10 Powerful Lessons I Learnt from Travelling By Myself

Here are some lessons I hope will also help you!

2022 has been a big year for me so far. One of these big accomplishments include travelling by myself for the first time. I did my first solo interstate trip (to Melbourne, Australia) and my first international solo trip (to New Zealand!).

This blog post is going to go through the lessons I learnt from my solo travel trips. I’ve also included some of my personal travel tips that I wanted to share as well! You will learn lessons that you can also apply to your everyday life as well.

This blog post is for anyone who wants to hear some life lessons right now. Whether you are thinking about doing some solo travel, or whether you just want to hear some life lessons, this blog post is for you!

I definitely reccommend you check out some of my past travel blog posts (these are the first blog posts I’ve written!), but also have a read of my birthday lessons from my 20th and 21st birthday!

If you have a travel lesson experience as well, I would love to know! You can leave a comment which I will only see so you can be as open as you like.

Now let’s dive in!

My First Solo Interstate Trip

I’ve been to Melbourne many times (I’ve even lived there for a bit too!). But I was extra excited about this trip because this was the first where I got to travel by myself.

To be honest, I wasn’t too nervous about going to Melbourne by myself. It was a familiar city, I’ve been there before, and I was just going there again. The only difference was that I’ll be going by myself.

I stayed a few days, got to re-familiarize myself with the city again, and just embraced those moments that I was on my own. Yes, there was a slight food poisoning incident (at least I think so), but overall I had a lot of fun.

The only part I was really nervous about was getting through the pre-flight stuff. Otherwise, the rest of it, I had a blast.

My First Overseas Trip

Here’s where I took a big step. My first international trip by myself.

New Zealand was the perfect country to do my first solo travel trip. Even though I’ve never been there before, I felt comfortable going there to travel for the first time.

While I was feeling really nervous about doing well at this “solo travel” thing, it turned out to be one of the best lifechanging experiences I’ve ever had.

I got to embrace every single moment. From when I was at the airport, on the plane, even when I was at customs and immigration! It was exciting because it was my first time going through the immigration line by myself without my mom, dad, or even my sister speaking for me.

I did have a few experiences that I was nervous about. I hardly took Ubers and Taxis by myself, so getting one from the airport to my hotel made me feel nervous. But once I got into an Uber, and I got out of the airport, I got to see the beautiful city of Wellington. So many hills, water views, and just a gorgeous city in general.

Then once I got to my hotel, and checked in, (then freshened up because I still smelt like travel), the trip truly began.

I won’t go into every detail yet on what I did on my New Zealand trip. But to summarize it briefly, I did all the tourist things I wanted to do, I went to all the places I wanted to go to, and took all the photos I wanted to take. The trip was definitely worth it.

While it did come with lessons, they were life changing lessons.

So I’ll be outlining 10 powerful lessons in total that I learned from solo travel. 5 from my Melbourne trip and 5 from my New Zealand trip.

Let’s dive in.

Lessons from my first Interstate Trip (Melbourne)

1 – Being Smart with Budgeting

I think one of the most powerful lessons I learnt from both my first interstate and overseas trip was being smart with my budgeting.

It all started with finding a good deal on my flights. There were a lot of factors that went into finding a flight. There was the airline, the time of the flight, and most importantly the price of the flight. And honestly, finding cheap flights are easier than the other things you had to book (like accommodation).

But the budgeting isn’t just limited to flights and accommodation. I learnt early on in my Melbourne trip was that budgeting for when I was there was just as important too!

There were the expenses you had to set aside for food, souvenirs, gifts, and the other things you will buy. As well as the tourist things you do.

But the reason why this became a life lesson too is because it reminded me of this simple money rule: if you don’t want to go broke, watch where your money is going. Yes this is a lesson I could’ve learned somewhere else, but it was really emphasized to me while I was travelling.

2 – Asking for Help is Essential

When I got dropped of at the airport for my Melbourne trip, I had no clue what I was doing. I didn’t know how to print my boarding passes and drop of my luggage (thank you self-service… kind of).

But I was afraid of asking an employee for help because I was afraid that I was going to look silly and didn’t know what I was doing.

I had to use the 5 second rule (where you literally countdown from 5 for you to do something) and just asked an employee. They were more than willing to help. It made me realize that there’s literally nothing wrong with asking for help.

The worst that could happen is that they will say no, or they will direct you to someone else who could be more of help. This became a life lesson for me because it helped me remember to not feel ashamed when I’m asking for help.

While this is yet another lesson that I could’ve learned from somewhere else, learning it from travelling hit differently. In travelling, if you don’t ask for help and you end up doing the wrong thing, it could get you in trouble! So, asking for help is literally essential.

3 – Don’t be afraid to be spontaneous

I’ve always been a spontaneous and adventurous kind of person.

While I love having a set schedule, I also love having a clear schedule.

In my second day in Melbourne, it was a lunch break from an all-day entrepreneurship conference I was attending. I was already set on eating lunch at the outlets because it was what I was already familiar with.

But while I was walking there, I saw the food markets that looked really cool. The plus side was that it was across from the water views. I decided to be spontaneous and just eat my lunch there.

This was just a slight example on how it’s okay to be spontaneous when on your trips. While you can read many articles on the must see places to check out in a city, there may be places you’ll come across that you haven’t read about! It’s okay to stop and check it out if you want to.

That’s why it’s also okay if you don’t 100% stick with your original itinerary (I’ll talk a bit more about it on my New Zealand travel lessons). Travel isn’t about sticking with a plan 100% of the time. It’s also about exploring new places that you haven’t seen before, and allowing yourself to be spontaneous when you want to be.

And it’s the same for life as well. Sometimes, things don’t 100% go to plan, and that’s where you have to have fun with it and be spontaneous.

4 – If you don’t ask, the answer will always be no

Okay, I’m going to use a very silly example for this.

When I went to Melbourne, I forgot to bring my tripod. So, when I wanted to take pictures of myself, I had to take my own selfies. But if I wanted a full body shot pic, I had to ask someone else.

I really loved a waterview I saw while in the city in Melbourne. I wanted to take a photo in front of it. But I was so terrified of asking a complete stranger to take my photo. I assumed that they will find me weird and will say no. But…

How do I truly know that?

When I finally asked someone else, they happily agreed to take my photo. And the photos were really nice!

That’s where I learned that if I never asked anybody, the answer was going to be no anyway.

You never really know the answer, until you actually ask.

That’s a lesson I carry with me for life now… with anything! The answer will always be no if you never ask.

5 – These solo moments are very precious

Two years prior, travelling by myself sounded so scary. I always thought that if I were going to travel without my parents, I’d at least bring my sister or one of my friends.

But, because of the self-growth I have done over the last couple of years, I’ve gotten used to enjoying my own company. Because of that, doing things by myself was more fun, and I learned to embrace the moments I was by myself.

Travelling to Melbourne by myself for the first time, I really embraced the solo moments. The times when I was scrolling around on my own, to when I was at the airport. I embraced all those moments. I remembered that these moments aren’t going to last forever so I have to make the most of it.

And the reason why travelling to Melbourne solo gave me this lesson was because it gave me those big “wow” moments. I remembered how surreal it felt when I was on the plane by myself. Realizing that I am on my own and I’m independent and it feels good. And the fact that it felt good (and it sounded scary a few years ago) just shows how much I have grown.

Lessons I Learnt from my first International Trip (New Zealand)

1 – How to plan literally everything -> the more organized you are, the less stressed you’ll be

The main difference between my Melbourne trip and my New Zealand trip (aside from the fact that New Zealand is overseas, and Melbourne was interstate) was that I was responsible for all the planning.

When planning for Melbourne, my dad helped me with the planning process. From my flights to my accommodation .

However, when I was in New Zealand, I had to do all the planning myself. Every single thing. My flights, hotel, my itinerary, my transport… everything.

But I’ll be honest though, as stressful as it sounded it the beginning, it was actually a fun process. Planning my itinerary was my favourite because I got to plan out when I was going to do the things that I wanted to do.

Overall, the lesson I took away from this entire process was that the more organized I was, the less stressed I would be.

Now that my trip has been completed, that statement is completely true. Because I had planned everything, and was organized as much as possible, my trip was a fun experience. I didn’t feel stressed at all because I knew exactly where I was going and how I was getting there. It was a trip that I got to unwind and truly enjoy myself because I was organized.

And that’s a big life lesson to me as well. That lesson applies to all other areas of my life. The more organized you are, the less stressed you will be.

2 – Cheap doesn’t always mean it’s good

While getting things cheap has a lot of benefits (you save money!), I’ve learned in my New Zealand travels that cheap doesn’t always mean it’s good.

The best example I could give is my accommodation. The hotel I ended up staying at wasn’t the cheapest place I found. However, it was right in the city which made a lot of the tourist spots walking distance.

Yeah, I could’ve saved more money if I chose the cheaper hotel, but choosing that specific hotel made my trip more efficient.

Continuing on from my previous lesson, the more organized you are, the less stressed you’ll be. Choosing a hotel that was in the city and walking distance from most of the tourist places helped me organize my trip better. It made my trip a lot more efficient which made me less stressed.

While there were places that was easier to take an Uber and all, most of the time, I was able to walk to the spots I wanted to go to.

And this is a lesson that applies to life outside of travelling as well! We have to remember that just because something is super cheap, it doesn’t mean that it’s good. I’m not saying that all cheap things are not actually good. But the lesson here is to just be extra considerate and see if there are other options that are more efficient than the cheaper one.

3 – How to trust myself & be self-reliant

This New Zealand trip was life changing for me because of how I was able to grow myself.

I built a lot of self-trust in this trip, and I’ve learned how to become more self-reliant.

From the planning of my trip to when I was there, I learned how to be self-reliant and trust myself.

When I first arrived in New Zealand, I didn’t have anyone waiting for me to arrive and pick me up to take me to my hotel. I had to go my hotel myself.

Once I got to my hotel, I had to go along with my own itinerary. I wanted to go to the museum, see the waterfront, go and check out the restaurants, and visit all those beautiful nature places. All the places I wanted to go to, I had to trust myself that I’ll get myself to where I needed to be. I had to trust myself to know that I knew where I was going, and that I knew how to be safe.

I also had to be self-reliant on my photography skills since there would be no one else around to take my photos for me. And I’m pretty proud of the photos I took of myself in the beautiful places I went to. I did an amazing hike, visited beautiful nature spots (especially the beaches!), and the incredible nature parks.

4 – Don’t be afraid to leave blank spaces on your itinerary/schedule

One of the big lessons I learnt from my solo New Zealand trip was to not be afraid to leave a few blank spaces on my itinerary.

Each day, while I had most of the activities planned out, I left spaces for when I decide to spontaneously visit a place. For example, on my second day in New Zealand, I completed my whole day’s itinerary earlier than planned. That left me more time to be spontaneous and visit the other spots that weren’t necessarily on the “must visit tourist attractions” articles.

And also, you never know who you will meet as well. You want to leave spaces for when you end up doing something with the people you have met. On top of that, you may find out about other tourist spots that you didn’t know about from the locals (after all, they know their city more than you do, right?).

The reason why this became a big life lesson for me, is because I’ve been applying this lesson to my own life schedule. I now intentionally leave blank spaces on my daily schedule for when there are unexpected events that happen, or if something goes longer than expected.

5 – Following my intuition

Most importantly, the big lesson I learnt from travelling to New Zealand solo is learning how to trust my intuition. I’m happy to say that I am so happy that I always followed my intuition on my trip. Here are a few examples.

On my third day in New Zealand, I was attending an entrepreneurship conference that went on for the entire day. But we did have a dinner break for a couple of hours. I had dinner at this Japanese restaurant, but I wanted to go somewhere else to kill time on that dinner break.

So I searched up nature spots (because nature spots are my top priority for my vacation in New Zealand), and I decided to walk to the nearest one. But halfway through the walk, it didn’t feel right for me to go there anymore. It was sunset but I knew that I would be completely dark by the time I got there. I followed my intuition, went to a pizza place where it was crowded (it was Saturday night after all), and took an Uber back to the conference venue.

Another example was that same night. The conference finished at 10pm, and I was hungry again. Many of the restaurants were still open, but I felt the need to go straight to my hotel and just order Uber Eats instead. Especially since it was very late.

Honestly, I don’t know if anything bad would’ve happened to me if I ended up going to the park or if I ate a late dinner at a restaurant close to midnight. But I feel so much comfortable knowing that I listened to myself. By listening to myself, I also built more self-trust and self-reliance.

My Bonus Personal Solo Travel Tips

I thought I’d share some of my solo travel tips. These are the tips that I would’ve given myself before my New Zealand trip:

1. Don’t post stories in real time – I’ve already known this for years, but it’s still an important reminder anyways. All the stories I’ve posted were never in real time. I only had posted them after I left the location I was at. I definitely did not tag my accommodation until after I have left the country. On top of that, not posting stories in real time made me enjoy and embrace the moment I am in. Because if you’re always posting stories, it’s hard to be living in the moment. I usually like to take my pics, but not post it until I have complete downtime.
2. Make sure that there are people who know where you’re going – I knew this early on that this was important when travelling by myself. It’s a pretty simple thing to do, but something you can easily forget. I used Life360 for my family to track my whereabouts while I was in New Zealand. But still, I let them know what I planned to do each day.
3. Travel tools – The travel tools that were extremely helpful to me while I was travelling solo were:

• A GOOD backpack – one that felt easy for me to carry, and was safe for me to carry.
• Tripod with the Bluetooth – this honestly was the BEST purchase I made for my solo travels. Because I was on my own, I had to take all my own photos. (and let’s face it, I wanted photos other than selfies). This tripod where it came with the Bluetooth remote came in handy. I was able to take the photos I wanted in ALL the angles I wanted.
• Cash – Before I left, I exchanged my cash for New Zealand dollars. I did it before I left because I didn’t want to stress about it when I was there. I rather had gotten it over and done with, rather than frantically searching for an exchange place while I was there.

4. Travel Applications – these were the apps that came in handy on my solo trip:

• Notion – This was where I planned out my entire itinerary that included what I was doing, when I was doing it, and the links to more information on those places. Notion is my best friend for everything, especially with travelling.
• Google Maps – This was of course extremely helpful when I was travelling because it helped me get to places. But it was also helpful when planning my itinerary so I was able to get to places efficiently. As a bonus, you can find reviews to different restaurants & cafes nearby as well.
• Notes app on phone – The notes app on my phone was helpful because it helped me share my itinerary to some of my close friends (this is iPhone by the way). Just another extra protection and safety where people will know where I am.

5. Feel free to read reviews and decide what to do based on them – Whether we want to admit it or not, we decide on things based on the good reviews. When it comes to travelling, that’s absolutely okay! When I chose my accomodation, I read the reviews, and I picked my hotel based on that. When I visited the tourist spots (such as the nature places) and the restaurants I went to, I read the reviews. I didn’t go to the places where most of the reviews said that “it wasn’t worth it”.

The most important reviews I read were the luggage storage places. I had time between my hotel checkout and when I needed to get to the airport. But I needed a place to store my luggage. I read the reviews on all the storage luggage places, and I picked the one based on that.

But this is true for everyone. We choose to purchase courses or buy a product based on the testimonials and reviews. When it comes to travelling, it makes sense to do the same.

Take a SMALL STEP

If you plan on travelling solo (or just travelling in general) anytime soon, I hope you get some value out of these lessons I have learnt! I do also believe that these are great life lessons as well for you to hold on to:

1. Being smart with budgeting
2. Asking for help is essential
3. Don’t be afraid to be spontaneous
4. If you don’t ask, the answer will always be no
5. Embrace all those precious moments
6. The more organized you are, the less stressed you’ll be
7. Cheap doesn’t always mean it’s good
8. Solo travel helps you build more self-trust and be more self-reliant.
9. Don’t be afraid to leave blank spaces on your schedule/itinerary
10. Follow your intuition.

And here’s a summary of my personal solo travel tips based on my solo travel:

1. Don’t post stories in real time
2. Make sure there are people who know where you’re going
3. Amazing travel tools include a good backpack, a tripod with the Bluetooth remote, and cash you got before you left for your trip.
4. Incredible travel applications include Notion (for planning), Google Maps, and the Notes app on your phone
5. Feel free to read the reviews and decide whether to go to that place based on them.

It Honestly Was a Life Changing Experience!

Doing solo travel for the first time this year was absolutely life changing! It’s an experience that I am always going to embrace. The lessons I learnt from those experiences are the reason why I had fallen in love with solo travel.

I’m grateful that a couple of years ago, I discovered the world of personal development and did self-growth work. Because of the self-growth work, I developed a lot of self-confidence and self-love within myself. As a result, I’ve been growing myself through many situations that I never thought I’d do (especially solo travel).

It all happened in small steps! (Which I happen to had wrote a book on! It’s called Small Steps to Progression and you can download it for free here!). Small steps may feel small at the beginner, but the more you do them, the bigger the difference it will make. You can check out some of the free resources I have on this blog in the Free Resources Library which you can access here. There are many resources on here that can help you on top of these blog posts!

In the meantime, I hope you get to think about solo travel. Even if it’s just a small & short trip. It was life changing for me, and I hope you do consider it!

-Lauren 😊

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