The hardest part of any travellers journey can often be getting started. Many of us have our own bucket lists of places we want to visit and keep saying one day i will do/go, but there is something always stopping us from making that first leap. What if something happens? How do i organise things? What do i need to know? Is it safe? All questions that run through our minds before travel, however they shouldn't stop us from going. In this blog i will give you tips and advice on how i made that leap. As someone who loves travel i didn't want to miss out on going places that interested me just because i couldn't find anyone to travel with, but at the same time i wanted to make sure that i was safe. So my first piece of advice is to do your research. Once you have a place in mind search for travel blogs, Youtube videos, travel guides etc by people who have visited the country/city your interested in. This really helps you get an idea of what to expect and to make sure that it's a journey that suits you, you might even find out about different parts of the culture or country such as different foods to try that you hadn't even considered before and might help enhance your experience. When it comes to guide books my personal go to is Lonely Planet, which you can get online by visiting their website or get the physical books either from their website or you can get many of them from Amazon. I find that their guides provide a good balance of budget friendly and more luxury options for places to stay, where to eat and main attractions. They also provide you with useful information such as emergency numbers, key phrases and useful maps of main areas. When doing research it is also important to research any cultural differences for example in Vienna you can't eat on public transport and may be fined for doing so, even though it's completely acceptable to do so elsewhere in the world. By doing this you avoid some of the awkward situations that can come about simply because you didn't know and helps you feel more confident about a culture that may be different to your own. By doing this research i personally feel safer about a country as i feel more familiar and less like i'm going in blind. My second tip is that if you are worried about getting lost you can look up area using Google maps on streetview, this can help make you feel more familiar with an area. This is particularly good for getting to know what is around your hotel before you commit to one and may help you choose between hotels. You can also use Google maps when away to help you find your way as long as you have an internet connection.( To ensue that you have an internet connection you can always get a local sim at the airport when you land or an e-sim before you go. I personally use Holafly e-sims and have never had an issue) I would always have a print out of the map and directions to just in case you don't have internet. It personally makes me feel safer to have it as a back up, and of course you can always ask a local for directions if you feel confident enough to do so. I have personally never had an issue with asking people for directions and have found that people generally want to help as long as you are sincere and polite. It can be partially usefully to ask shopkeepers, security guards, hotel workers and the like as there is often less of a language barrier and they often know where the main sites are. This leads me onto my next tip which is to try and learn a few phrases in the local language before you go. Learning things like, Hello, please and Thank you can go a long why with breaking the ice with locals. I have found that people often apricate you trying and may even want to teach you more or have a conversation with you, taking away some of the difficulties that can come with having a conversation with someone whose first language differs from yours. A good site for learning language is DuoLingo which you can commit as little a 5mins out of your day. Of course you could opt for bringing a phrase book with you or use Google translate to help break down the language barrier. The important part is that you are showing that you are willing to try. The last tip i will give for getting started as a solo traveller is to have a rough itinerary without over booking yourself each day. Once you have settled on your destination have a look at what you want to do while your there, sites such as Get your guide, booking.com, Expedia and Tripadvicer are all really good for seeing and booking activities through and sites that i have personally used. However when booking activities make sure that you leave time for yourself so you don't burn out and so you can fully enjoy your activities without being rushed. It's really easy to want to fill up your day hour by hour with a set plan, however as is the way with life things can and do go wrong. Something may have taken longer then you first thought, maybe that site you wanted to see is closed for renovation or you missed a bus connection. You don't want to fill your time so much that one set back will affect your whole day, this will also take a lot of stress out of the trip. Also it gives you a chance to do/try things that you may have only discovered once you arrived, maybe someone at the hotel/hostel recommended a little known site of the main tourist areas or a shopkeeper recommend that you check out the local farmers market. You don't know what you may find when you are not completely tied down by a schedule. Having said that having a few things booked in is a good thing especially if there is a particular site or thing you wanted to see as prebooking tickets can save you time and money with quees at major sightseeing sites. It is also a good idea to leave copies of any plans that you do have with someone back home so they know what your plans are and where you plan to be, just as an extra safety measure. Hopefully these few tips help you make that leap to get out there and create your own adventure, but if you are not ready to go it completely alone there are small travel groups such as Intripid which i have personally used and loved. They take care of the majority of the itinerary but give you enough free time to do what interests you, puts you in a group (safety in numbers) of like minded people, often can give you local experiences such as home stays and family meals and provides you with a friendly, knowable guide who i have found goes above and beyond to make the trip you are on truly memorable. These companies are in my option a perfect way to travel the world even if you don't have anyone to go with and you worry about travelling alone. They offer piece of mind with many safety concerns, offer local incite into countries and enable you to connect with fellow travellers. They can also be the perfect bridge between travelling with others and solo travelling as they give you the tools and knowledge to make the leap. Not to mention you may meet solo travellers through them who can share their own tips and experiences. Hopefully this blog post has given you food for thought and useful tips to make that final leap of faith from thinking about that trip to going on that trip. Good luck creating your own adventures!