Kim is sharing tips for your first solo trip after taking her first of many and learning a lot during the planning process and while on the trip.

“I always wanted to go on a solo trip, but I was nervous. I didn’t like doing things on my own, but I got to the point where I didn’t want that to hold me back anymore.”

Kim took her first solo trip to Iceland over the week between Christmas and New Years. It was great destination to start with because everyone speaks English, but a wild choice because of the harsh winter conditions, busy time of year, and risk of plans cancelling because of weather.

The episode expands a lot on how to plan a solo trip and maximize the experience, but here are some of the quick tips to conquer your fears and explore the world completely on YOUR terms!

1. Get excited!
2. Research A LOT! 
3. Book accommodations in a central location
4. Book accommodations with amenities
5. Book tours so you’re not fully alone
6. Do whatever YOU want to do!
7. Take photos with a tripod or by asking someone close by
8. Take safety measures like sharing your itinerary and touching base with someone back on often
9. Pack light
10. Don’t worry, you will figure it out all on your own

Since taking this solo trip, Kim has done other solo adventures and is more confident and excited about solo traveling than ever before!

We have a few other episodes on solo traveling, if you’re interested in exploring this type of travel check them out!

• Tips for Solo Female Travel in Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam FT Ashley V Travels
• Solo Travel Tips, Safety Advice, and Stories
• What is Slow Travel & Why to Start in Paris

Tips For Your First Solo Trip – Episode Transcript

0:35

Today you have me, Kim, to give you tips for your very first solo trip.

0:55

I was always curious about a solo trip, like the idea of it sounded cool and like transformative and it took me many, many years to finally do it.

I took my first solo trip to Iceland during the week between Christmas and New Year’s of 2024 and I thought it was a great first solo trip because first of all, everyone speaks English there and so that makes it a lot easier to navigate.

1:17

It’s really not that far from the US you’re not traveling long, long distances on.

Like in hindsight, I could have chosen a better destination to do a first solo trip only because Iceland winter is very harsh conditions and it just complicates things like plans get canceled or like walking on the sidewalk in the snow is a lot more difficult.

1:36

But either way, I survived and I learned some valuable tips that I want to share with you all.

First tip, I just want to say get excited.

I felt excited but also nervous going on my first solo trip, especially this time of year knowing like flights get canceled a lot at this winter time of year.

1:52

But I think researching really helped to get excited about things like booking a Northern Lights viewing tour or booking the spa day that I was have at the Blue Lagoon.

Like those things make it really exciting.

And you can romanticize your own company, romanticize this trip and like get really excited about it.

2:10

Don’t put your expectations too high as as I learned, like with a lot of things getting rescheduled and canceled and whatnot, but get excited about it.

You can even romanticize what you’re going to do when you’re there.

Like, oh, I’m going to go get coffee at this historic place and I’m going to read a book or I’m going to journal.

2:27

When I went on this solo trip to Iceland, it was right at the end of the year.

So I was thinking a lot about 2025, what I want to accomplish, New Year’s resolutions.

And like that solo trip time is a really good time to do stuff like that.

Next one I’ll say research a lot.

Research incessantly for your options.

2:43

Build a good itinerary.

I always like being prepared for trips, but for this solo trip, I was extra extremely prepared.

Maybe also because it’s Iceland in winter, but I think you need to know how far the transportation like a bus stop is from your hotel in walking distance.

2:59

Have a map, like look at the map at the places you want to go and see how far they are from your hotel.

And then maybe have options so you’re not scrambling in the moment like by yourself.

So if you really want to go to a coffee spot but one might be closed, you have a couple others in mind.

3:16

I would also recommend booking accommodations in a good location like the city center near the things that you want to do, near good transportation, especially on a solo trip.

For me, I found I wanted to make my life easier.

I don’t want to make it extra complicated than being in a foreign country by yourself.

3:33

So when you stay close to the main attractions and the things you’re going to do, you’ll spend less time navigating and staring at St. corners and going between that and Google Maps.

And you can really just enjoy more time in the place, places you want to visit an enjoying your solo trip time.

3:49

As far as accommodations, I would also recommend booking something with good amenities.

I mean, you could definitely go out there solo traveling, staying at hostels and that’s a total way of doing it for me.

I thought like dipping my toes into solo travel, I wanted to stay somewhere kind of safe.

4:07

So I found, you know, a place that actually has a phone call wake up service, which I never used until the solo trip is genius when you have to be up early and you’re by yourself, there’s no one else there to wake you up.

So that was cool.

They can hold your luggage if you come in early or you’re leaving later past checkout.

It’s awesome if they have a good restaurant or coffee spot on site.

4:25

That makes it really easy to like get things in a safe location.

I think just having a front desk attendant in general, it makes you feel safer when you’re on the solo trip.

They know you, you say hi to them when you walk in.

I wouldn’t go for an Airbnb on a solo trip personally.

4:40

There’s people out there that totally would, but I find them harder to find, especially when you’re in a foreign country and just adds to more stress when you’re alone and vulnerable and you want to enjoy yourself.

And just because you’re on a solo trip doesn’t mean you need to stay solo.

I do recommend booking tours so that you’re not fully alone all the time.

4:59

That was kind of a fear I had about solo trips.

Like I’m going to be by myself.

I don’t know if I’m going to like that for like a week.

You can book full day tours or even multi day tours as I found out when I went to Iceland.

Every single day I did a tour.

I did a Northern Lights viewing tour.

I did a 2 day South Coast tour which included an overnight, which I never even thought to think of like going on Viator or get your guide for an overnight tour of one to two days.

5:27

We’ve done gate one like fully arranged tours and we’ve done little 4 hour half day or full day tours, but never an overnight It like unlocked.

Wow, that’s a possibility.

And then you don’t have to worry about navigation between cities.

So that’s pretty cool.

But the day tours are fantastic.

You’re definitely going to talk to your tour guide, which is cool.

5:44

You’ll get more local insider like history and culture knowledge from the tour.

And then there’s people on the tour.

So sometimes you could meet someone who’s cool or just, you know, have someone to sit at your table and eat with.

One really, really cool thing about solo travel is everything you do is what you want to do.

6:04

When I was in Iceland, I was getting excited as romanticizing my trip and I discovered a restaurant that did a six course tasting dinner with wine pairing and that is such a splurge that I didn’t have to worry about any of my travel partners not wanting to do that.

That’s what I wanted to do.

6:20

So I went there and actually it’s a great experience for a solo traveler because unlike when you order a regular meal, they get your drink, they get your food, maybe they check on you.

No, no, with a tasting, they come over and they talk to you about every pour of wine, everything you ate, everything you’re about to eat, and you have your built in companion right there.

6:42

And a very important area about travel is photos, right?

You want to take beautiful photos of the place you’re at and you enjoying this place and make those memories and keep those memories for the years to remember, right?

I recommend bringing a tripod.

You can bring a mini one that just stands up maybe a foot or so tall if you’re going to be in spaces that you think that would work for.

7:04

It’s a little more discreet if you’re kind of not wanting to have a full on tripod, but there’s a lot of really great tall tripods, like 5-6 foot ones that condense down really, really small for travel.

Make it easy to carry around.

I say just do it.

And I also recommend when you’re solo, you don’t use the remote, don’t use the timer, just put it on video and then go and do your poses or whatever.

7:27

And then you can take the stills of the photo from the video later and you have a lot more options.

This also works if you’re asking someone to take your picture, you can just have them video you real quick and then take the phone back, or you can frame a picture up for them.

We know strangers don’t always produce the best quality pictures and when you’re solo, you don’t want to keep asking random strangers to take your picture.

7:48

So frame it up for them and hopefully that’ll get you something better.

Safety is another issue.

Every solo travel article or podcast is going to talk about safety.

So I don’t know if I have like a ton more to add here.

We all know things that you should do, like share your itinerary with people back home so people know where you are, like there’s documentation of it.

8:10

Share your phone tracking information with friends and family.

You can add yourself to the embassy database of the country you’re going to and you’ll be tracked in that.

That way we’re notified if disasters occur.

I would also recommend touching base with people back home, like let them know what you did that day, what you’re going to do tomorrow.

8:29

It not only keeps people informed of where you are and that you’re safe and having fun, but it kind of softens the loneliness to like if you’re getting a drink at happy hour in a bar that doesn’t really have many people in it, great time to call someone and check in.

You guys know, I love to go out.

8:46

I love the nightlife out in Austin, out in the cities that I visit.

But when I’m solo, I’m not going to be doing that.

I think a happy hour at a Cafe is like cool, as long as it’s not like super busy or crazy.

But I would not stay out at night and I definitely would not go to any kind of like party or late night spot by myself.

9:05

That’s just me personally.

Pack light.

You know, you’re going to be so low, no one’s going to help you carry your stuff.

My last night in Iceland, I had to change hotels because I ended up staying an extra day because my flight had been originally delayed a day getting there.

9:21

Yeah, all of that happened on my solo trip.

And the last day, I went to a place that was right on Rainbow Rd. but it was a code you had to get in.

And then three flights of stairs with, like, codes in between.

And I was carrying my suitcase and a backpack.

They were both full.

And I think I had to put pizza box in my hand too.

9:38

It was just such a pain in the ass that I was like, I have way too much stuff with me right now.

So pack light.

But just do your research ahead of time.

Make sure you have the things that you need because you are the only person that’s going.

It’s just you bring it or no one.

You have to get it when you’re there, which a lot of places do sell most of things you need.

9:56

So if you forget something, it’s usually OK, you can figure it out because my last tip here is you will figure it out all on your own.

You will be on the solo trip and things will go amazing and things will go wrong and you’ll figure out the things that go wrong and you’ll figure out where you want to have breakfast that day or the sites you want to see that day and it will be great.

10:17

The last thing I’ll say is because you take a solo trip doesn’t mean like solo travel has to be your brand.

I think it’s not my brand.

After I’ve gone on a solo trip, you always hear about people that say I love to travel solo.

That’s the only way I travel.

Like I’ve run all these places by myself and they’re like really happy about it and I think that’s cool.

10:37

I think there’s some places that I would go by myself.

Like I have been thinking about wanting to do like an all inclusive in Cabo or something like two or three days like nothing crazy and just be by myself with this all inclusive.

I feel like be so relaxing and fun, but there’s places I would definitely not want to go solo like Oktoberfest in Germany, you know?

10:57

So it’s not my travel style, but I do think solo travel has some perks and hopefully these tips have helped inspire maybe a trip of your own.

Thanks so much for tuning into this week’s Just the Tip.