I'll never go on another vacation without following these tips, downloading the apps, and saving alllll this money. I'm an incredibly anxious person and love having things planned ahead, so I did everything possible to make this trip go as smoothly as possible. I ultimately spent one week in Paris and then a second week in London. This was my first trip since , and as a year-old, it was my first trip where I'd actually be traveling alone.
Here are some things I learned along the way and some I wish I knew sooner. I actually stole this tip from the queen of solo travel herself, Travel Channel host Samantha Brown. It'll stick with me for years. Another great tip I learned from the Travel Channel is to never actually mention that you're solo traveling while on your trip. Most conversations you have will be totally harmless, but as an extra safety precaution, I always mention that I'm traveling with friends and meeting them later in the day.
That way the person I'm talking to knows that someone is expecting me. Hey, I'm not trying to get taken! Getting lost in a foreign city can be an especially overwhelming situation, but I saved myself so many times by pre-saving maps of Paris and London's subway systems onto my phone. This way I knew exactly where to go, which stations I should transfer from, and what area of the cities I was actually in.
There are some cities, states, and countries that I simply won't travel to as a queer person I'm looking at you, Florida , but I love, love, love that this feature exists. Feeling safe and welcome is SO important, especially if you're alone and in an unfamiliar area, so I can't recommend booking with it enough. I'm a Type-A person who always needs to know exactly where I'm going, but when I stepped off the metro in Paris, I got completely turned around and didn't know which direction my hotel was in and it didn't help that everything was in a foreign language.
Luckily, I had pre-saved my hotel's address into Google Maps. Even without Wi-Fi, the app uses a satellite to pinpoint exactly where you and your destination are, and it shows you which direction to travel in.
