How To Stay Safe When Travelling Alone

Regardless of age or gender, travelling alone can often be a daunting experience, even in some of the world’s most popular tourist destinations. Whether you’re planning a solo jaunt in Europe, the States or even further afield (South American travel, for example, is becoming increasingly popular), there are several steps you should be taking to ensure you travel safely and have a positive travel experience.

Language

In certain regions, many locals won’t necessarily speak English. We often take for granted just how common our language is, but in more remote countries, you might find yourself in situations where you’ll need to know at least a few words of the local language to communicate with the people around you.

Therefore, getting familiar with the local culture can be useful before travelling. For instance, the Guatemala culture and etiquette guide explains that English or Spanish are not always spoken in Guatemala. Indeed, the country counts no less than 31 different Mayan languages. When learning a few words in each of the many local dialects is not an option, it can be helpful to carry a small notebook with you to draw. Alternatively, if you have an Internet connection, your smartphone could help via Google Translate, Image search, and videos to get the message across.

Vigilance

This should go without saying, but it’s always a good idea when travelling to keep a keen eye on your belongings at all times. Keep a rain cover on your backpack to dissuade pickpockets and never leave your luggage unattained.

Transfers 

Wherever possible, always book an airport transfer from the airport to your hotel or hostel. Local taxi drivers parked outside the airport might try to rip you off or even worse. It’s gen-erally quite affordable to book a transfer too. Barcelona airport transfers, for example, are often even cheaper than taking a generic taxi cab.

Withdrawal

You will inevitably need to use an ATM at some point, but make sure you only use machines located inside banks. card skimming (machines being hacked to copy your card data) is a popular fraud tactic in many foreign countries but the machines located in-chain are generally safe.

Friends

As a rule, you should always be wary of people who are a little too eager to be your friend as they might have an ulterior motive. Still, it’s best to never travel alone at night, particu-larly in an unfamiliar city, so it’s important to use your intuition to know who to trust and who to avoid.

Contact 

Keep in regular contact with your loved ones at home and let them know where you are and where you’re going to be on your solo travels. You should also make yourself known to hotel and hostel staff so that they are aware of your presence, should anything happen.

Carrying

Only carry on you for the day what you think you’re going to need. Most hostels and hotels will have safes or valuable lockers where you can store your important documents. The last thing you want to be doing, for example, is taking your passport to the beach for the day!

Generally speaking, safe solo travel is all about using your common sense and respecting that other countries will have different customs and different ways of viewing the world. So keep a clear head, don’t become careless and (most importantly of all) have fun!

*Disclaimer – this is a collaborative post and the photo is from Pexels*