A Backpackers Guide to solo travel
Traveling to different parts of the world is probably on every avid traveler’s bucket list. However, the only thing stopping us from picking our backpacks and taking the next flight to an unknown part of the world is our daily commitments.
Once you get over these commitments and decide to explore the world, traveling on your own becomes easy. The next thing you have to decide is your daily budget, interest, and travel music.
Traveling without an iPod or smartphone full of your favorite music is instead a dull affair. Either traveling on a flight or tram or merely walking, music is the sole companion of backpackers.
Before starting with the list of travel music, let’s get over the ten most essential things that every backpacker should consider.
6 Best Tips for Solo Backpacking
The internet is filled with loads of backpacking tips with stories about both successful and horrible traveling experiences. The best you can do to prepare is research about the places you want to visit and prepare a budget and accommodation options before heading to the popular destination.
Here are six handy tips to make your solo backpacking a success.
Prepare a Budget
If you aren’t a luxury traveler, you must plan your budget. Backpackers often make mistakes of not accounting fringe costs into account while traveling their next trip, which often lands them running low on cash.
You need to know what you can spend to determine where you will go and what you will do. Calculating the expenses using a budget excel sheet can help you assess if you’re going under or over budget!
It’s best to keep a small amount of cash aside so you can pay for any unexpected cost.
Download the Travel Budget sheet by SoloTraveler.
Check this info graphics for more information
Find a list of hostels.
Staying in hostels or sharing rooms is the only option for budget travelers to save money on accommodation and meals (including street food). Most backpackers consider getting a membership of the hosteling community before traveling to save time on finding good hostel options. For others, making a list of hostels from Google and reading reviews can be helpful.
If you’re worried about sharing a room with many people who won’t let you sleep at night, you can find cozy private rooms in most hostels. All you need to do is the ‘Research.’
Things to Remember
· Female travelers looking for a female-only stay can also find hostels meant for girls or female-only dorm rooms.
· Inquire about the lockers to keep your stuff, so you need not have to worry about someone stealing your stuff.
· You can enjoy the shared kitchen, lounge area, a pool, and game room with other backpackers.
· If you have a Hosteling International membership card from any of their national associations, you will get the membership price at all HI Hostels worldwide (up to $5 per night).
You can use endless accommodation booking platforms for your hostel search, including; Booking.com, Agoda.com, Hotels.com, Hostelworld.com, HomeAway.com, Airbnb.com, Hostelling International.com, mrb&b.com.
Buy Travel Insurance
Many travelers wonder why they would need to spend on travel insurance when backpacking. We can’t stress this enough, but travel insurance can save your life in many different instances. It offers coverage if anything goes wrong.
Whether it’s a hospital visit, getting your phone stolen, or missing a flight, you can always rely on insurance.
World Nomads is one of the most reliable travel insurers globally, and the best thing about it is that it covers insurance in almost every country in the world.
Keep your plans open.
Always prepare for a minor iteration while traveling. Make your schedule! Even if you love to plan, leave room in your itinerary for the unexpected.
Keeping a flexible schedule will allow you to plan for options immediately when an unexpected occurrence.
Except booking flights and hostels in advance, you should leave other plans for iteration, including visiting a tourist destination, planning an adventure activity such as rafting and cycling, partying in a specific club.
Besides booking reservations for things that will sell out or increase in price, avoid putting deposits down on anything.
Plan your Itinerary
Backpackers generally book two-way flights beforehand and plan to travel extensively within the stipulated time. Your itinerary will be affected by how long you want to travel.
If you plan your itinerary well, you can spend a significant amount of time in any particular travel destination without compromising on your stay.
As for what you want to do when you get where you’re going, make sure that you book the trendy activities you want to do in advance. This will help you make the best of the limited time you have in hand.
Find cheap flight tickets.
When you’re backpacking, finding cheap flight tickets can help save you a lot of costs. Most backpackers rely on finding cheap flight tickets to use the extra money to finance other plans.
You can rely on cheap flight searching apps like Skyscanner.com and Scott’s Cheap Flights to find cheap flight tickets from different airlines. They will show you the cheapest flights around the world for your dates.
Consider buying a membership with Scott’s Cheap Flight to get cheap flight deals straight to your inbox. This will save you a lot of time trying to find cheap flights.
Things to Remember
· A loaded backpacking pack should not weigh more than about 20 percent of your body weight. (If you weigh 150 pounds, your pack should not exceed 30 pounds for backpacking. This helps to move around in unknown places quickly.
· Make sure your passport doesn’t expire for at least six months. Many backpackers have complained that they were turned away at the airport for not having at least six months on their passport!
· Have proof of return ticket if the country you’re flying to requires proof of onward travel.
· Check if the country you’re traveling to requires you to have a visa
· Bring some cash (you never know if your ATM card is going to be denied). Carry primary currency such as; US Dollar, Australian Dollar, Euro, and British Pound.
Top 10 Travel Songs for Every Backpacking
Travel is incomplete without music. Travel and music go hand in hand; hence here is the list of ten best songs compiled by Hostelgeeks.com for your next solo backpacking trip.
1. The House of the Rising Sun — The Animals
2. The Passenger — Iggy Popp
3. This is the Life — Amy Macdonald
4. The Travel Song — Pilate
5. Guaranteed (Into the Wild) — Eddie Vedder
6. World Spins Madly On — The Weepies
7. Let’s See How Far We’ve Come — Matchbox Twenty
8. Summer Cat — Billie the Vision & the Dancers
9. Trip the Light — Garry Schyman
10. A Pocket Full of Shells — Mat McHugh
Rick Perdian — Travel and Music is the best music travel consultant that offers tested and proven ideas on backpacking to different parts of the world.
