Solo Travel for the Nervous First Timer
Booking a trip on your own for the first time comes with a strange mix of excitement and dread that nobody quite warns you about. You’ll picture yourself confidently ordering dinner for one, then immediately worry about being stared at, or getting lost, or simply not knowing what to do with your evenings. Most of that worry evaporates within the first day or two, but it helps to go in with a few things sorted so the nerves don’t take over before you’ve even left the house.
Choose somewhere that’s easy to move around in
Your first solo trip isn’t the moment to test yourself against a place with a confusing transport system and no English signage. Pick somewhere with decent public transport, clear infrastructure for visitors, and a reputation for being safe to wander around after dark. You can build up to the more chaotic, thrilling destinations once you’ve got a couple of solo trips under your belt.
It also helps to pick a destination with a reasonably compact centre, so you’re not relying on long unfamiliar journeys to get anywhere interesting. Feeling capable of finding your own way back to where you’re staying makes a huge difference to how relaxed the whole trip feels, especially on that first evening.
Eating alone gets easier fast
The thing everyone dreads is that first solo dinner in a restaurant. Bring a book or simply don’t, because most places are far less interested in you than you imagine. Lunch is often a gentler way to ease into it, since restaurants feel less loaded with romance and ceremony in the middle of the day. By the third or fourth meal alone, you’ll barely think about it.
Sitting at the bar rather than a table can also make a solo meal feel more natural, since you’re often closer to the staff and sometimes to other solo diners too. It’s a small adjustment, but it takes away that slightly exposed feeling of being the only table for one in a room full of couples and groups.
Say yes to small conversations
Solo travel doesn’t have to mean solitary travel. Hostels, walking tours, cooking classes and even long train journeys throw you next to other people constantly, and a short chat can turn into a shared afternoon or an evening you’ll actually remember. You’re never obliged to keep talking if you’d rather not, but staying open to it tends to be where the best stories come from.
Most people who travel alone regularly say the same thing after their first trip: the version of the holiday they were dreading barely happened. What they got instead was a kind of independence that’s hard to replicate when you’re travelling with someone else, and a much stronger sense of what they actually enjoy doing with their own time.
If you enjoyed this, our guide to Things to Do in York is well worth a read too.
Planning a wider trip? Our guide to Things to Do in Prague covers another great option.
