How to Solo Travel Safely

As a visible minority solo woman traveler, 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 likely target for tourist scams and traps.

But over the years, I've grown confident with solo-traveling by setting safety boundaries by doing research about my destination countries and preparing myself for what to do if I find myself in bad situations.

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

Before Traveling:

1. Download offline maps

Whenever I visit a new city, I would download an offline map in case I don’t have data on the first day, or my phone signal turns out 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. Save local emergency number

This is one of the first things I do whenever I move to a new country: save the local emergency numbers on my phone and star these contacts to the top of my contact list.

4. Share itinerary with your loved ones

Let a family member or a trusted friend know about your travel itinerary, and where you’ll stay at. If you don’t want to bother them with minor updates, create a shared doc in the cloud, so they can access whenever they need to.

5. Get a local or global sim card

Roaming packages are outrageously expensive, I still can’t believe how telecom companies claim these roaming deals as cost saving. 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 While Traveling:

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, or I would choose a room in a multi-occupancy apartment or house.

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 established rideshare apps, public transportation, and AUTHRORIZED 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. Protect against the worst with a travel insurance

Before jumping into purchasing 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.

Practical Tips of How to Choose 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.

If you will travel longer than a typical vacation would last, a travel insurance would be essential. I’ve written a detailed review and comparison of the best travel insurances for longer-term travelers:

Compare Travel Insurances for Digital Nomads and Long-term Travelers

Personally, I’ve been using SafetyWing since day 1 of becoming a digital nomad due to a number of reasons:

1. It’s one of the most affordable options in the market.

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. Something 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!