0:01 whatever phase of life you're in right
0:04 now whatever life may throw at you
0:06 whether it feels like success or failure
0:09 expected or unexpected i have one
0:11 message for you
0:16 travel and travel solo [Music]
0:23 [Music]
0:25 hey friends welcome back today we're
0:27 going to talk about my experiences
0:28 traveling solo
0:30 and how i can maybe help guide you to
0:32 try it out for yourself one day
0:34 i have traveled to over 50 countries and
0:37 15 of those countries were solo trips
0:39 so i can tell you exactly what you need
0:41 to do to make your travel dreams
0:43 come true i'm going to talk about how to
0:45 first off navigate those fears of
0:47 stepping into the big wide world alone
0:50 how to start saving for that trip how to
0:51 pack for that trip how to make your
0:53 itinerary and your plans
0:55 and everything else in between so if you
0:57 have any questions about solo traveling
0:59 that i don't end up covering in this video
1:00 video
1:01 go ahead and drop those questions down
1:03 below make sure to subscribe for more
1:04 weekly videos like this
1:13 i first started traveling solo after
1:15 graduating college and that year my
1:16 senior year
1:17 just like everyone else felt in the
1:20 class it was high priority to get a job
1:22 and i had been on payroll since i was 15
1:22 years old
1:25 so i really wasted no time between
1:27 graduating college and moving to san
1:29 francisco where i then got
1:31 two jobs to be able to afford to live
1:32 there after just
1:35 three months of living and working in
1:37 san francisco i realized i had no idea
1:39 what i wanted to do with my life
1:41 all i knew that i wanted to do was
1:42 travel so i then
1:44 really impulsively and quickly decided
1:46 to move out of san francisco i took
1:48 all of my savings which really wasn't
1:50 that much at all and i bought a one way
1:51 to denmark
1:53 i had some sort of idea of where i
1:55 wanted to go but honestly i didn't
1:56 really have a plan
1:58 all i knew was that i was just going to
1:59 land in copenhagen
2:01 and figure it out from there yes i was
2:04 nervous but mostly i was wondering if i
2:06 was even making the right life decision
2:09 but my best experiences happened from
2:12 having no plan and figuring it out for
2:14 myself for my first
2:16 solo trip i ended up being gone for four
2:17 months traveling through
2:19 13 different countries meeting and
2:21 traveling with people that i met from all
2:22 all
2:24 over and of course none of this was
2:26 without struggles in between
2:27 so there's a lot of things to think
2:29 about here your budget
2:31 the region of the world the types of
2:32 activities you want to do
2:35 the weather the convenience the list
2:37 goes on so after all of my experience
2:39 traveling solo i want to help you
2:41 prepare which is something that i didn't
2:41 really do
2:44 and let's narrow this down so that i can
2:45 give you a step-by-step
2:48 process on how to go about prepping and
2:50 planning for your first solo trip
2:52 the thought of just going off and alone
2:53 into the world is
2:55 always gonna be a scary feeling at first
2:57 when you travel alone
2:59 you really do become your own best
3:01 friend you start relying on yourself
3:03 your instincts and you're wholly
3:04 pursuing your own interests
3:08 and that is where the greatness happens
3:10 on my first solo trip i remember landing
3:12 in copenhagen and i felt
3:15 so alone i was spending so much time on
3:16 social media
3:18 feeling fomo from what my friends and my
3:20 family were doing back home
3:23 and here i was in one of the coolest and
3:25 greatest countries in the world
3:27 and i couldn't even get my mind right
3:28 and honestly i felt
3:30 really low i was like did i make the
3:32 right decision
3:33 i could just go back at any point in
3:36 time go back to california and figure
3:37 things out from there
3:39 but instead of giving up and hoping
3:41 something would happen for me
3:43 i decided i needed to make the best of
3:46 this situation that i decided for myself
3:48 and that's when i started meeting people
3:50 i found places where i could really get
3:52 into the social community in copenhagen
3:54 i ended up asking my family and friends
3:56 back in california if anyone knew
3:58 someone in copenhagen and they did so
4:00 fast forward one month later
4:02 i was leaving copenhagen after making so
4:04 many friends and i was on my way to
4:06 egypt because i had made connections in cairo
4:07 cairo
4:09 i had been dreaming about going to egypt
4:11 since i was a kid it seemed like a place
4:13 that was completely unattainable for me
4:15 and having made it to egypt so much
4:16 sooner than i thought
4:19 reminded me that life is too short not
4:20 to chase your dreams
4:23 and in my first month of solo travel i
4:24 realized that the world is
4:27 not a scary place and that most people
4:29 on this planet are
4:32 decent human beings so how do you choose
4:32 where to go
4:34 you might want to consider somewhere
4:36 where there are also a lot of solo travelers
4:37 travelers
4:38 when i've traveled alone i've gone
4:40 around southeast asia
4:42 central america europe western and eastern
4:43 eastern
4:45 because these places get a lot of solo
4:46 travelers and
4:49 like southeast asia central america and
4:50 eastern europe
4:53 are cheaper areas to travel to so it's
4:54 best for your budget
4:56 the biggest consideration here is your finances
4:57 finances
4:59 once you've decided on where you want to
5:01 go make a really solid
5:03 savings plan and hold yourself
5:04 accountable you got to be honest with
5:06 yourself because the only way you're
5:08 going to be able to do this solo adventure
5:08 adventure
5:11 is if you have the finances so cut back
5:12 on spending as
5:14 much as you can think about what you're
5:16 actually spending money on
5:17 what are luxuries that you can
5:19 completely cut out
5:22 like maybe going out to eat a lot or a
5:23 gym membership
5:26 or cut back shopping completely by
5:27 eliminating frivolous spending
5:30 you will be closer to making yourself richer
5:30 richer
5:32 in experiences that you will have on
5:34 your travels all right let's talk about
5:36 how you pack for this
5:39 you need to get yourself one
5:42 of these it's a backpacking backpack
5:44 this is going to be your most essential
5:46 item for your solo trip
5:48 these backpacking packs have a lot of
5:50 storage area and when you do get one
5:52 try out a few of them and make sure that
5:54 they sit comfortably on your waist
5:56 when you're solo traveling you want
5:58 things to go as smoothly as possible
6:00 make things as convenient as possible so
6:02 make sure to pack light
6:04 and i recommend just always have a
6:05 carry-on it's the easiest most
6:07 convenient way of travel it gives you
6:08 the convenience of
6:10 walking from place to place if you need
6:13 to or taking a motorbike taxi somewhere
6:15 and you can easily keep track of
6:17 everything another essential packing
6:19 item that you're gonna need for your
6:22 solo trip are packing cubes
6:24 these make your life so much easier
6:26 seriously so you can separate all of
6:27 your clothes
6:30 and you won't have to take all the items
6:31 out of your backpack just to look for
6:33 one piece of clothing and then
6:34 shove them back in in a really
6:37 unorganized way just being organized on
6:38 your trips
6:40 is really important another packing
6:41 organizer you should get
6:45 is this a little cord charger organizer
6:49 i bought this at green hills in manila
6:50 and i'm sure you can find it on amazon
6:52 it bears repeating that staying organized
6:53 organized
6:55 on your trips is so important so just
6:58 try to make everything convenient
7:00 and easy to find for yourself for more
7:02 detailed packing tips for
7:04 females i made a video a while back
7:05 called how to pack
7:08 super light for 30 days of travel which
7:10 i've linked on this
7:12 screen and down below so make sure you
7:15 save that video for reference later
7:18 my biggest fear traveling solo was not
7:20 about whether the place i was going to
7:20 was safe
7:22 and the reason i say that is because
7:24 everywhere in this world
7:26 no matter where you go will have its
7:28 threats but my biggest fear was
7:30 loneliness and i had no idea how easy it
7:32 was going to be to make friends
7:35 i met a lot of people a lot of solo
7:36 female travelers
7:38 who i ended up spending days with and we
7:39 really made
7:42 incredible experiences together so the
7:44 best way to approach the travel aspect
7:47 of traveling alone is to stay in places
7:49 that have high ratings for being social
7:52 so like hostels or backpackers accommodations
7:53 accommodations
7:55 it's guaranteed that you will meet
7:57 people and you'll learn how to connect
7:59 with different people but one tip that i
8:00 can share with you that will hopefully
8:01 make things
8:04 easier is genuinely be interested in
8:06 meeting other people because it opens
8:09 so many doors not just friendships and
8:11 so many more adventures take a genuine
8:13 interest in their culture
8:15 and the most important thing is remember
8:17 things about them but also remember
8:18 their name
8:20 and if you want to be extra cautious you
8:21 know you can add them on social media
8:22 everyone has
8:25 at least one social media these days and
8:26 you can kind of
8:27 look through their social media and
8:29 check to see if they're a normal person
8:32 and think of it as like a friend resume
8:34 staying safe is gonna be your friends
8:36 and most definitely your family's
8:38 biggest concerns on your solo journey
8:40 but traveling alone
8:42 is not as risky as your parents think it is
8:43 is
8:44 there are certain precautions you can
8:46 take to feel more relaxed
8:49 and enjoy your experience think of the
8:49 things that you
8:52 already do to stay safe and apply that
8:54 when you're traveling
8:56 for example always know your surroundings
8:57 surroundings
9:00 of course you need to research the area
9:00 that you're going to
9:02 and make sure that you know the customs
9:04 the environment
9:06 and the dangers when you feel like
9:08 something is off when you have a gut
9:09 feeling that there's something wrong
9:10 about the situation
9:12 then follow your instincts and stop
9:14 whatever you're doing
9:15 or leave you're allowed to change your
9:17 mind when you feel uncomfortable
9:18 make sure you're making your own
9:20 decisions and not having anyone else
9:22 coerce you into doing
9:23 something that you might feel hesitant
9:26 about don't get intoxicated on a night
9:26 out alone
9:28 don't walk through dark streets or dark
9:30 alleyways alone if you're walking at
9:32 night and you're not in a public place
9:34 take those headphones out of your ears
9:36 do not walk
9:38 with blaring music or even a podcast or
9:40 something in your ears because you need
9:41 to be able to
9:43 hear everything that's going on be
9:45 street smart and make sure that you have
9:48 family or friends knowing where you are so
9:49 so
9:50 tell them where your hostels are
9:52 wherever your accommodations are
9:54 make sure that someone at least at least
9:55 a few people
9:57 know your itinerary and where you're
9:59 going to be on certain days
10:02 for me personally my parents are always
10:05 tracking me on the iphone whatever it's
10:06 called like find friends because i'm
10:08 okay with having them know where i'm at
10:10 at all times in fact i
10:11 have my parents following me and a few
10:13 friends so they know
10:15 where i'm at wherever i'm out in the
10:16 world because half the time i'm alone
10:18 and half the time i'm with people
10:19 they don't really know when i'm
10:21 traveling alone anymore and i am often
10:24 traveling alone so i just make sure that
10:25 like everyone knows
10:27 where i'm at so with all that said be
10:29 open to positivity and don't assume that
10:31 everyone is out to get you
10:34 i can honestly say that the only bad experience
10:34 experience
10:37 i've had was in my hometown in san francisco
10:38 francisco
10:40 because i let my guard down i was
10:41 walking alone at
10:43 2 a.m with a girlfriend of mine we were
10:45 walking back from a bar
10:47 and she ended up getting mugged and it
10:49 was a really really awful scary experience
10:50 experience
10:51 now when i travel alone which is more
10:53 often than not i rarely even think about
10:54 safety because
10:56 most of the people that i've come across
10:57 have been incredibly
11:00 friendly welcoming and very helpful
11:02 but that doesn't mean that i ever let my
11:04 guard down even now
11:06 when i'm in my hometown in san francisco
11:08 such harm can come from anywhere
11:10 and now it really doesn't make a
11:11 difference for me wherever i am
11:13 in the world whether that's walking in
11:16 san francisco or traveling solo in
11:17 pakistan or
11:19 exploring the philippine islands alone
11:21 or skipping around
11:24 egypt by myself on my first solo trip
11:25 traveling solo
11:27 going on planes going through different
11:28 airports on layovers
11:31 taking the metro into the cities going
11:32 out and eating
11:34 by myself at different restaurants gave
11:36 me the space to just be
11:38 myself i didn't have to worry about what
11:40 anyone else wanted
11:42 the introspective moments that occurred
11:44 on my exploratory walks throughout the cities
11:45 cities
11:48 were life-changing and i remember those thoughts
11:49 thoughts
11:52 so vividly and to a large degree helped
11:53 me to get where i
11:55 am today as a travel influencer and as i
11:58 continue to take solo trips i gain
12:00 powerful insights that stay with me and
12:02 i get inspired with new ideas
12:04 i'm here to tell you that you are far stronger
12:06 stronger
12:09 capable self-reliant and wiser than you
12:10 probably think
12:12 so stop overthinking it and just do it
12:14 if you guys have any questions about
12:15 solo travel
12:17 drop them down below and let me know if
12:18 this at all
12:20 hopefully influenced your decision to
12:22 finally go out
12:24 and do it all on your own by the way you
12:25 can totally stay connected with me you
12:27 can follow me on instagram and ask me
12:28 any questions
12:30 i answer dm's all the time or refer back
12:32 to this video
12:34 either way i'm telling you it will be a
12:36 life-changing experience and
12:38 something that you literally will never
12:40 regret thank you guys for being here
12:42 thank you for watching me and until next
