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Travelling abroad on your own for the first time can be a daunting task. The first time I did it, I spent the preceding weeks having sleepless nights about arriving at the wrong terminal in the airport and being told I missed my flight (fortunately, this did not happen!).
To help (or even provide some encouragement for you to try), I’ve put together a carefully curated list of essential steps and key considerations to keep in mind as you plan your first journey. This way, you’ll step into the airport full of excitement and anticipation, rather than feeling overwhelmed and weary like I did!
Step one: Planning

Let’s start off from the beginning. Now, I know that this one might be a bit obvious, after all, you can’t really a go on a trip without planning! But the reason I’m dedicating a section to it here is because there’s a difference between planning, and good planning! If you’re like me, you’ve probably spent way too long imagining yourself in a distant country, but until you are able to put together a clear plan, with a well-thought vision, it will never be much more than a fantasy!
So, how do you decide on where you want to go? In my opinion, choosing a place simply because it’s nice and hot is a bit boring! So maybe you should consider visiting a place that truly captures your interest; for instance, if you’re a K-Pop fan, a trip to Seoul to experience the vibrant music scene in person could be the perfect choice. If you’re a sucker for pizza, spaghetti, and risotto (guilty as charged, of course!), then Italy is undoubtedly the place for you!
This point is more relevant to all my fellow girls out there – safety! I cannot overstate the important of thoroughly checking out whether the places you’re gonna visit and stay at are safe and viable for a solo-female traveler. Fortunately, this is much easier now in 2025 than it would have been in the past! Personally, I like to hop onto Google and scope out potential hotels and areas, and reading the user reviews that people kindly leave behind. Other social media websites are also useful in this respect (Reddit is a great one, too!).
And of course, we can’t forget the dreaded B-word! No, not that one – ahem, I mean budgeting! For many of us, money tends to be the biggest hurdle when it comes to embarking on a solo adventure. The good news is, airports aren’t going anywhere – whether it’s one, two, or even three years from now, there’s always time to tuck away a little extra if it means making your trip even more comfortable – If booking a trip in 2025 is going to stretch your budget too thin, there’s no shame in moving it back a year to 2026 (although I would say that all the way back to 2027 is playing things a bit too safe! Did I mention that Travelhouseuk is gonna be the place to go for the cheapest and best flights? *hint hint*
Step two: Prep

Back in the good ol’ days (aka three years ago), I was a bit less rigorous when it came to my preparatory rituals, but those days are long gone! Previously, I would have rushed through choosing the right accommodation and maybe not put enough thought into arranging my flights. Nowadays, I am far more methodical in my approach, and I take my sweet, sweet time with every part of the process. Naturally, this means sorting out the other niggling bits that we need to before we can travel. Be sure to check if you need a visa for your destination. Print your boarding passes ahead of time to save time at the airport, and, for the love of all things sacred, double-check what’s allowed on the plane. No one wants to be stuck behind someone arguing with security over why their bottle of perfume can’t make the journey! The rules are clear, love, and we all need to stick to them!
You’ll also want to make sure you’ve got your health and travel insurance sorted (better safe than sorry!), particularly if you’re the sensible type who doesn’t fancy ending up with a hefty bill at some random hospital in Wyoming after a simple misstep leaves you wheelchair-ridden (oh dear lord, please don’t let this happen to me!).
Back in my parents’ day, they had to actually queue up to have their wads of cash exchanged to their currencies of choice, because whilst a £20 note might look good to me, it’s certainly not going to look good to the Turkish kebab vendor in the middle of the street! Fortunately, it’s so easy to get all of this done digitally using your preferred banking app of choice. For example, my bank allows me to open up an account where I can convert my British Pounds into Euros, all with a tap of the screen! No queuing for me, thank you very much!
Step three: Enjoy yourself!

At this point, you’ve made it past the boring and annoying bits of travel, and time to put all that time doing the prep to good use! Make sure your phone is fully charged so you can make use of your GPS apps, as well as anything else that might make getting around easier (Suica prepaid cards for travelling in Japan spring to mind!). And if you’re one of those people who can be a bit lazy when it comes to learning useful phrases in your target language of choice (*cough* me *cough*), Google Translate will prove prove invaluable! You can even point your phone’s camera at something and get an instant translation right before your eyes! Merci beaucoup to all the software engineers who’ve worked tirelessly to create such handy tools for us!
If you’re feeling bold (and I absolutely encourage it!), why not make a real effort to connect with some new faces in your surroundings? And the best part? If you make a bit of a fool of yourself, chances are they’ll never see you again! If you’re especially keen on meeting people, you might want to consider staying in a hostel while you travel – it’s not only a great way to make new friends, but also much kinder to your wallet compared to a normal hotel. Don’t forget about all the safety related stuff I was yapping on about earlier, so make sure you are going to be staying somewhere where the user reviews will leave you with some much-needed peace of mind!
And… that’s really it! See, it’s not so difficult when you break things down. There’s a big world out there waiting to be seen, so don’t let your nerves get the best of you! Each trip will only make you more confident and more self-assured. So go ahead, pack your bags, and go out and see the world! Safe travels!
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