How to Mentally Prepare for Your First Solo Trip
So you’ve just booked your flight, accommodation, and everything is just starting to feel very very real. You’re likely flooded with so many emotions; excitement, anticipation, curiosity, empowerment, and so on. Amongst all of these great feelings, as a first time solo traveler, I’m guessing you’re also feeling nervous and maybe even a little scared.
First I want to dive into and simply just label what’s going on right now and what I wish someone was there to tell me once all of these feelings emerged within myself; you’re just processing what it’s like to truly get out of your comfort zone. If you’ve never traveled alone or maybe you’ve never even left the country, this processing can feel very overwhelming and might make you question if you’re making the right decision. I want to reassure you that you are, but more so, you need to reassure yourself that you are.
If solo travel or travel is an idea that you keep coming back to, if you’re jealous of others who are traveling, or maybe you’ve always had a deep curiosity about history, culture, etc.; this is your starting point. There are strings of actions, thoughts, and momentum that has brought you to this decision—it’s not silly or misdirected. There is something within this action that’s asking you to grow, telling you that you need to challenge yourself in order to experience something that’s meant for you.
If any of this resonates with you then my friend you are in the right place, because I’ve been right at that point. Here’s how I mentally and emotionally prepared myself for my first solo trip (spoiler alert: it ended up being absolutely incredible) and how you’re going to do it as well.
Stigma Attached to First Time Solo Traveling
With a background in psychology I’ve come to understand the foundation of human behavior, however that doesn’t mean that I wasn’t still very impacted by solo travel stigma and some of the disapproving words and beliefs I came across. Regardless of whether you’re deciding to solo travel for the first time or make another decision that forces you out of your comfort zone, it’s likely that you’ll come across fear and general disapproval from others—in fact I’m sure you already have. These were some of the remarks I’d received when I decided to go on my first solo trip:
– You shouldn’t go there, I keep seeing how crazy people are over there.
-Aren’t you afraid to be alone?
-You’re going to give your mother a heart attack (I get this one a lot lol).
-What if something bad happens back home and you’re all the way over there?
-Everyone’s really worried that you won’t be okay out there by yourself.
-You’re going to miss out on so much while you’re traveling.
-What are you thinking?
-I’m so sorry you have to go by yourself because no one else can go with you.
-You’re cute and small, someone can just grab you off the street.
-Maybe you should start figuring out your life instead of traveling.
-You’re not prepared to solo travel in another country.
-Are you okay? This just seems like a very crazy decision.
Have you heard any of these or variations of these? As a young woman solo traveler, I’ve been bombarded with these remarks about “how sad it must be having to travel alone” or “how much the world wants to take a bite out of me” so to speak.
People will tell you comments like these with so much conviction and they might genuinely feel that they’re coming from a good place, but it is not your responsibility nor your place to take on these notions as your own. The sooner you can recognize that people are always projecting themselves onto you, the sooner you’ll make peace with ideals that don’t serve you which will lead you to find the ones that do.
How I've Personally Benefitted from Solo Travel
Before I give you the three segments that are going to transform and fully mentally prepare you for your upcoming adventure, I wanted to share just a handful of ways that I’ve personally benefitted from solo travel. This is person-to-person, not statistically driven, I’m not here to sell you anything, I just want to share what a little average Joe has received from solo travel.
– A deeper sense of understanding, connection to, and appreciation for the world around me as well as for what I have in my life.
– An catastrophic increase in my self-confidence, self-awareness, and self-trust to navigate whatever it is life throws my way.
– A deeper love for myself, my body and mind, my family, my friends, and so many other relationships I’ve had.
– Created impactful connections to people who have helped me with travel and travel writing. I am so appreciative of every connection I’ve made and for all of the incredible people I’ve met so far, it’s felt very serendipitous.
-Obviously made new friends in different countries/ states.
– A tie to the idea that the more you put yourself out in the world, the more the world comes to meet you. Truly so many good things have followed one decision I made that felt risky but also intuitively felt right.
Step 1: Preparation
Our first segment deals with the “on-paper” components of travel that we can get out of the way first to alleviate some of the nerves and anxiety. If you set aside the space and time to sort through what you actually must have before going on your solo trip, it will either make you feel more assured or it’ll bring up the other facets of your trip that are making you feel off. Either way, you’re making progress little by little!
You’ll want to ensure that you have the logistics of your upcoming trip taken care of. This includes sorting through Travel Insurance, making sure that your cellphone provider covers you in the location you’re visiting or that you have an eSIM. Additionally, you’ll want to check off that you have all of the proper documentation, copies of them, a paper with emergency contacts and any other crucial pieces of paper you’ll need to bring along. For a more thorough essentials packing list, check out my blog for Solo Travel Essentials in 2026.
Following this, darling just do your research on where you’re going. The only way to truly help with some of this uneasiness is to build discernment. Look into the public transportation options, how to get from the airport to your accommodation, exchange rates (it’s always best to exchange money at your bank beforehand for the lowest rate), and just develop a good understanding of the area you’ll be in. I have now become a Type B traveler (which has it’s pros and cons), but I will definitely say it’s a built skill and not easy to dive into head first. On my first solo trip, I tried to “Type B” my way through navigating the city and this only led to more stress and anxiety. Be better than me. Don’t do that to yourself.
This leads right into the importance of downloading helpful apps and knowing how to use them beforehand. Apps such as Google Maps, Google Translate, Omio, Blah Blah Car, or even just looking up the city’s station transit schedules (then use that Safari trick that let’s you change that site’s language to your native language) will help you out tremendously.
I also think it’s a great idea to look into activities you might want to do at least a month or two before going on your trip. Being a Type B person and traveler, it is not really in my nature to super-plan ahead of time because half the fun is figuring out what you’re going to do. However, in many instances you can miss out on experiences because you were late to the reservation window that was booked up a month in advance.
Step 2: Confidence Building
Now that we have the preparation out of the way, we get to work on the fun parts of mentally prepping for a solo trip. I was very introverted for a large part of my life, but with years of exposure I broke out of that shell a bit. What I’m trying to say is that you don’t need to be extremely extroverted or confident to solo travel, I myself was not very much of either before I set off. However I’m a firm believer that the more exposure and comfortability you have with doing activities alone, the better, more adaptive, solo traveler you’ll be.
You can start implementing confidence building exercises in gradual steps. Start by going out for a coffee alone and asking the barista another question, then take yourself out for a lunch, then a dinner, maybe try the movies, then you might even work up to a ski day alone, or a weekend trip, and so on. Whatever outings, food spots, events, or anything you generally enjoy doing, try enjoying them solo. Most of the time you’ll find that you’re striking up a conversation with someone you would’ve never spoken to in the company of a date or in the least, that being alone in public, isn’t as intimidating as you thought it was.
Another method to building confidence is by putting yourself out there (virtually) beforehand. I will typically try to build a mini community or travel friends before I actually leave for a trip. I’ve utilized work exchange platforms that are great for building a mini community such as World Packers and TrustedHousesitters, I’ve quite liked both but the kind of community I’ve built through each are a tad different. If you’re wanting to make friends to go out and explore the country with, then I’d suggest World Packers. However, if you’re wanting an intimate feel and the potential of establishing a good connection with someone or a family after your exchange, you’d benefit from TrustedHousesitters more. Additionally, I’ve used Trip Bff, Bumble Bff, and Facebook Groups to chat and connect with travelers as well, which is a great way to not only meet other travelers but befriend locals and find local events to do.
Step 3: Emotional Awareness
Now that we’ve checked all the other boxes there’s just one more thing we need to cover and that’s understanding yourself and how you’re actually feeling about this upcoming solo adventure. Again, I’d like to reiterate that there is no “one way” to feel as a first timer to anything. Of course it’s exciting, but it can also be extremely uncomfortable thinking of yourself alone in another country and anything else that correlates or maybe doesn’t even correlate to those two.
If you find yourself just like I did — with no family that travels, no one you know solo traveling, and basically no prior understanding of what to anticipate, then it might feel exceptionally scary to push your boundaries and decide to solo travel. Let me tell you, there is no shame in seeing a therapist before making a big life decision (especially if it’s solo traveling). There is no one better equipped to help you understand your fears and insecurities than a licensed professional. Prior to my trip I was regularly seeing a therapist for 4-5 months before departing for travel. She was incredible and helped me navigate many life hurdles along with my own fears around solo traveling.
Whether you do or do not decided to see a therapist, the next step in building emotional and self-awareness is sitting with yourself and asking a few questions. The first is: why do you want to travel? What’s within this experience that keeps calling to you? Remind yourself that this opportunity is happening for you because of the ideas, effort, and time you’ve put into it. You deciding to take a risk and follow this feeling or passion has significance. If there was no reason or nothing more to it, you wouldn’t be doing it. Similarly, I believe humans are fairly simple at our foundation, if something truly is not important to us for whatever reason — we would forget about it. What calls to us is not some random string of unrelated meaningless occurrences, there’s a reason, there’s something more to learn, there’s likely even another version of ourself waiting on the other side.
You know yourself better than anyone else does. It’s important that you envision the life and memories of it that you’d want to have, what would you feel proud about? What are some things that could happen that would make you beam with excitement recalling? What do you truly value? In this process of mentally preparing for a solo trip, take care of yourself in every way that you can. What would you do today and how would you view yourself right now if you knew it was all going to work out?
Celebrate Yourself + The Small Wins
The final piece is to remember to celebrate every win during the process. Make a note of what you felt initially and how that’s changed since being intentional with yourself and what you want. Fear holds a lot of truth, and in most cases, it challenges you to become better. Remember that there is no pride without pushing through insecurity, there is no growth without uncomfortableness, and no authenticity without embarrassment. All of our emotions can evolve and lead us to wonderful places, so rather than white-fist our emotions and view them as defining, use them as a compass, as an opportunity to understand yourself further.
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