How to prepare yourself for solo travel

Planning a solo trip? Find out why traveling alone is becoming more popular, the psychological benefits and how to mentally prepare.

There are many reasons why people travel alone. It could be that they prefer it that way, they don’t have anyone to travel with on this occasion, or want to push themselves outside their comfort zone. Whatever the reason, it seems that solo travel is a rapidly growing trend.

New data from Emerald Cruises reveals that solo travel is set to skyrocket, with Google Trends data showing a staggering 5,000% increase in searches for best places to travel solo and solo travel tours in the past month alone.

To find out why traveling alone is becoming so popular, Emerald Cruises surveyed 500 UK respondents to explore the primary benefits, what factors influence the choice of solo travel experiences, and preferences towards cruises for solo travellers. In this article, Dr. Ravi Gill, a Chartered Psychologist with over 15 years of experience in mental health, also explains the emotional and psychological barriers and benefits of solo travel.

Key benefits of solo travel

As someone who moved overseas at 23 and travelled the world solo aged 28, I appreciate the huge learning journey you go on when exploring new countries and cities alone. So I wan’t surprised when other solo travellers recalled the following key benefits in Emerald Cruise’s survey:

Increased independence and confidence: 48% of solo travellers say traveling alone boosts their confidence and decision-making skills.
Flexibility and freedom: 46% value the ability to explore at their own pace, without compromising or adjusting plans for others.
Personal growth and self-discovery: 32% of solo travellers see it as a way to learn more about themselves.

According to Dr. Gill, here’s why solo travellers experience these psychological benefits:

Gradual exposure and desensitisation: Travellers will become less anxious in similar future situations because they’ve already successfully navigated them.
Self-efficacy and mastery: Successfully managing challenges reinforces the belief that they can handle future setbacks independently.
Cognitive restructuring: Solo travel helps reframe negative thoughts, replacing a fixed mindset with a growth mindset.
Autonomy and control: Making independent decisions reduces feelings of helplessness, which is often a major source of anxiety.

Solo travel forces us to rely on ourselves, leading to greater independence and self-trust. This helps to foster a stronger sense of authenticity and can lead to greater self-acceptance. It is not just about seeing the world; it’s about discovering who you are when no one else is shaping your choices.

How to psychologically prepare yourself for solo travel

It’s natural to be anxious when planning your first solo trip – I know I was! Anxiety about solo travel often stems from five key factors:

Rear of the unknown
Safety concerns
Loneliness
Self-doubt
Social pressure

Many people worry about navigating unfamiliar places, handling logistical challenges, or feeling isolated without a travel buddy. There’s also societal conditioning that suggests travel should be a shared experience, leading some to hesitate before going solo.

How to deal with pre, during and post solo travel jitters

As your departure date approaches, physical restlessness can occur; this can present itself in sleep concerns, increased energy, or even stomach butterflies.

Sometimes the stress of preparing, packing, and organising can lead to physical fatigue, especially if you place a lot of pressure to ‘get everything right’. Perhaps in group travel someone else may have been responsible for flights and accommodation, so navigating it all solo for the first time may be overwhelming.

Personally I found that researching as much as I could about the places I was planning to visit helped take some of the nerves away. And with the internet today, you can even literally see the streets you’ll be walking down in an unfamiliar location, so you can start to visualise yourself there.

During the trip, travellers often experience a surge in confidence as they successfully navigate challenges, but moments of loneliness can still arise. On the other hand, the freedom to explore without compromise often outweighs these concerns, leading to a profound sense of empowerment.

For me (traveling pre-internet), books were my comfort blanket. If I felt lonely I could retreat to my room and lose myself in a book about a familiar place. A book is also a great ‘companion’ if you are conscious about dining alone! One guest house I stayed at in India played re-runs of Friends on the restaurant TV in the evenings, which was comforting when I felt lost and alone in the early days of my trip.

After returning home, the excitement of the trip may give way to sadness or a sense of loss once it’s over, leading to a phenomenon often called ‘post-trip depression’.

It can help to accept that you will feel strange returning home, especially if your trip was a significant one. You may have changed on your solo trip, but you are often returning to people and places that will be pretty much the same as when you left. This can feel jarring, and you might find yourself wanting to keep hold of the feelings of excitement of traveling, and the new ‘you’.

In time though, this will give way to gratitude for the opportunity to have travelled and for the lessons learned along the way. You’ll find that you amalgamate the changes in you from traveling with the old you, and enjoy being back home again.

Travelling solo for the first time can feel uncomfortable

It’s normal to feel anxious doing anything for the first time. When it comes to solo travel, this can come from the realisation that you’re truly alone. Dr Ravi Gill recommends approaching solo travel as exposure therapy – the more it’s experienced, the less scary it becomes.

Exposure therapy works by gradually confronting fears in a controlled way, and solo travel does exactly that. The more you experience unfamiliar environments and situations, the less intimidating they become. Whether it’s overcoming language barriers, navigation issues, dining alone or even interacting with strangers, solo travellers reduce anxiety through repeated exposure, building confidence.

And that is certainly the case for me. I was incredibly nervous on my first solo trip. Today though, you could drop me anywhere in the world alone, and I would feel confident relying on myself.