Solo Travel – Be smart and you will be safe

Published September 19, 2009 | By Janice

Cailin has been traveling all of her life. In the past couple of years she realized that traveling
could be her life… instead of just a once a year experience. Have a read of her blog: Travel Yourself.
Cailin is a graduate of NSCAD with a Major in film. When not traveling the world,
she works in the Film & TV industry in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

I have done a few solo trips in the past couple of years however it was my most recent trip that really showed to me to remember that smart and safe go hand in hand when Traveling by Yourself.

Solo Travel – Be smart and you will be safe

Where Cailin met the sketchy man.

Just because you are traveling solo doesn’t mean anyone else needs to know that. Example recently when in Scotland taking photos in the Prince’s Gardens in front of Edinburgh castle a nice old Scottish man came up and started talking to me about my camera and where I was traveling from. Seemed harmless so I indulged in a little chit chat until he started asking what I was doing on my whole trip and if I would hang out with him. At that moment I “realized” that I had to meet some friends at the train station right then and I took off. He was none the wiser that I had only arrived there a couple hours ago and was by myself and that the train station was the only landmark I knew so far and a place with alot of people around. No harm no foul.

For every bad encounter there are hundreds of good ones. Example # 1 is Later that night I found myself having dinner by myself in a pub. After talking with the waitress two ladies next to me heard my accent and asked where I was from. Turns out they were from Canada too and even though they were just finishing up they stayed around and talked to me through the rest of my meal. No longer was I eating alone, but now I also had some site seeing friends with good recommendations and I had gotten myself an invite to South Africa! (where one of the ladies was originally from). Example #2, the next day I decided to conquer the climb to the top of the Scot Monument and met a guy my age from Philadelphia who was abandoned by a travel companion who was sick of sightseeing and instantly I had a climbing buddy, however it was hard to get to know someone while gasping for air! Man that thing is high!