independent, intentional travel
Best travel app ever | 📷 Gilbert Wedam
Travel and technology go hand-in-hand. You already know about my favorite cell phone carrier, T-Mobile, and you know that I’m a big fan of carrying a portable charger, especially when I’m alone. But I can’t resist singing the praises of what I think is the very best travel app to use during my trips — Citymapper. No matter where I am in the world, if Citymapper is available, it’s my go-to when it comes to navigation. [Read more…]
Packing for Southeast Asia? Please learn from my mistakes.
Back in 2017 when I went to Thailand and Cambodia for the first time, I was committed to packing for two weeks in a backpack. I knew exactly how to pack — I’d done it plenty of times before, and at that time in my life I was working as a traveling consultant, living out of a carry-on suitcase most weeks. So when it was time to start packing for Southeast Asia, I was like “I got this.”
Oh, how hindsight is 20/20.
Not to be overly dramatic, but I did not “got this.” While I used the same principles as usual when it came to packing, my issues were mostly with the clothing choices I made. Fun fact: Southeast Asia’s climate/culture/fashion is totally different from Europe! (Who woulda thought?)
You can benefit from my mistakes! Here are the most important lessons about packing for Southeast Asia that I learned from my trip. [Read more…]
Trying to beat jetlag – US. to Asia – will probably have your brain spinning
There are so many things to love about traveling internationally, but there’s one big thing to hate: JET LAG. Who wants to wake up at odd hours of the night, unable to fall back asleep? Who wants to spend half the day wishing they were asleep when they should be enjoying the sunlight? The shorter the trip, the more imperative it is to conquer jet lag ASAP. [Read more…]
Share your trip photos with family and friends to help work through post-vacation depression.
I remember the first time that post-vacation depression came for me.
It was Saturday, just a couple of days after Thanksgiving in 2017, and I had just returned home from my second-ever solo trip. I’d gone to Thailand and Cambodia for two weeks and had such a magical time. After 30 hours of travel — flying from Bangkok, to Tokyo, to Chicago, to Kansas City — “bedraggled” would have been an understatement as I returned home. The mattress on the floor at my parents’ house gave me a warm welcome and I plunged into blissful slumber.
I spent the following day, Sunday, with my family — cheerful, though perhaps a bit quieter than usual. (I was recovering from a 13-hour time difference, after all.) We put up the Christmas tree, and it was a good day.
And then Monday happened. [Read more…]
Think it’s not possible to pack for two weeks in a backpack? Think again.
It was July 2011. At the tender age of 18, I was preparing for my first international adventure — a two-and-a-half week trip to Germany to visit my then-boyfriend. Never having packed for something like this, and obviously wanting to impress my boyfriend, I packed almost everything I owned. I rolled up to the luggage counter to check my gigantic suitcase, tipping the scales at just barely under the 50-lb limit. Sigh of relief.
As the years passed, I continued to follow this same, pack-more-than-you-could-possibly-ever-need model every time I took a trip to Europe. But when I took my first solo trip in 2016, I decided to change my tactics. Knowing I would be constantly on the move, traveling around the country without staying in one place for long, it didn’t seem very appealing to lug that 50-lb rollerbag around with me.
So how did I, the former serial overpacker, manage to pack for two weeks in a backpack (and still have room for souvenirs)? Here are a few of my best tips. [Read more…]
Relaxing with a dessert and a warm beverage is one of my favorite ways to practice self-care while traveling.
We travel because it’s what we love to do. It’s exciting and it’s challenging. But for independent travelers, it’s not all fun and games. There are trains to catch, new places to explore, and decisions to be made. For whatever period of time we’re traveling, we feel like we have to be on all the time. We sometimes feel like any time not spent doing is time wasted. It can be exhausting.
Because of this, it’s easy to get burned out. But this is your trip, and yours alone. You’re in charge, so it’s up to you to ensure you don’t get burned out. It’s not always easy, but it is possible. Here’s a list of my favorite ways to practice self-care while traveling. [Read more…]
My favorite way to start trip planning is with good-old fashioned books.
One day, I was living my life like normal. And then it hit me: my trip to Thailand was suddenly just over a month away. And besides booking my flights, I hadn’t done any trip planning. Considering it was my first time traveling to Asia, I really needed to get things together. Fast.
The good news is that after so many trips, I have the whole trip planning thing down to a science. (Which is great! Because having things officially planned makes it seem so much more real, and super exciting.) So… when you find yourself with a trip sneaking up on you and no plans, here are a few of my favorite trip planning tips. [Read more…]
Wondering how to not look like a tourist in Europe? It starts with your clothing.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with looking and acting like a tourist. You are a tourist. But in some situations, looking like a tourist can make you a target for pickpockets, scammers, and other crime — a chance that only increases if you’re traveling alone.
Luckily, if you’re traveling alone, you also have a unique advantage — one that I think is lots of fun. When you’re alone, you can pretend you’re a local, just doing local things. I know I’m succeeding at this when someone comes up to me and asks for directions in the country’s native language 🙂
Here are a few of my best tips on how to not look like a tourist in Europe.
Our smartphone cameras are better than ever these days — but what if you want to take your photography to the next level on your long-awaited trip? Then you may be in the market for a Digital Single-Lens Reflex camera (DSLR). [Read more…]
A journal should be on every solo travel packing list.
Some people don’t like packing, but I have to admit that I kind of do. There’s the excitement of deciding what to bring on the trip (and ordering new things from Amazon), the thrill of seeing whether it all fits, and the sheer hope that you didn’t forget anything. Packing is a drama and an art form.
Based on my experience, here are 5 things that should be on every solo travel packing list.