Friday, June 24, 2016

Things To Remember When Travelling Solo

I recently went on a solo international trip, as cool as it may sound (or not, depending on what you are into) it honestly was a little stressful. I had made sure that I would not take any help from Mom and would seriously handle everything on my own. Here are a few things you should keep in mind when travelling solo, or even when with someone. All these pointers really helped me a lot.

Research, read, make notes

I know it sounds tiring and not everyone is into it, but Google has to be your best friend before you travel. Try to read up as much you can about the place you are visiting. At times you may come across offbeat things that you can do there or get to know about local events that you could have missed otherwise.

Maps
I really don’t have to tell you how useful maps are. Google maps have offline features where you can save a map on your phone and use it later even if you don’t have data. Download the map and keep before you leave for your trip, you can also mark places on the map like your hotel, or places you are going to visit etc. just so you don’t have to do the searching bit when you reach there.

Travel Light
Keep the baggage less, it would not only help you get around places faster but would also leave ton of room for the new things that you shop there. Planning outfits for each day helps a lot and can actually save you a lot of space as you won’t be carrying too many outfits.
Maybe this could help - http://justimagine-ddoc.com/life-style/life-changing-charts-that-will-make-traveling-so-much-easier/gallery/image/do-not-over-pack/

Hotel Check
Read up on the hotel and area you are going to stay in. Read the reviews, do a thorough check of their website and read the rules and regulations. At times the reviews tell you about the kind of the place you are going to stay in and reading the rules and regulations will help you avoid any additional charges or confusion that you may have overlooked.

Weather Check
Always do a weather check, it will help you tons while packing clothes or other things that you may need to carry.

Coverups
Jackets, scarfs and shrugs are my favorite thing to carry. They don’t take much space and you can team it up with various outfits and can also take care of the weather around. You can wrap a scarf around if you are cold, or use it to protect yourself from the sun. If you are carrying T-shirts and jeans and if you add on a jacket over it, you totally transform the look and you have a new outfit by just adding one piece of clothing.
Get Local
Before you visit the place make sure that you read up on the clothing and cultural norms, although this is not that big a deal but when visiting places which are less liberal this could really come in handy. Also check out what the locals eat, you really get to know the place when you eat the food that belongs there. It would also help you save a few bucks as local food is generally not very expensive.

Social Media

Now if want to be active on social media during your travel then you can make a list of hashtags and people to tag on the notepad app and then just copy paste it. You know the usual hashtags that fit your travel and people you are travelling with etc., you just have to edit the hashtags or people when actually posting the post. I use this all the time and it really has saved me a lot of time and also made sure that I don’t miss out on things.
Tourism and safety apps
As most of the countries are getting big on tourism and social media, they generally have a tourism app to guide tourists. Also check out local apps which tell you the bus/train/metro timings or lets you hire a cab etc.Safety app is a must. It could really come in handy in sticky situations.
Chargers
Carry potable chargers and USB chargers. We all are ruled by our phone and you really don’t want to be stuck in a place without your phone. 

This is all that I do when I am travelling. If you have any more tips, ideas or hack then let me know in the comments box. It would help other readers as well as me :D

No comments:

Post a Comment