Solo Travel Safety Tips -

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Today we’re talking solo travel safety tips. Traveling alone, especially as a woman, has its own set of challenges that you need to be mindful of. As someone who has traveled solo for more than a decade, I’m sharing some of the things I do to keep myself safe while on the road.

Stay Out of Sight

Let’s start with luggage tags! It absolutely stresses me out when I see people with luggage tags that put their personal information right out there for anyone to see! Having your name, your address, and your phone number on display makes you an easy target for someone to pretend they know you as you’re far more likely to think you know (and trust) someone who greets you by name and says “Don’t I know you from the gym in your town?” And having your address out there could have a random stranger showing up at your door. Is it likely? Probably not. But crazier things have happened, so why take the chance? I always use luggage tags that cover the bulk of my personal information and as a solo female traveler, I put my first name and last initial only rather than my full name. I also only include my city, state, and country, not my full address, and my phone number on the tag. If I got separated from my bag and it wasn’t being delivered by the airline, I would arrange to meet in a public location and not my home or hotel.

Leave a Trail

Before you leave home, leave a copy of your itinerary including flights and hotels with a trusted family member or friend, and set up intervals in which they should expect to hear from you. Let them know if there are big stretches of time where they might not hear from you (for example if you’re going to be someplace that doesn’t have great cell service or offer WiFi). Because I typically have a pet sitter at home, I tend to check in daily but you can set up intervals that are comfortable for you and your boundaries.

Pick a safe place to stay

I love a good budget accommodation as much as anyone, but be sure to truly do your homework before booking and make sure that it’s a safe place located in a safe part of town. Read reviews online from past travelers (sort them by most recent for current conditions) and look for potential red flags that would make you feel unsafe. It’s always helpful to look at guest photos if any have been posted online because those tend to be more raw and unfiltered than those posted by the hotel itself.

The Safer Travel Packing List

Careful Check-in

When you’re checking in, make sure that the staff member at the desk doesn’t say your room number out loud. Proper safety procedure is for them to write it down and show it to you so that no one overhears it. If they say the number out loud, ask them for a new room and to write it down rather than say it out loud.

Be Friendly, but not too friendly

Part of the fun of traveling is meeting the locals and making new friends and I would never discourage anyone from doing that. In fact, quite the opposite! It’s one of the things I love most about travel. I would however say to exercising a modicum of caution when doing so is one of my biggest solo travel safety tips.

When chatting with people while traveling, I follow two rules of thumb. First, I never say that I’m traveling alone. Whether I outright say or simply imply it, I’m always “traveling with a friend”. If someone is looking to scam you, you’re a less appealing target if they know someone is expecting to see you back at the hotel shortly.

My second rule of thumb is to never say what my upcoming plans are. The last thing I want to do is mention to someone at a bar that I’ll be at a certain place the next day and have them show up and be all weird.

Dress for Success

In this case, dressing for success means blending in, not standing out. Of course, we all want cool-looking travel photos of us looking our best, but wearing expensive jewelry or high-end designer labels can make you more of a target in certain areas. You should also be mindful of expensive camera equipment. I prefer to carry a camera bag that looks like a regular old backpack, rather than a camera bag to draw less attention to it.

Don’t get me wrong, I know that bad things can happen anywhere but I find that it’s easy to get complacent while you’re traveling and think that nothing bad can happen. By practicing these simple solo travel safety tips you can help ensure that your dream trip doesn’t turn into a nightmare!

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Solo Travel Safety Tips