If you’re like me and at your big age of 21 years had not lived away from your parents for more than a few weeks– or rather you hadn’t been allowed to live away from your parents for more than a few weeks, and now somehow you have your opportunity at independence but don’t know where to go from here, then you’ve come to the right place. Trust me.

Being a brown girl from a Muslim family means I don’t usually have the luxury of traveling solo. So when I miraculously convinced my parents to let me go abroad to study in Seoul for 4 months, I didn’t know what to do when they agreed (or rather acquiesced in my dad’s case). And for the most part, it didn’t hit me that I would be living alone in a foreign country until I actually arrived in Seoul and got lost with my luggage in the early hours of dawn and discovered the hostel room I had agreed to rent was actually the size of a bathroom. But we can save that story for another day. The point is, I realized I would have to take care of myself without any support after the first bad experience of my trip occurred.

Being unable to figure out the way from Incheon Airport to my hostel and my hostel turning out to be the size of a closet were things that were for the most part beyond my control. In hindsight, I definitely could have looked into the area more but that leads to my first tip when preparing yourself for solo travel:

DO YOUR RESEARCH

A lot of us like to go with the flow (like me), but if it’s your first time traveling somewhere new, especially alone, it’s prudent to do a decent amount of research into the location, the culture, the people, phone plans, and your area of residence among other things.

KNOW WHAT YOU WANT TO DO

This somewhat applies to the previous point about research, but again, having a general list of the main things you would like to do during your travels is a good idea. During the first few days of settling down, you may not have time to create a travel itinerary but wasting time when you’re in a new country is never a good idea so having something to fall back to for the first little bit will be beneficial.

MAKE USE OF OTHER SOURCES

Now again, this isn’t something I did because I thought I would be able to learn and handle everything on my own, but watching vlogs or reading blogs (like this one!) about other peoples’ experiences when visiting your travel destination is a fantastic way to prepare for your trip. In Seoul, I lived in Sinchon, about a 5-minute walk from Yonsei University (the university that I attended), but I didn’t bother watching any videos about Sinchon which I SHOULD HAVE DONE because it’s a much more visual way to mentally prepare for where you might be living and will give you a good sense of the facilities around that area so you’re not lost the first few days.

GET COMFORTABLE BEING ALONE

If you’re the type of person that constantly has people around them whether they be friends or family, and will be traveling alone for the first time, then wow will you have a hard time adjusting to being by yourself. Thankfully, I’m not one of those people, but even so I was extremely sad and   lonely for the first few weeks in Seoul despite making a few friends at my university. Had I been more reliant on company I would have been devastated during that time. So if you happen to be one of these people, a good practice before you embark on your journey would be to try going out alone once in a while and get accustomed to spending time by yourself. Exploring familiar areas around you before your trip will help you transition to exploring new locations during your travels.

And after all that is said and done, the only thing left to do is get excited about your journey!

Happy travels!