Fear of Solo Backpacking
- kiaranemeth
- Jan 15
- 7 min read
Updated: Feb 13
How to overcome your fear to start your first trip
Backpacking? Solo? Like by myself? Feelings of fear are coming up? You want to travel but no one wants to join you? I can totally understand your worries and I have been there before myself. With this blog post I hope that I can take away some of your worries or at least minimise your fear.
After the pandemic many people don´t want to waste time when it comes to travel plans. Therefore the number of solo traveller has risen. Did you know that most backpackers are solo travellers and 80% of them are women*.
Nevertheless the thought of travelling alone is still something that many people are afraid of. And I guess, cause you are reading this article, you are scared of it as well.
Can you identify with some or all of the following thoughts:
If you can relate to one, some or all of these thoughts then welcome to the club! I have had all of them in my head before my first trip as well. And do you know what? That´s totally normal and understandable. Cause travelling can be scary. Going alone is scary. And every solo traveller has been in that stage before. But the difference is that we overcome these thoughts, we challenge ourselves and start into the adventure regardless any negative thought and concern we have.
Safety
Most of them just arise because you don´t have enough information about the situation you are facing. So we can easily tick off the first concern of safety by looking up the place or country you want to visit and it´s criminality rate in the internet. For your future knowledge it can be said that despite these numbers and statistics a country can be travelled if you are aware of some basic rules to ensure your own safety. But to start I highly recommend you a city or country that has a low rate of criminality. When it comes to safety I personally trusted a lot into my instincts and gut feeling. If I felt the slightest bit uncomfortable with any decision then I decided against it. But also the other way around. If it felt good I went for it. I also updated my family about my location on a regular basis. Therefore they knew where to look for me worst case. With my second trip this time I also share my location with at least my parents on my iPhone. If you don´t have an iPhone there are some Apps like "bSafe" or "Life360" that might be even better but I haven´t used either of them before.
Loneliness
When it comes to loneliness and isolation, let me tell you that there is a difference between being alone and feeling lonely. While travelling you will never really be alone. There are so many people travelling that you have to actively try to avoid meeting people and seperate yourself. The only challenge is to step out of your comfort zone and start to talk to people. But this is and will be easier the more you try. Most of the times when you check into a new place people start to ask you where you are coming from, how long you are going to stay and where you are going afterwards. Most of the times I have been invited to join any kind of activity straight away. Even if it is just for a walk to the beach. So as you can see there is no need to feel scared of being alone. Joining free activities from the hostel, sport clubs or social events can help as well. However the feeling of loneliness has nothing to do with the number of people around you. You can feel lonely in a big crowd of people as well. In order to not fell lonely you have to step out of your comfort zone and start talking to some other travellers and maybe even talk about the things you worry about. And you might be suprised but most of the times when I opened up to someone they were sharing similar fears or have had them in the past. Therefore they were able to either help me with some advice or we were just sharing thoughts and emotions which gave both of us the feeling of not being lonely with these kind of worries.
Judgement of others
I don´t want to sound rude but honestly what your friends are thinking about you starting a solo trip is none of your business. You can´t change the way your friends are thinking anyway. In my opinion your real friends will support you in anything you do. That is what I experienced myself. Most of my friends supported my travel plans even when that included me missing out on some activities back home. And the ones who where sceptical in the start loved to look at my travel pictures later on. So no need to worry about that. Just remember that it is YOUR LIFE and YOUR DECISION.
Missing knowledge
And last but not least the thought about not having an idea on how to plan all of that. There will be a first time for everything in life. And you have to start at some point otherwise you are not getting better at it at all. The good or bad thing nowadays is the internet. All the information there can be quite overwhelming and especially finding the right ones. But this is part of the process that will let you grow. Learning by doing. You will be so proud of yourself when you made it. Asking friends, family and people who support you for help can be a good way to go around the feeling of being overwhelmed as well. You can also contact people who have done what you are planning to do before and reach out to them for help. I am happy to help you to get closer to your dream.
As you can see, most of your concerns can be solved and make you ready for your adventure. Because Solo Travelling is worth it and has multiple benefits for you and your life. I´m talking about your Personal Growth in building confidence and independence. You will experience Freedom as you can travel at your own pace, go wherever you want to go and explore your own interests. You will make Connections while meeting new people and cultures and build up your Empowerment by proving yourself that you are more capable than you think.
I remember how I felt when I started organising my first Work & Travel in Australia. I had no confidence at all. I was asking my parents for help and didn´t dare to book anything without asking them multiple times if I have done everything correct. While travelling I gained confidence and realised that I can deal with everthing that comes up and worst case my parents and friends are just one call away for help. I loved being independent and being able to do what ever I want every single day. Nowadays my parents are asking me for some little advice or help when it comes to travel things.
In order to overcome your fear, here are some practical tips that might be helpful to you:
Preparation
How well you prepare your trip will make your travels a lot easier. Make sure to do some research on your destination. The country, the city and especially the place and it´s surrounding area. You should know where you are going and what the cultural norms are. For your first trip I recommend to choose a familiar or safe destination. From there you can level up.
Confidence
Another helpful tip can be to start practicing and building up your confidence before you start. This could be a dinner by yourself, visiting a museum alone or a solo trip to a city close by for a day or a weekend. This helps you to build confidence in travelling solo and how to organise yourself.
Facebook groups have been really helpful for me to connect with other solo travellers and ask questions before I started. You can also get to know people online before you travel and meet up in your chosen destination. Just make sure that it´s a real person and not just an internet scam.
Mindset
In the end I would say that your fear is just your mind trying to hold you back on doing the same things and stick to the well known behaviour. This is how our brain used to be programmed to safe us from dangerous situations back in the day and ensure our survival. And this is a same reason why we are able to remember the negative things more easily than the positive ones. But you could shift your mindset from asking yourself "What if it goes wrong?" to asking yourself the more important question about "What if it goes right? What if it is exactly what I wanted?". Stop focusing on all the bad things that POTENTIALLY can happen and start thinking about the memories and the personal growth you will make. Here are some affirmations that will help:
"I am capable."
"I am strong."
"I have everything I need to travel by myself."
"I take on the challenge."
"I am growing from this experience."
"I am creating new memories."
"I trust myself."
"I can deal with everything that comes up."
More tools and tips:
Make sure you dowload Apps like "Google Maps" or "Maps me" to be able to get around a new place. A language translator to be able to communicate with the people around you. And one of the Apps for safety that was mentioned earlier in this Blog. Join online communities and Facebook groups and make sure you have a TRAVEL INSURANCE that covers you in order something happens. It is highly recommended and I would say mandatory to have one. Cause depending on your destination it can be really helpful to have one that covers medical expanses if needed. I personally haven´t used mine so far but you never know what happens and it gives you some peace in mind to know in case if something happens you are covered.
And for the end of this blog now just imagine how you will feel when you are coming back from your first trip. How proud you will feel about yourself taking on that challenge and creating so many memories.
Thank you for reading this far. If you have any question feel free to ask me and share your fear or travel plans in the comments.
In the end we only regret the chances and trips we didn´t take.
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