Travel More, Stress Less: 5 Key Tips for a Stress-Free Solo Vacation

It’s important not to be stressed while vacationing solo. Keep reading for travel more, stress less: 5 key tips for a stress-free solo vacation.

Two cliches come to mind when considering the horror/benefits of travel: needing a vacation from the vacation and hell is other people. The solution to both of these things is to travel solo.

Going alone gives you time to avoid all those social ties that make living rough. You can stress less by looking out for you and your plans without needing to keep a half-dozen other people, their feelings, desires, and dislikes all in mind. 

Still, if you find that unwinding is tougher than taking a short walk over some hot coals, then this guide is the solution. 

Kick back, clear your mind, and consider these five simple solo travel tips to a rewarding travel jaunt. 

Stressless Ways to Stress Less

A perfect vacation works best when you feel secure, have something to do, and no pressure to do more than you’re up for. 

Consider the following as a roadmap to a place you can get to and from with ease.

1. Don’t Overplan

The worst thing to do when trying to get away from it is to set your expectations too firmly. Overplanning a trip creates an impossible series of desires, that, if they don’t pan out, makes you feel like you wasted your time off.

Sketch out a few key sights and events and leave the rest to form as you go. 

2. Travel Light

Overpacking means taking a lot of bags that you have to look after. Each one a little nugget of stress you bring from home on your trip. 

Stick with the essentials for safety and from there a change of clothes per day and maybe one upscale outfit. Swimwear is easy to collect on the fly.

3. Avoid Work

While we’re at the suggestions of not taking baggage, don’t obsessively check back with the office. It’s one thing if someone calls with an emergency. It’s quite another for you to spend half your vacation looking for a fire to put out.

4. Research Before

Don’t go in totally blind to a new situation/location. Use that work brain to learn about your destination including customs, locales, and events. This helps you loosely plan but also helps you stay aware of your situation.

Douglas Adams had it right when he suggested knowing where your towel is. Everything else becomes easy when you know where the essentials are to be found. Knowing what hotels have the best memory foam mattress is always on the list for sleeping off the work year stress.

5. Have a Reason

Don’t just travel because you heard it was a place to go. Travel with an intention. Intentionality is different than an expectation.

You don’t want to demand how the trip goes, but you do want to make statements about what you hope to get from the trip. This gives you a scaffolding to build the rest of the journey around. 

You do You

Getting away from it all means getting away from the ‘you’ you’re forced to be. Take a moment and be some of the other bits of you that get left out of the day-to-day. It takes some work to stress less, but most of that work can be done before you go.

Keep an open mind, plan well before you get going and stay up to date with all the best in self-development reading right here.