Introvert's Guide to Solo Travel: 5 Lessons From My Experience

[00:00] If you're an introvert like me, stick around. I'm gonna share five things I learned while traveling as an introvert that will help make your trip even better. Number one is that where you stay matters. Hostiles are known for being really social places

[00:14] that draw in a younger crowd. If you wanna naturally put yourself in the position to connect with other people, staying in hostiles is definitely the way to go. In addition to just staying at hostiles, some hostiles will be more social than other hostiles.

[00:28] So read reviews online, learn a little bit about them, as far as what kind of atmosphere you can expect. Some of my favorite hostiles were the ones that offered a ton of activities, where you could go and meet other people that way.

[00:40] If you stay at just budget hotels or Airbnb's, it might be a little bit harder to meet people. You'll have to be a little more creative. Number two on my list is that you're gonna have to push yourself if you wanna meet other people.

[00:52] If at home, you're not usually the person to start a conversation with someone. While you're traveling, maybe push yourself to be that person. When you go into your dorm for the first time and they're someone sitting on their bed, try and start a conversation as early as possible.

[01:06] The longer you put it off, the more awkward it'll get for both of you and the harder it will get. So getting that out of the way is a good tip. If you usually explore things on your own, maybe consider joining a guided walking tour

[01:19] where you'll be put in a group of other people. That's a good natural situation where it's a lot easier to start a conversation to someone and say maybe just walking up to them in the hostel. As an introvert, you might find your default

[01:32] is to just chill on your bed and your hostel dorm because people will generally leave you alone if they see you just laying down there. Instead of doing that, I suggest mixing things up, going outside into the common areas of the hostels,

[01:44] and just hanging out there because opportunities will likely present themselves for you to meet other people. Maybe even bring a pack of cards with you and start a game or something. The third thing I learned is that people want to be heard.

[01:56] So if you have a hard time having conversations with people, remembering this one thing alone can be a game changer for you. If you can get someone just talking about something that they're really passionate about or interested in and keep things on that topic,

[02:10] they could probably talk to you for an hour and the conversation wouldn't have any breaks in it. I'm not saying that you need to fake interest in things. I mean, try to find things that you're somewhat interested in too so that you can genuinely listen to them

[02:22] and engage with them. But this I've found is just a really good way to connect with people if you maybe find keeping a conversation going a little intimidating. Number four to remember is that rejection will happen and it's okay.

[02:34] Sometimes you might say, hey to someone in a hostel and they're just having a bad day and they completely ignore you or you might invite someone to go to dinner with you and they just say no or they cancel right at the last minute. The main thing is just to try not to take these things

[02:47] too personally. In my opinion, it's better to be rejected a few times and not make those good connections that you otherwise might have made. The next thing I learned is that it does get easier. So you've heard the phrase fake it till you make it.

[03:00] Well, that really works if you're an introvert. No one knows you when you're traveling, you get to start completely fresh with them. So just pretend like you're now going and confident person, talk to them, engage with them normally, put your best foot forward and just exude confidence

[03:15] even if you don't feel confident and maybe you'll never be quite as comfortable as someone who's naturally extroverted. But it doesn't have to be a really painful and scary thing like I know it can be. A quick bonus tip is to just don't forget to recharge yourself.

[03:29] If you do enjoy being alone, maybe spend a little extra money and get a private room in a hostel or stay at an Airbnb or something and give yourself that time. Travel burnout is very real and so if you take good care of yourself mentally

[03:43] and physically, that'll go a long way in preventing that. I made a much longer video going over everything I learned while traveling Europe alone for three months that I'll link down in the description. I hope you guys enjoyed this one. If you did, please give me a thumbs up,

[03:56] subscribe if you want some more travel videos. Feel free to leave a comment if you have anything specific you want me to talk about but I'll see you guys in the next one.