How to Plan Your First Solo Trip: A Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners
Traveling is fun, but planning one is not always as fun.
This is especially true for those planning a trip for the first time ever, and even more so, if you have a limited budget, which is a lot of us.
Not all who have travel experience have travel planning experience. How many of us have gone on family trips or friends’ trips that are planned by that one person who likes to organize, it is in their blood to do so, or gone on trips planned by a travel agency or a tour package?
This post is for those who are planning a trip for the first time and doing it for a solo trip, meaning the most important opinions in this planning process are yours and yours alone. This is your chance to travel, your way!
Step 1: Deciding Where to Go
If you already have a destination in mind, then that’s great because you can use this must-visit destination as a starting point. However, if you are unsure where to go, then your first goal is to narrow down to 3 potential destinations.
How do you narrow down your potential destinations to only 3?
Do not start with a country as it is too broad, unless it is a small one like Singapore. Do your research. Look through your travel-related saved items in your social media or bookmarks.
Start with 5 cities, write them out or put them in an excel sheet or some kind of table.
Then list at least 5 must-see/must-do/must-eat, etc. items for each of these 5 cities.
If you cannot list at least 5 items under any of these cities, feel free to remove them from the list.
Choose the top 3 cities whose list items excite you or inspire you the most.
Again, if you do not have 3 destinations, having 2 is totally ok. The idea here is to have flexibility, a.k.a a backup plan, if one of them does not work out during your planning.
Tip: Check if you need a visa to go to any of these destinations. Then check what the visa process is and how long it will take to get one before you proceed.
Step 2: Decide When to Go, and for How Long.
For those who have no restriction on travel dates at all, (Lucky you!), you should check if any of your must-see and must-do items are date or season-specific, e.g., Sakura Blossoms viewing in Japan.
For those who have somewhat flexible dates, you can give yourself a wider range of dates, and use other factors, such as flight and accommodation budgets, to decide on these dates. If you are on a tight budget, remember to look up non-peak season dates for these 3 destinations.
For the rest of us who don’t have a flexible schedule, your length of travel is probably also restricted, e.g. limited number of vacation days. In this case, start with your ideal dates.
Step 3: Check Flight Schedules and Prices.
For this step, I will be assuming that you would need to fly to get to your destination.
Use your travel dates from Step 2 to look up flights to your top 3 destinations. Take note of the schedules and the prices for each one.
Tip: As a solo traveler, you should always try to arrive in the morning and not at night, as transport from the airport to the town area might not be readily available at night. Also, if there are any delays to your flight, your first night’s accommodation might go to waste. In general, it is always nice to arrive in a new or unfamiliar place when the sun is up. It is also safer. Remember that you will be traveling solo.
You can narrow down your travel dates and destination based on the available flight schedules. At the end of this step, you should have these items decided: destination, travel dates and flight options.
However, do not make any flight purchase until you have completed Step 4: Accommodation reasearch.
Step 4: Check Accommodation Options and Prices.
Use your travel dates and destination from Step 3 to search for accommodations. Start by checking the safest neighborhoods. Then narrow down by budget or accommodation type—solo travelers have a wide range of options, from hotels and hostels to Airbnbs and even couchsurfing.
Another way to choose where to stay is to map your must-see spots and check if any are clustered in the same area. If a neighborhood is both safe and accessible (close to public transport or main roads), start your search there and expand if needed.
Pick your top 3 preferred places, save the details, and bookmark the links.
Once you're confident that accommodations within your budget are available for your travel dates, go ahead and book your flight. After booking your flight, secure your top accommodation choice—booking early is key, especially in popular cities like Tokyo and Kyoto.
Important: If a visa is required, wait until it's fully approved before making any bookings.
On a tight budget? Don’t buy flights until you’re sure affordable accommodation is available for your dates.
Step 5 (optional): Adding flexibility to your accommodation choices
If you tend to change your mind often (which is totally ok and normal for some of us), or if you are unsure about your final accommodation choices, then look for booking options that allow free cancellation up to later dates. These are usually a bit more expensive, but worth it. It is still cheaper than forfeiting the entire amount.
If you book accommodation with free cancellation, take note of the last date of free cancellation and put these dates on your calendar as a reminder.
Once your accommodations are booked, you can start planning your itinerary.
I usually take a breather after booking flights and accommodations, just because these processes can be exhausting.
Step 6: Must-have Items
Before going into the day-to-day details, there are other essentials you should look into and budget for:
Travel insurance – You just never know with health and accidents, so it is best to be safe.
eSims for roaming purposes or local SIM cards – Mobile connectivity in an unfamiliar place is important for your safety.
A visa or any visitors permit for the destination.
Cash and ability to withdraw cash at the destination – you can rely on money changer if you prefer, but ATMS are a more convenient way to get cash, especially if it is urgent. Look into options for ATM or credit cards that allow international cash withdrawal.
Digital wallet or digital banking app – You want to keep your cash for emergency or cash-only purchases, while not having to carry too much around for safety reasons. One solution is to make cashless payments as much as possible via digital apps, such as Apple Pay, and Alipay. Alternatively, look into digital banking platforms that also provide international credit/debit cards: Wise, Revolut, and Youtrip.
Step 7: Plan your Day-to-Day Itineraries
Once you get the above steps covered, it is time for the fun stuff!! The day-to-day Itinerary.
I will cover this in a separate post soon!!
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