3 Reasons to Travel Solo

What keeps you from traveling someplace you have always wanted to go?

When you travel solo, there are so many fewer restrictions. You can choose where to go, when you want to go, how much you feel comfortable spending, and do what your want to do. Six years ago, when I finally saved up enough vacation time and money, I decided to take my first trip abroad to Ireland. Rather than try to find travel companions, I decided to try another first: go on the trip solo. It was an experience I will never forget and made me realize how much I was capable of.

1. You can do whatever you want.

When it is just you, you do not have to find things you and your other travel companions will all enjoy. You can do whatever you feel like, when you feel like it. On my first day in Belfast, after my Black Taxi Tour, I was exhausted. I took a mid-afternoon nap, no other plans prevented me from this nap and it was glorious.

On any trip, I always like to spend hours strolling the streets of a new city. Sometimes there’s a few landmarks I want to walk past, but besides that, my goal is to take in as much of the city by foot as possible. Spending that much time wandering around is something most travel companions are not up to. Not having to compromise on what you want to do is incredibly freeing. You’re truly away from any obligations in your life, and you can allow yourself to just be.

2. You have time to think.

The Cliff Path in Howth. Note the sign warning about falling to your death.

Being an introvert, going by myself, and not having many people to talk to was a huge plus. One day was dedicated to walking around in Dun Laoghaire which is a coastal town south of Dublin. After I had my fill, I took a commuter train up to Howth, another coastal town, but this time north Dublin. I wanted to hike the Cliff Path. It was just me, the cliffs, the sea, and some German tourists I would pass from time to time. It was a simple day, but it is a memory I think of to calm myself. What exactly did I think about along the hike in Howth? Mostly, what I would do if I slipped and fell down the cliffs to my death, among other deeper thoughts.

Being far from anyone that knows you, and disconnecting from your phone is a wonderful escape. With the craziness of daily life, you hardly have a moment to really truly think. On your own, away from your routine, it allows you to block out the noise.

3. You Gain More Confidence In Yourself

When solo tripping, you have no one else to rely on but yourself. Going to Ireland all by myself, and figuring it out made me realize I could go anywhere. Before I went to Ireland, countless hours were spent on Google Maps figuring out how to get around, so I was beyond prepared. After I came home from my Ireland trip, I felt so accomplished and couldn’t wait to plan another solo trip abroad.

When I went to Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany last year, I did not prepare as much. In Germany, I met up with friends, but in Belgium, and the Netherlands I was on my own. Amsterdam, was a breeze to navigate even though I did not spend much time mapping out the area. Brussels felt like a maze with all its winding streets, and I was constantly getting lost. Even though I lost my way, I still was able to find my way went it counted: to my hotel at night, and then the train the next day to leave!

The Grand-Place in Brussels, Belgium, Yes, I also got lost trying to find this place.

It’s up to you to navigate your surroundings. It’s up to you to figure out your itinerary. Once you have successfully gotten around new surroundings, and planned an enjoyable trip, you feel like you can conquer anything.

Where’s my next solo adventure? This fall I’m heading to Windsor, UK for a few days before meeting up with my family! I consume the British Royal Family history with fervor, so these few days will allow me to really explore Windsor Castle and hopefully get to see some great exhibits in honor of King Charles III’s coronation.

Let me know in the comments about your solo travel questions and experiences! I love to hear them all!

Travel in the Time of COVID-19

You probably ready the title, and thought “Why were you traveling in the first place?” Good question. This was five weeks ago, just as some places were beginning to shut down. Everything seemed up in the air: would business really shutter their doors for a pandemic? How long would this last? How would this affect our lives? My fiancé and I planned our trip months earlier while COVID-19 still seemed like a distant threat. We were going to spend our time eating out at restaurants, exploring Hampton Roads, and most importantly: finding a home to rent. We were both very much looking forward to getting away and exploring the new place we would soon be calling home. Then, the morning we were supposed to leave, my fiancé was essentially forbade from traveling.

My bags were already packed, and I wanted to secure us a home while it was still possible, so I decided to press on without him.  I did not completely throw caution to the wind: I came prepared with plenty of hand sanitizer, anti-bacterial wipes, and ready to practice social distancing while traveling. At the time, masks were not recommended unless you were sick, so I did not bring a mask. Luckily, my flights to Richmond were very empty so it was easy to social distance. If you know me, I try to find the positives in everything, so one nice aspect of being on a very empty jet is the flight attendants were very generous when it came to snacks and drinks. I wish it was under better circumstances, but yes, I’ll happily take that second helping of crackers and a full can of apple juice.

The Hornsby House Inn

After landing in Richmond, I picked up my rental car in a full lot of rental cars, and drove an hour south to my bed and breakfast, The Hornsby House Inn in Yorktown, Virginia. When I arrived, it quickly became apparent I was the only guest at the grand old house. I dropped my things off in my room and didn’t even have to close the door before heading to my first house tour. I visited five houses that first day. With everyone still getting used to the social distancing rules, there were a few times I’d forget and shake the owners’ hands, then quickly remember we shouldn’t be doing that.

After traveling all that way, I was also worried that some owners may not feel safe having me tour their homes anymore. There was one house where the owner reached out to see if I had come in contact with COVID-19. The tenant’s elderly parents lived with them, so they were concerned. I told the owner unfortunately, I could not say with certainty I was not carrying the virus since I flew there. We both decided to take the risk and she let me visit the home but make sure I did not touch anything. The next day, I visited a home where they had me wear plastic gloves and shoe coverings to be safe, although with knowledge we have of the virus now, I don’t think those measures made much of a difference. Otherwise, the house tours went on as the would’ve gone on as before, minus keeping a safe distance and trying not to touch anything.

The first day I was in town, Virginia was enforcing the no more than 10 people rule, so I did eat inside restaurants for lunch and dinner. Later that night, my fiancé pointed out I probably should reduce my contact with people as much as possible since I traveled by plane. After that, I only did carry out. On the second day, after visiting three homes, I found a home I really liked, and began the arrangements to rent it out. I still had three more days in the area, so I decided to work remote the next two days. Since I was on my own, I figured it was best to save those vacation days for a time when my fiancé can actually join me.

Working on the front porch.

It was quite nice working from the bed and breakfast. There were plenty of rooms to work in, and I loved being able to change up the scenery every few hours from the sun room, to the living room, the front patio, and my own bedroom. The staff was very friendly, and would drop in for conversation (at a safe distance) whenever I needed a little human interaction. This was the first vacation in three years where I was completely solo. Last time, I was in Ireland, and it was a wholly different experience. Somehow, while social distancing, I still had plenty of  social interactions that kept me from feeling lonely. When I was in Ireland, I was starved for a conversation by the end of it, which is saying a lot being an introvert.

It was an odd time to be traveling, but of all places, I was thankful to be in my home country. Getting home was a worry of mine, but I figured if flights were cancelled, I could always drive. When I was not working, I drove around, went on walks, and runs. The Hornsby House also provided a delicious breakfast spread every morning along with wine & cheese three nights a week. Those perks were the reasons I booked the the B&B in the first place. My fiancé has never been to anywhere in Virginia outside of the DC metro area, while one of my fondest childhood memories was spending a family vacation in nearby Colonial Williamsburg. I didn’t want our trip to be a chore, I wanted his first experience in the region to be a fun and happy one. While that didn’t come to pass, I still grew to love the region in new ways, despite the circumstances.

A morning run by the Yorktown Battlefield near the Hornsby House Inn.

On my last full day, it was rainy, which was a blessing, because no one was out. I was able to drive all the way down to Portsmouth, then back up to Williamsburg to walk around, and rarely saw anyone else. While walking around, and taking in the sights might not sound like much, it’s actually something I already enjoy doing on vacations.  I may not have been able to check out museums and restaurants, but my fiancé and I will get the chance eventually once we live in the area. Before I left, I was the Hornsby House would be closing for the foreseeable future, so I was their last guest. I hope to go back there once they reopen, and if you’re visiting the area, I definitely recommend staying there for a unique and delightful experience.

My flights had several hiccups the next day. First, my second leg was cancelled, and I was booked for a later flight. Then, on my first flight, we had to do a horseshoe around Indiana since their Air Traffic Control was completely down due to an outbreak. I was still able to make my second flight, and to my surprise, the jet was packed. If I hadn’t already been carrying the virus, it seemed like I would surely catch it now. At long last, I made it home safely, and began my two week quarantine.

After more than a month, it seems by some miracle, I did not catch the virus. I look back on my travels in the time of COVID-19 with a strange fondness.  Knowing what I know now, I would have postponed the trip. First and foremost, I would feel absolutely horrible if I caught the virus and passed it on to the wonderful people at The Hornsby House Inn and anyone else who could’ve contracted it. Secondly, our move date is up in the air, so the need to find housing turned out to not be as pressing as I originally thought. Right now, I am thankful to be home, that my family and I have our health and our jobs. I try to see the positives that will come out of this, and maybe it will teach us to slow down and enjoy the time we have with those we love.

Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda: Travel Insurance

It’s officially Hurricane Season my friends! If you’re like me, and live in the Midwest, hurricanes have probably never affected you. Flashback to almost two years ago, when I was booking a trip for my friend’s bachelorette party to Vieques, Puerto Rico in October. On Expedia I bundled my flight to San Juan, PR and my hotel the first night for $594 because I was arriving a day early to catch the first island hopper plane ($272)  flying out to Vieques the next morning. We were staying at an AirBnB on Vieques, so I did not have to pay for that till we arrived on the island. I had the option to buy travel insurance for an extra $30. Being a cheapskate, I opted not to buy the insurance, because I thought NOTHING was going to stop me from a bachelorette weekend with my girlfriends!

Hurricane Irma was the first imminent threat in early September, but she did not directly hit Puerto Rico. It was a close call, but we were still in the clear for visiting the next month. Then Hurricane Maria started brewing, she was looking a lot bigger, and meaner. Maria might ring a bell, because Puerto Rico is still reeling from the repercussions she caused almost two years ago. She hit Puerto Rico head on a month before our bachelorette weekend. Not fully grasping the severity of the hurricane, I was hoping there was still a chance we would be able to go.

After monitoring the news about Puerto Rico’s conditions for a week, and how dire it was, the bachelorette party was moved to Savannah, Georgia. The four other girls did something I did not: purchase travel insurance. They were able to receive a full refund on their flights. The bride rebooked her flight for Savannah, and the other three lived close enough they were able to drive. Honestly, I didn’t think I was going to get any money back, and not be able to go to the new location of the bachelorette weekend because I did not buy travel insurance.

First, I called Expedia, and was able to receive a refund for the hotel portion of my bundled trip for about $100. Dealing with my flight was a little more difficult. I decided to call Expedia again in an attempt to receive a refund on my flight to San Juan, PR. When you book a flight through a third-party site, they have to work directly with the airline you paid for. Since they were dealing with a high volume of similar calls, everything was taking a little longer. Overall, the call took three hours, and the end result was they cancelled my flight to San Juan, and rebooked me for Savannah instead. I did not receive any money back on my flight, because the cost of the Savannah flight was comparable to the San Juan flight. It was less than a month away, so that was understandable, but still painful to pay over $400 for a flight within the continental United States. My island hopper flight was a loss since they were not providing refunds because they were somehow still in operation.  At the end of the day, I was out $272 for the island hopper flight, where if I had bought the travel insurance for $30, I would’ve received a full refund for the entire trip.

All in all, the bachelorette weekend in Savannah was an absolute blast, and I learned my lesson when it comes to travel insurance. In the future, if I am traveling to areas that could be affected by a hurricane during hurricane season, I will definitely be a little smarter and buy insurance. Do I now buy insurance for every trip? No, because I’m still cheap and I don’t think travel insurance is necessary for every vacation. I would opt for travel insurance if a vacation spot is prone to natural disasters (i.e hurricanes, fires, volcano eruptions, earthquakes, etc), or it is rated as a Level 2 or higher for Travel Advisories by the U.S. Department of State. If you are not sure, do your research on the location you are traveling to, and also check out what exactly travel insurance covers to see if it’s a good addition to your trip.

 

How Save Thousands on Your Next Flight and Hotel

Have you ever abandoned your vacation plans simply because flights were too expensive?

Don’t give up your dream vacation so easily! I found a simple way around the common issue of flights costing too much: bundle your flight and hotel.

There are plenty of travel sites that allow you to bundle your flight and hotel, but I prefer Orbitz and Expedia. These two sites (which are both owned by Expedia Group) allow you the option to only book your hotel for a portion of the trip, which is very useful if you are planning to do a lot of exploring and don’t want to stay in one city the entire duration.

To bundle your flight and hotel on either site, it’s very simple, and if you do plan to only stay in the hotel a portion of the trip, just check off that box, and input the days you want to stay in the hotel. This is the option I used when traveling to Dublin two years ago because I wanted a few days to stay in Belfast too. My flight and three nights at my Dublin hotel came out at the $900- range, when flights alone were over $1000! Not only did combining my flight and hotel save me money, but also time. I found the flights offered in the bundle deals had shorter layovers and would get me to the destination quicker than the cheapest flights offered outside of a bundle.

To give you an idea of just how much you can really save, I’ll use my upcoming trip  to Edinburgh as an example. Edinburgh’s airport is smaller, so it’s not easy to find quick and cheap flights there. My  plan is to fly there from Kansas City with my mother next spring so I checked out Google Flights first. The cheapest roundtrip ticket for both of us together was $2,321 total, and the flights were over 19 hours each way.

Paying over $1000 per person to fly to Edinburgh is not my cup of tea, so let’s take the search to Orbitz. To get a general idea, I put in the dates March 15th, 2020 through March 21st, 2020. Since the flights from the US will arrive March 16th, the hotel will only be for five nights because we’ll be sleeping on the plane the night of the 15th. I also put in some filters for the hotels because prefer hotels that are rated four stars or more. In no time I was able to find the Apex Haymarket Hotel in Edinburgh which was showing as $963.44 per person, and that includes the cheapest flight price too.

 

When I went to pick out flights, the cheapest options worked for me, and the total price for roundtrip flights and five hotel nights for two people came out to $1,926.88! That’s a savings of  $394.12 from just the cheapest flight, and according to Orbitz, we saved $4,163.48 total by bundling flight and hotel!  The flights were also better options than what I found on Google Flights, with only a 14 hour total duration on the way out, and a 17 hour duration on the way back.

So you’re probably wondering, what’s the catch? How is it possible to save that much money? I thought the same thing back when I paid for my Ireland trip! After some research, I found these travel sites are able to offer such great deals because they don’t have to disclose how much you are actually paying for flight and hotel separately. I guess the biggest catch is if you wanted to stay in an Air BnB or with friends and family, then it doesn’t help to get a hotel room you don’t need. At the end of the day, do your research, make sure you’re actually getting a better deal, and if you don’t need a hotel check out my article on finding flight deals: How to Successfully Find Cheap Flights Without Really Trying.

Let me know how your vacation deal search goes! Be sure to share with me the amazing deals you find while bundling flight and hotels, I always love to hear about other readers saving money!

 

 

Ways to Plan Your Trip Abroad

So you have booked your flight, and your hotel, but what are you actually going to do once you get there? You could hit up all the tourist spots your destination is known for, or maybe you want to get a little off the beaten path. Everyone has different tastes, but here is how I figure out what is worth seeing, and what I want to do on my vacation!

1. Watch Travel Shows That Feature Your Destination    

Watching travel shows are a great way to get excited for your trip, and figure what different spots are really like. My main man is Rick Steves, and you can find his show Rick Steves’ Europe on Hulu, PBS, and Youtube. Like myself, Uncle Rick tries to avoid lines and tourist traps. He typically features historical sites, and museums to check out. He’s been around long enough he usually has two episodes on any major European destination. Plus, Steves is like your embarrassing khaki-wearing dad that you realize is actually pretty cool once you grow up, so he is a delight to watch.

Food is a very important aspect of any trip, so I love checking out the late and great Anthony Bourdain’s two shows Parts Unknown and No Reservations. The former is featured on Netflix, and the latter is available on Hulu. Not only does Bourdain provide some great restaurant recommendations, he always finds intriguing activities to do with locals. Bourdain does an awesome job of taking you behind the curtain of so many destinations, and making you wish you knew cool locals to show you around!

2. Check Out Travel Videos on Youtube

Checking out travel videos on Youtube can be a quicker way to get an overview of the places you are visiting. Right after I book my flight, I check if The New York Times has a 36 Hours travel video on Youtube. These videos show what you can do in a city in 36 hours or over a weekend trip. They nicely blend new and trendy places to check out with more historical adventures to experience too. If your destination hasn’t been covered in video format yet, The New York Times has a whole column on things to do in 36 Hours available on their website: https://www.nytimes.com/column/36-hours .

Next, see if Expedia has a video for your destination on Youtube. Expedia typically provides a high-level overview of what you can do in the area. Their suggestions can be spots that are tourist hot spots so this can be a great way to decide which touristy places are worth visiting. Youtube also has a plethora of travel vlogs, but since everyone has different tastes, I find it difficult to find videos that showcase experiences I am interested in.

3. Read Travel Guides and Books About Your Destination

When it comes to travel guidebooks , Rick Steves reigns supreme. Slick Rick’s books provide more in-depth options, walking tours, and ways to cut costs along the way. You can find his guidebooks on Amazon, and you can also find them on the Rick Steves Travel Store. No, I am not getting paid to promote Rick Steves, merely a huge fan of his work.

Another great way to connect with the city you are visiting is by reading books that are set in or about that city. Before I visited Dublin a few years back, I read “Dubliners” by James Joyce. Even though the short stories were fiction, it gave me an idea of what Dublin was like back in the early 20th century.  It was fascinating to read about the same streets mentioned in those stories, then walking down them and imagining what they was like a century earlier. If you are going somewhere, add a book about your destination to your reading list beforehand.

4. Find Sightseeing Tours

Viator provides a lot of sightseeing options for whatever you fancy! They provide large tours down to private tour guides, and tours that last several hours to several days. There  is a tour for everyone on there. Sometimes I check out the tours they offer to see what interesting places there are to visit outside of town. For example, I am visiting Edinburgh this spring, so I checked out Viator to see what types of scotch distillery tours they provided nearby. Viator succinctly spells out all pertinent information you may need before booking the tour, so you know exactly what you are paying for and what is included.

5. Reach Out To Friends and Family Who Have Visited Before

If you know friends or family members that have traveled to your destination before, contact them to see what they would recommend. Some of the experiences I have most enjoyed are the ones that were recommended to me by people I know. One of my friends recommended the Black Taxi Cab tours in Belfast, and it was honestly the highlight of my trip. I extensively read up on The Troubles beforehand, and taking the Black Taxi Cab tour brought it all to life. I was so thankful my friend recommended it, because it would not have been something I would typically do.

After doing these five things, hopefully you have a clearer idea of which places you want to explore, and where you absolutely have to grab a bite at. What do you typically do when trying to plan out your days on a trip?