Solo Travel Doesn’t Have to Mean Alone: A Beginner’s Guide to Going Anyway

You’ve had the tab open for three days. Flights to Lisbon, the city you’ve wanted to visit since forever, dates that actually work, a price that won’t break the bank. All that’s left is to click “1 traveler” and hit confirm. And that’s exactly when the voice shows up: the one that starts listing everything that could go wrong. What if you get lost? What if you’re lonely? What if something happens and there’s no one there?

Here’s the truth: that voice shows up for almost everyone, including the people who now travel solo for a living. The difference isn’t that they got rid of the fear. It’s that they found small, doable ways to build up to it.

If you’ve been sitting on a “someday” trip, this one’s for you.

The Fear Is Normal (And It Fades Fast)

Solo travel anxiety usually clusters around three things: safety, loneliness, and logistics. All three are valid. None of them are dealbreakers.

On loneliness specifically, the data is reassuring. A survey of more than 20,000 solo travelers found that roughly half worry about loneliness before departure, but that concern drops dramatically once they’re actually on the road. Hostelworld’s 2025 State of Solo Travel Report found that over two-thirds of solo travelers (68%) formed meaningful relationships during their trips. Solo doesn’t mean alone. Often, it means more open to connection, simply because you’re not sealed inside a group dynamic.

Shakeemah Smith, known to her 12,000+ students as “The Passport Abuser” (@thepassportabuser on Instagram), has visited nearly 100 countries solo. Before her first trip, to Paris, she sat down and wrote out everything that scared her: her safety, the idea of getting sick alone in a foreign country, not being able to enjoy herself. Then she made a plan anyway, framing the trip as an experiment to see if she’d even like it. Six years later, she’d been to 57 countries. Today it’s nearly 100.

The lesson isn’t “don’t be scared.” It’s: write the fear down, plan around it, and go anyway.

Tip 1: Start Smaller Than You Think

Forget the idea that your first step into solo travel has to be a flight somewhere. The real first step can happen in your own town.

Jeff Jenkins, founder of Chubby Diaries (@chubbydiaries on Instagram) and host of National Geographic’s “Never Say Never,” built his platform around a simple idea: life begins on the other side of your comfort zone. Jeff didn’t board his first flight until later in life, and he’s been candid that travel didn’t come naturally to him. He started small and let curiosity do the rest, eventually pushing himself to try things he never imagined, from scuba diving to hot air ballooning, all in the name of showing other plus-size travelers and people of color that they belong in those spaces too.

For a lot of people, the hardest part isn’t the flight or the hotel. It’s sitting alone at a restaurant and feeling like everyone is watching (they’re not). That’s exactly the kind of moment Jeff is talking about, and it’s one you can practice long before you ever leave home. Is there a movie you’ve wanted to see but could never match schedules with friends? Buy your ticket and your popcorn and go. Want to try that new restaurant everyone’s talking about? Book a table for one.

Every dinner, every movie, every solo coffee run is a small rep. You’re building a muscle. By the time you’re doing it in a city where you don’t speak the language, it won’t feel like the first time anymore, because it won’t be.

Start there. A solo dinner this week. A solo matinee next weekend. Notice how it actually feels (often: pretty freeing) before you ever book a flight.

Tip 2: You Don’t Have to Do Every Activity Alone

Here’s something that surprises a lot of new solo travelers: “solo travel” doesn’t mean you’re alone for the entire trip. Most experienced solo travelers blend independent time with group activities, and that mix is often the best part of the experience.

Day tours, food tours, walking tours, and cooking classes are an easy way to ease in. You travel to the destination on your own terms and your own schedule, but for a few hours, you’re with a small group of other curious people and a local guide who knows the area. As one travel community puts it, you get the thrill of going it alone, but with the chance to share memories with new friends and not have to think about the logistics for that one part of the day.

Matt Kepnes, known to millions of readers as Nomadic Matt (@nomadicmatt on Instagram), has been writing about budget travel for fifteen years, and one of his favorite reframes is about the road itself. When he set off on his first big solo trip, what eased his fear wasn’t bravado, it was realizing he wasn’t blazing a new trail. Millions of people travel solo every year, and there’s a well-worn path of hostels, tour groups, and fellow travelers ready to welcome you into it. You’re not the first person to do this, and you won’t be the last. That alone takes a lot of the weight off.

Tip 3: Build a Communication Plan, Not Just a Packing List

Whichever style of trip you choose, one of the simplest ways to ease both your anxiety and your loved ones’ is to set up a check-in system before you leave. Pick one person to be your point of contact, agree on how often you’ll check in (after landing, once daily, etc.), and let everyone know that no news is good news so nobody panics if you’re busy having a great time. Share your itinerary and accommodation details with someone you trust. It costs nothing and means that if something genuinely goes wrong, someone already knows where to start looking.

And trust your instincts while you’re out there. If a place, a person, or a situation feels off, it’s okay to leave, change plans, or simply walk into the nearest café and reassess. The goal isn’t to be paranoid. It’s to stay present.

And If Solo Travel Just Isn’t for You? That’s Okay Too.

Not everyone wants to travel alone, and that’s a completely valid place to land. If the idea of going solo doesn’t excite you, but there’s somewhere you’ve been dying to go and no one in your circle is available to join, a pre-curated group trip might be exactly what you’re looking for. The planning is done for you, and you show up alongside a small group of people who, like you, just wanted to get there.

Read our article, “The Inspired Traveler’s Guide to Letting Someone Else Plan That Trip,” for a full breakdown of how to choose the right one.

There’s no wrong way to see the world.

You Don’t Need to Feel Ready

The fear doesn’t fully go away before the trip. It goes away during it. You don’t need permission, a travel partner, or perfect confidence. You need a plan for staying connected, and a willingness to feel a little nervous on your way to the airport, the train station, or even just the restaurant down the street.

Where will your first step take you? We’d love to hear about it. Reply to this newsletter and tell us your dream destination, we might just feature it in a future issue.

A note on safety: travel insurance is worth the investment for any trip, solo or otherwise. According to a 2025 survey, roughly 1 in 5 travelers report losing money due to not having a policy in place, and most plans require purchase within 14 to 21 days of your first trip deposit to unlock pre-existing condition waivers and Cancel For Any Reason coverage.