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If you are someone like me, you gotta have a plan for your solo travel. And, no I am not referring to an itinerary.Here are top 10 things I did before my first solo trip:Destination: Picking up a place took most of my time. I adore history and storytelling. Therefore, I selected Aurangabad- Ajanta-Ellora- Daulatabad Fort in length as my first travel destination. Below was my only criterion: It has to be Female Tourist/Traveler Friendly. Since I was amateur, it was most certainly a critical aspect.Season: At all times avoiding a peak season is the best way to travel cost- effective. Since I am a female and I don’t have the luxury to hitchhike. Most of my travel expenditure is on Lodging and Commutation. Hence I always pick up those time of the year where I could save myself few rupees.Stay: I was in dire need of a safe stay. Now that I travel more often I, at times trust my gut and take chances. However, I don’t like taking any risks while traveling alone. I read reviews, research best costs, and pre-booked my options.Commutation- Intercity commutation is still mostly impromptu, since I prefer planning most of my activities in daylight. It is exciting to not make pre-bookings etc. and go with the flow. I get some share of calculate risk-sorta-adventure. However, I definitely make my flight/train bookings in advance to avoid shelling out a lot of money.Survival Kit- This includes your band-aid to protein bar. I never travel without medicines, pepper spray, water supply. If it’s monsoon than water resistant gears. Planning logistics in advance give you flexibility to concentrate on soaking your travel experience instead of worrying for a aspirin.Schedule and Budget: Your budget and availability decides your schedule. My first trip was 5-day long excluding two days of train travel. I extensively read/researched about things I would like to know. Even though I was financially independent, I had neither the desire nor the potential to splurge. Hence I insisted to explore the absolute local cuisine, didn’t allow myself to get overwhelmed by the handicrafts. And keep my spending minimal.Light Packing: I read Travel Blogs to ensure I do rightful packing. I left my laptop/gadgets or anything that could eat up my time on the trip and will add to my worries. I left with a rucksack stuff it up with proper clothes, a bit of conservative clothing, essentials, and rolled it all in a manner that it shouldn’t weigh more than what I can’t walk around with. Comfortable shoes.Making Friends: This is perhaps the most intriguing part of planning a solo trip. While one is on tour, even though we are advised to not disclose personal details. We tend to do it more often than we know. I figured out a handy solution to the challenge. I made a separate dedicated email ID for the people I met during the trip. And I hand those out instead. This help me to avoid being rude, avoid disclosing my personal details like phone no. or the frequently used email ID connected to my social accounts. But still is good enough to be in touch with all those incredible people you make friends with.Current Scenario: Before conducting your trip, ensure that you check the socio-political environment of the city. You don’t want to get stuck at the place for weeks because of your ignorance. And don’t forget to give a quick search to climatic conditions too. Sometime such small actions save you time, money, and all that trouble.Communication: This is probably most underestimated and assumed aspect of solo trip. Semi-Urban Cities and Rural India is not yet well connected. Even if it is one of the most exemplary tourist spot, you might not found the luxury of booking an Uber there. Your Google Map may ditch you too. So, please do yourself a favor carry cash for local cabbies and carry a physical map. Also, carry a prepaid card that has most connectivity (in case your trip is longer than expected).Hope this helps you plan your first solo trip Arun Kumar and Gaurav Vaishnav. Thank you for the A2A.

Solo Traveling can be a unique experience. In solo travelling you can do what you want to do. You learn many things about the place as well as you learn things about yourself. But as much as entertaining solo traveling may sound or as much as we want to take that ‘first solo travel’, the truth is many of us find it as a daunting task as we want to plan a perfect trip and avoid getting into uncalled situation. Many questions start rolling into the mind: Is it safe enough? Will it be boring? Will it be worth enough? How can we manage things? I would say don’t fear; take it up as a challenge as you make your first foray into the world of solo travel. You may find it confusing at once but it’s exciting as well. How about using these ideas: Decide where you want to go: Solo traveling is more about exploring the inner self rather than the place. Solo travel gives you the much needed time which you can spend with yourself away from all the stress and hustle bustle of daily life. So make sure to pick and choose the destination that makes you comfortable. It’s not necessary that you have to pick a place which is offbeat and less crowded. Probably you can choose a destination which is familiar to you, where you have been before or any popular tourist destination. You can even plan this on a long weekend. The idea is to be at comfort and in peace with yourself, as you are already stepping out of your comfort zone by travelling solo Research & Carry Guide Book: Make sure to be well versed with the place before you venture out on your solo trip. Do the required research, search through internet, read blogs, find out people who have been to the place before, talk to them. Getting to know the place beforehand is an absolute must. At the same time, it’s not a bad idea to carry the reference books along. After all, you never know where you will find the need to use them. I find this practice of carrying the knowledge books quite popular with the foreign travellers and it really helps sometime. Convincing the Family: Solo travelling as a concept is yet not popular in India. So while you pledge and decide to take your first solo travel, be prepared to face your family and answer the buddle of questions they might have, as you share your decision with them. Be sure of your plan, sound how excited you are, be confident, and promise to stay in touch throughout your trip. Probably you can share with them the details or the proposed itinerary way in advance. Keep in touch: Staying in touch with your family and friends during your Solo travel is a must. Make sure at least one person back home is always clued in to your plans Book the accommodation in advance: Plan your travel in such a way that you can reach the place well before the sun-set. The idea is to reach the place for the timely check-ins so that you have time to relax and enjoy the remaining trip to the fullest. But I would also suggest to at least book the accommodation for the very first day, if not for the complete trip; so that you know where you have to go once you reach the place. Personally I would recommend to look out for homestays or a family run guesthouse, where you can enjoy your breakfast with other independent travellers. This will also give you a chance to mingle up, making new friends and get good company to explore the place. Another important aspect will be an interaction with the local staff who could give you a head’s up about local places as well as safety issues. When looking for accommodations, watch for words like “lively”, “friendly”, and “family-owned”. After reading your guidebook, double check the reviews of the place you are choosing to stay on the internet and filter the reviews by travellers. Must have’s in your backpack: Pack light. Pack necessary. Pack miniature versions of toiletries and accessories. Avoid carrying valuables as much as possible, so you waste little time fretting about your bag’s safety. Don’t forget to pack a pepper spray for emergencies, keep a journal to record your travels, and most importantly, keep a good book that can draw your attention away from the awkwardness of eating alone Use public transport: While you solo travel, make sure to use public transportation or shared taxis for commuting from one place to another. It will give you two advantages: First to let go of the fear of hiring a rental taxi and go alone to wander the place. Second it’s much easier to meet people if you use public transportation or shared taxi. Who knows you might just get your travel buddy and create the most precious bond that you will cherish, your whole lifetime. Don’t isolate yourself in a rental car or a big hotel. Talk to strangers and be curious: Going solo means you have a chance to really take in your surroundings, meeting locals and travellers alike along the way. When you travel alone you accept the responsibility to reach out, be extroverted and strike up conversations with strangers. Talk to anyone and everyone who looks friendly. This is probably the best way to know and explore the place. Probably you get to a point or a place which you always wanted to see. And you’ll find that the most travelers and locals are happy to strike up a conversation with you. Be content to be by yourself, but confident enough to introduce yourself to people when you want to be sociable. Get an early start: If the thought of bar-hopping alone makes you die a little inside, or you think that traveling alone at night will not be safe enough: Just recast your day. Wake up early, enjoy a leisurely breakfast and head out for parks, museums and other daytime-only activities. If you pack your day full enough, you’ll be ready for bed by 9pm. Sign up for group activities: While solo traveling try to join hands with local group tours. Tours are an easy ways to meet new travel companion. Trust your intuition: Last but not the least, always listen to your instincts. While the entire aim of travelling solo is to step out of your comfort zone and discover the world at your own terms, it is important that you remember to trust your gut feeling at all times. It’s better to be safe than sorry. Listen to your instincts and they will help keep you safe in the midst of your adventures. If you need help ask for it. Get out of the situation as quickly as possible, even at the cost of a potential adventure or a hair raising story; you’ll come across plenty as you become a seasoned solo traveller! Solo travel is easier than you think and it’s more rewarding and intense than daily life. Give it a try; it’s better than staying at home.

Howdy!So, Crystal and Margaret's answers are spot on; working or work/exchanges are the easiest and most interesting strategies to make your money stretch (or turn a profit) while on the road.What I thought I could do to be of some assistance is point you toward some handy resources I've personally used to source both work and work exchanges while travelling.For work exchanges:WWOOFING (World Wide Workers on Organic Farms) - How it works | WWOOF. It's simple - you work for an average 4/5 hours per day at registered organic farms, in exchange for room and board. They have an extensive network of farms all over the world.COST = you have to pay for access to their directory of farms. Each country has its own WWOOF directory, so you may have to pay for access to more than one. The membership price varies, but isn't very much by all accounts,DIFFICULTY = it's really quite straight forward. Once you get access to te farm directory, you just have to go ahead and make contact with the farms you're interested in. Now this step can vary in difficulty as some are more rural than others, and may not have constant access to phone or email.RISK = in my experience there's just as much inherent risk going with a hostel/hotel. The best advice is to always ask around With fellow travelers if they've heard of your intended destination - bad news spread far, fast, and wide.Workaway.info the site for cultural exchange. Gap year volunteer for food and accommodation whilst travelling abroad. - simple and straightforward work exchange opportunities listed all around the world.COST = there is a one-time membership fee required for access to the listings for a duration of 1 year. It's $29 USD.DIFFICULTY = same difficulty as WWOOFING and essentially the same process. Pick a host advertisement you like, make contact, and agree upon a time and duration for your stay. in my experience, the listings here are easier to contact than some of the more rural WWOOFING farms.RISK = same inherent risks as staying anywhere whilst travelling. That being said, they have a well-used ratings and review system that enables workawayer's to give positive or negative feedback on their hosts, and vice versa. As a system it seems to work quite well in, at least, highlighting the less-than-ideal listings quite quickly.For paid work:Dave's ESL Cafe - the long existing first stop for any prospective English teacher looking for their first gig. The design and layout of the website is quite clunky and daged, but it does categorise job listings by Country and region. Worth noting, the forums are well-used but quite pessimistic and jaded in overall tone. I'd suggest sticking to the job-list board.COST = This path is completely free. The only costs you will have to incur will be the travel and accomodation costs you'll need to expend to get to the country you plan to teach in. Even then, in China and Korea, your work contract will contain a air flight reimbursement scheme - theyll give you about a $1000 bucks over a few payments throughout the year.DIFFICULTY = sifting between the shifty recruiters and businesses in the tefl world can be an exercise in patience and frustration. My personal tips would be: pick a country you want to work in outright, before doing any more homework. Once you've decided on that, find a blog or website giving a "complete guide" to tefl teaching in that respective country. Refer to that, use common sense, and just dive in. This is the best tactic that will save you the most time and mitigate against the pain-in-the-ass-ness of the research phase.RISK = the risks are really only monetary in nature. I.e., you could get screwed out of being payed by more shifty operators. This can be avoided at large by doing sufficient research and always doing a web search of the employers you're considering signing with - as I said, BAD NEWS TRAVELS FAR, FAST. AND WIDE.Anyhow, that's the extent of my knowledge. Hope it helps you in some way.