So tell me guys, how many vacation trips that you canceled because of this Covid-19 situation? Maybe two? Three? Or even more? Trust me, I hear you. 

Who doesn’t love vacation, right? 

In fact, cited from Nytimes.com, the researchers of Framing Heart Study that published in 1992, looked at questionnaires women in the study had filled out over 20 years about how often they took vacations. Those women who took a vacation once every six year or less were almost eight times more likely to develop coronary heart disease or have a heart attack than those who took at least two vacations a year. Finally a study that validates my lifestyle. 

Anyhow, now we know how beneficial vacation is for our health and well-being, but what kind of vacation or traveling do you usually do? Have you ever tried solo traveling? Not only solo traveling is empowering, but it has so many benefits to our psychological health. There are so many articles online that talk about how beneficial it is for us, but now as someone who loves to do solo traveling, I want to give some simple tips for those of you who are planning or want to embark on solo travel. 

1. Do your homework!

It is important to research about your destination, so that you can plan your trip well. You can start with browsing the Internet about the places you will visit at your destination, then you can create an itinerary, planning what kind of clothes that you will wear, and other important stuff that you will need to be aware of. Thoroughly planning your trip in advance, especially things that you will bring is important, because when traveling solo you want to pack things compact and light especially when you decide to do backpacking. 

2. Scan and save your important documents in email

Bad things can happen anytime, anywhere, including when you’re traveling. The best thing you can do is prevent that from happening. When traveling, carrying a passport everywhere can be very risky, so it is better to just leave it at the hotel or wherever you are staying. But you can scan the documents in advance, before you even head out on your trip, not only your passport but also other identity cards, like  driving license, etc and save it in your email, just in case you need it when roaming around the destination. Because losing your passport when traveling, especially alone will be very stressful and would entirely ruin the whole trip.

3. Separate money and documents in different wallets

If you really have to carry your passport everywhere, you need to separate it in different wallets. Don’t put it in the same wallets as money, so you don’t need to take it out of your bag everytime you need to pay something. You gotta avoid carrying your passport and spending money together whenever you can, because you’ll never know if there are pickpockets observing when you’re taking out cash from your wallet. 

4. Leave your expensive jewellery at home

Leave your branded watches, your diamond ring, any expensive jewellery at home. We don’t need that when traveling, especially solo. Period. 

5. Don’t tell strangers you’re traveling alone

When someone is getting friendly and saying, “Do you know anyone here?” answer with a “Yes”, always. Or you can even elaborate it more like, “Yes, in fact I’m staying in my cousin’s house”, for example. This is important, especially if you’re a woman traveling solo. We never know someone’s intentions, so it’s better safe than sorry. 

Those are simple tips that you can do if you want to start traveling solo. Cited from a blog called Gotravelandtalk.com, psychological research has proven that extended periods of travel had a substantial effect on personality. Generally speaking, people who travel alone are far more open, more conscientious, more outgoing and more emotionally stable. 

Let’s hope that Covid-19 situation is getting better and better so we can start traveling again! If you have any other solo traveling tips or experiences, please put in the comments box below!

Photo by Suhyeon Choi on Unsplash