Solo Travel is the best way to explore the world. You can immediately plan your itinerary around what you want to do, not what Aunt Shelley has planned for the entire trip. But there are travel tips and tricks that make solo traveling easier. However, some of these opinions are unpopular among the larger solo traveler population. Here are some of the most unpopular solo travel opinions from an online travel community.

1. You Don’t Need to Make a Big Deal of Every Activity

A stereotype about traveling is it’s only fun when you branch out and do the most exquisite activities—for example, eating escargot in France, ziplining in Costa Rica, and hiking the Adirondacks. While all of those activities have their place and present unparalleled adventure, you can participate in everyday activities on vacation and have fun while you’re at it.

Get a haircut, go to a gas station, see a movie on vacation, and experience the same things you do daily in a different location.

“I love grocery shopping in different countries. I’d much rather go to a grocery store and grab some local products to cook than eat out,” a respondent shares.

2. You Don’t Have to Travel on a Budget

Of course, this depends on the person traveling. Still, many traveling articles focus on the most cost-effective ways to travel. A few people in this thread comment that they recently embarked on trips without regard to Money and had a blast. They stayed in high-end resorts and ate at luxurious restaurants years after traveling through Europe as a college student with little cash.

3. It Can Be Unhealthy

“My unpopular opinion is it can be unhealthy if you do it long term. Too much instability and not enough social network with people you can emotionally rely on and trust, socialize with,” someone shares.

4. You Don’t Have to Make Friends

While traveling is a fantastic place to meet new people and make new friends, you don’t need to meet new people to have a great trip. If you enjoy jet-setting by yourself, soak in your surroundings and sign up for tours and activities you can’t do with others. I signed up for a solo zipline trip in Iceland and had a fabulous time with my own company. Plus, tour guides tend to talk to solo travelers more than groups.

5. Your Problems Won’t Disappear

Another stereotype surrounding solo travel is the idea that hopping on a plane and going to a different country eradicates the problems you face at home. This is not true. Travel provides a great method for seeing new places, but you can’t run away from your life. It will catch up to you.

6. Go in With Low Expectations

The worst thing you can do is overestimate how great a trip will be. You will disappoint yourself the majority of the time. You can carry a little bit of hope and excitement, of course, but when you head into every trip believing it will be a life-changing experience, you don’t allow the trip time to shine. Let the moments speak for themselves.

7. Take a Day Off

Here’s an important tip so many ignore. It is okay to rest and relax while traveling. You don’t need to spend 20-hour days wandering through your desired destination. Sleep for a whole day, get a massage, chill by the pool, and take enough time to let your body rest and acclimate to the new time zone or environment.

8. Eat McDonald’s

Don’t feel ashamed to eat at fast food staples during an abroad trip. Even if you don’t travel out of your home country, eating comfort food is great. In various locations,  Burger King, McDonald’s, Starbucks, and several other fast food favorites have different themes on the menu. Check them out. It may help with culture shock, too.

9. Make Your Own Itinerary

The reason you chose a solo trip is so you can participate in all the activities you want to do. Say you’re traveling to London. If you don’t want to stand on a suspended platform hundreds of feet above the Thames, don’t go on the London Eye. The great part of solo travel is you don’t need to conform to or accept anyone else’s plans.

10. Anti-Hostel

“Hostels, for the most part, suck. I value privacy, and having to listen to other people exist while I try to go to sleep blows,” a solo traveler explains. A few other solo expeditions write that they prefer to indulge in fancy hotels for restful shut-eye instead of spending less for low-quality slumber.

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Source: Reddit.

Originally Published on https://thefrugalexpat.com/

Steve Cummings Journalist, Traveler, and Personal Finance Enthusiast

Steve Cummings is a traveler, writer, and personal finance enthusiasts that has taken an adventure to leave his home country to travel and live around the world with his family. Through many years of learning he seeks to help those to save more and travel better. He has been featured in MSN, The Associate Press Wire, and various other content outlets with his writing and publications through his website The Frugal Expat. In the last six years, He has traveled to all seven continents, over 30 different countries, and has lived abroad learning and teaching others about good financial habits and travel hacks.

As an ex-English Teacher, he hopes to provide good tips and education on money and travel to help people think outside the box and achieve the impossible.