Loneliness while solo travel is a legit fear. Here are some things you can do to combat it while solo traveling.
- Take a package tour.
Though technically not a solo trip, you won’t know anyone you will be traveling with. But with all the time spent on this form of travel where most of your time has been dictated by tour company, you’re pretty sure to find someone in the group you like, or at least tolerate.
2. Take a day or half day tour.
For me, I feel taking an entire trip with strangers can be more stressful than being lonely, so I prefer doing a day or half day tours. You can book one towards the middle or end of your solo trip when the loneliness of solo travel starts to accumulate. There are many tours and tour companies to choose from and most can be booked an app. These tours usually have one or two other solo travelers you can hang out with. And I’ve found that there is always an older couple who are willing to adopt you for the tour, especially if you’re the same age as their kids or grandkids.
3. Stay in a hostel.
If you avoid looking at hostels before because you value alone tome, I’d like to point out that hostels are not just eight college kids crammed into bunkbeds. Most hostel have private rooms and some even have private bathrooms. But I think the most attractive feature of hostels is the common area where folks hang out and be friendly to fellow travelers. You can be social when you need to and then retreat back to your private room when you’re done. A lot of hostels have optional activities and tours, allowing you to really customize the amount of social interaction you experience and with the bonus of learning some cool stuff about your currant location. While private rooms in hostels are comparable in price to hotel rooms, if you do save any money, its just icing on the cake. P.S. there is no “old person stigma” for staying in a hostel after a certain age. Unless you’re actively creeping on someone half your age, no one will care if you’re going gray.
4. Use Airbnb
No, not the rent a whole place option, the rent a room option. Depending on the set up and schedule of the host, you should be able to socialize and retreat just like a hostel, but in a smaller group. So it you’re not comfortable in crowds, staying with a couple or a small family maybe more your style. Plus, interaction with locals may score you a unique perspective that most tourists won’t get.
Full disclosure: staying as a guest, even as a paid guest, in a stranger’s home sounds very stressful to me and I have not done this. But a lot of folks find this rewarding so I wanted to include it.
But one Airbnb feature I have utilized was Airbnb Experiences. It’s a service that connects travelers with locals who can give tours, or teach a cooking class, or provides some other type of local experience. I have taken a walking tour of Akihabara led by a HUGE anime fan. And while I could have found all the places on the tour on my own, having the context she provided was great and it was great to be able to say “Oh, that’s cool” to someone. Typically, people on Airbnb Experiences are not professional guides, just regular folks with a passion for their city or area expertise. It really felt like I was being shown around the city by a friend.
5. Take a food tour.
The in-between of a day tour and an Airbnb Experience in terms of size, usually around 8 – 10 people. Unlike day tours, which are typically random folks seeing the sites, people on a food tour share a common interest: trying new foods. I found that “What foods have you tried so far this trip?” is a good conversation starter and there is frequently another solo traveler in the group. I’ve also felt that food tour guides are less rehearsed and less formal than regular tour guides and it was easier to build a connection with them.