How to Solo Travel Safely

As a digital nomad, adventurer, or a frequent traveler, the idea of exploring the world and experiencing new cultures solo can be an incredibly rewarding and empowering experience.

I have traveled close to 40 countries in Latin America, North America, Europe, Africa and Asia. Except when I was in East Asian countries, I was a visible minority for most of my travels, which made myself more likely to stand out as a tourist in foreign countries, and a more visible target for tourist scams and such.

However, I've grown confident with solo-traveling by setting safety boundaries, doing research about my destination countries, and preparing myself for what to do when bad things happen.

In this blog, I’ll share some best practices that I’ve learned over the years to help you solo-travel safely.

Safety Precautions Before the Trip:

1. Prepare for offline navigation

Whenever I visit a new city, I would download an offline map in case the signal is not stable.

If you are going to a place that’s generally considered not safe, map out all the dangerous neighborhoods on your offline map.

Memorize the street address of where you live, we all have those moments when our phone dies.

2. Download an offline translation app

If you don’t speak the local language, try to learn some basic phrases, and download an offline translation pack of the language of your destination country.

3. Sync up with your loved ones

Share your travel itinerary with a family member or trusted friend on a shared doc in the cloud.

4. Save local emergency numbers

In case of emergencies, you want to save all the local emergency numbers on your phone in advance and keep these contacts at the top of your list.

5. Consider investing in a global sim card

For those who often travel to foreign countries, I recommend investing in a global sim card so you can get data coverage instantly when you get to a foreign country. In some countries, registering and setting up a local sim card can take time, while those sim cards sold at the airport are typically bad deals. Airalo is a popular one among digital nomads. However, these global sim cards can be a bit pricey and have various expiry dates, so be sure to choose one that suits your need the best.

Safety Measures on the Trip:

1. Choose safe accommodations

For accommodations, I have pretty much exclusively lived in CoLivings since I became nomadic because I feel super safe living a like-minded community and you can easily make new friends at these CoLivings. For those who are not familiar with the definition of CoLivings, it’s a communal living complex mainly meant for digital nomads, you’ll typically get your private room and share facilities such kitchen and lounge area with others.

CoLiving is a new concept that has gained popularity and rapid development in the past few years, if you are interested in trying it out, CoLiving.com is the best place to find a CoLiving around the world. Use the CoLiving.com discount link to get up to 100 USD off your first booking.

I’m sure most airbnbs are safe, but personally I don’t typically live in an airbnb on a solo trip.

2. Use a crossbody bag

Use a crossbody bag or fanny pack in crowded places. In some places in South America and Southeast Asia, there are incidents where the tourists got their phones and bags grabbed from someone riding a motorcycle.

3. Use reliable transportation

Try to use public transportation, established rideshare apps and authorized taxis. With the rideshare apps, you can also share your trip status with your emergency contact.

4. Bring a copy of your IDs with you

I think it’s a good idea to keep a copy of your passport, emergency contacts, and travel insurance certificate with you.

5. Keep some cash on hand

Keep some cash on hand in case of emergencies. If you are being robbed, give up the cash to get yourself out of trouble.

6. Consider protecting against the worst with travel insurance.

Before jumping directly into purchasring a travel insurance, look up what your government issued health plan covers when you are outside of your home country.

For short-term vacation-type trips, if you have a premium credit card, you can look into the travel insurance section in the credit card policy and see how many days of travel your card will cover you. If the amount of days exceeds the number on the policy, you have the option to extend that policy with the same coverage at a cost which is typically not cheap. Also, pay attention to the conditions and exclusions in the insurance policy, such as pre-existing conditions.

If the coverage and conditions of your credit cards do not meet your needs, find out which travel insurance can be the most suitable one for your trip.

Here are the key factors to consider before purchasing a travel insurance.

1. Coverage: Make sure the policy covers the countries you plan to visit, including any high-risk destinations. Consider the type of activities you will be engaged in, such as adventure sports, and ensure that they are covered.

2. Medical coverage: Ensure that the policy provides adequate medical coverage, including emergency medical expenses, hospitalization, and evacuation if necessary.

3. Duration: Consider how long you will be traveling and ensure that the policy covers the entire duration of your trip.

4. Exclusions: Familiarize yourself with any exclusions or limitations in the policy, such as age restrictions or pre-existing medical conditions.

5. Cost: Compare the costs of different policies to find one that fits your budget.

6. Claims process: Ensure that the insurance company has a clear and simple process for filing claims, and that you understand what documents you will need to provide.

7. Reputation: Check the reputation of the insurance company, including customer reviews and ratings, to ensure that they have a track record of providing reliable and effective coverage.

8. Customer support: Make sure the insurance company has 24/7 customer support, especially in case of an emergency.

Personally, I use SafetyWing as my own travel insurance due to a number of reasons.

1. It’s pretty affordable with decent coverage, currently it’s at 45 USD/month.

2. You’re covered in 185 countries and you don’t even need to let them know about your itinerary in advance.

3. You can purchase a policy even if your trip has already started, and pause/resume coverage as needed.

4. It has a trip interruption reimbursement up to $5,000 USD, doubling the coverage on my travel credit card.

5. It has a “Personal Liability” provision that many credit card travel insurances do not have.

6. It even has a provision for “Lost Passport Replacement” with up to $100 USD reimbursement.

7. It has a provision for “Lost Checked Baggage”

8. Very important for long-term nomads, many travel insurances require you have a valid government healthcare plan to be eligible, while SafetyWing coverage is not dependent on whether you have a valid government healthcare plan or not.

I hope these safety tips are helpful. Happy solo-traveling!

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