tickets. You need to get there, right? And once you get the plane tickets booked this is the main structure of the flight. The bones, as I like to call it. You know when you are leaving home, arriving at your location, and when you need to leave. Now fill in everything else. Fill in where you want to go, where you want stay, and what you want to see. Remember to keep that budget in mind!

So this is it. Part one. You have the bare bones of what you need to stat planning your solo trip! Congratulations!

Next, we will start talking about what you can do while you’re there, and tying up any loose ends at home. But for now, see below for an update on my latest adventure…