Travelling Solo

A few of my friends made the exciting decision to travel by themselves this summer and asked me for some tips for the solo traveller. For some of them, it's their first big travel experience so they were obviously a little nervous about boarding the plane into the unknown for over a month.

I've been very fortunate to have already had so many amazing travel adventures, from family holidays to school trips, French exchanges, a World Challenge expedition and a Gap Year. Most recently, I travelled round Australia, my first travel experience entirely on my own outside of Europe, so I'm fresh off the traveller circuit and have put together some tips for the solo traveller:

1. Research your first stop

For me, the scariest thing about travelling is the moment you first arrive in the country. You'll most likely be tired and groggy after the long-haul flight and will want nothing more to be showered and in a comfy bed but instead you've got to navigate your way to the hostel, usually without using trusty google maps (shock horror).

This is, however, easy peasy if you book your hostel in advance and check the directions before your go - usually there will be public transport available instead of a pricey taxi. Some hostels even offer shuttle bus services so look out for those.

Be prepared though - on my first night in Budapest the hostel had double booked me and my friend and we were left walking through the streets with our backpacks at midnight in an unknown city (eventually we ended up crashing in another hostel common room for the night after they took pity on us)!

2. Make friends!

This sounds obvious but just go for it. Other travellers are probably the easiest people to form friendships with - everyone's out there for the same reason so you've at least got one thing in common already, plus a lot of other people will be on their own and looking for friends! Before I'd even checked in at my first hostel in Sydney I'd already made friends with a lovely German girl I met on the street!

Don't know where to start? Usually asking the famous backpacker questions, Where are you from? Where are you travelling to? How long have you been travelling? Where next? ... You'll have this conversation A MILLION times!

3. Approach people

I actually found this easier travelling by myself than with a friend, just because you're in a very open position (I normally found people would approach me) and you have to force yourself to talk to people otherwise you'd be by yourself and lonely. Keep your phone in your pocket, put your book away and go and talk to people.

4. Stay in dorms

Probably the easiest way to make friends is with your roommates in a hostel. If you've been travelling a while sometimes if you've got the money it can be a dream to treat yourself to a couple of nights in a private room but if you're up for socialising the dorms are where it's at.

5. Get involved

Lots of hostels run events such as bar crawls and city tours so going along to those is a surefire way to meet people and explore the place you're visiting.

6. Take a kindle/book

There will inevitably be times when you'll be by yourself and embrace these moments by bringing a good book or kindle with you to read, whether you'll be relaxing by the beach or sitting on a (very) long bus journey. Kindles are great because you've got an everlasting collection of things to read but don't panic if you haven't got one - swap books with other travellers or lots of hostels run a book exchange. There are also places like The Little Library in Melbourne where you can borrow, swap or donate a book.

7. Cook with others

Cooking for one doesn't always turn out cheaper and I actually often found it cheaper to eat out. Depending where you are in the world, the price of food is obviously going to vary - I don't think I cooked once in South East Asia since the street food was so cheap!

Pesto pasta is always a winning formula, especially as you'll be able to carry the ingredients with you from hostel to hostel. Team up with other travellers and you can all chip in to ingredients for a slightly more exciting meal or a BBQ on the beach - ALWAYS a good idea.

8. Be selfish

The beauty of travelling on your own is you can decide exactly what YOU want to do. Wander around the city and soak up the place, look online and ask around where's good to go and visit the places that interest you. This is your chance to be incredibly selfish so enjoy it, you're not tied down to anyone.

9. Buy a selfie stick

Ok, so before I bought my selfie stick I've got to admit I used to laugh at people who had them. When I got to Barcelona and was out exploring the city on my own enjoying the view at the MNAC I saw a man selling them and, having just booked my solo trip to Oz, decided to make the purchase. €4 later, I'd switched over to the selfie stick side and I'm a true convert - honestly even the biggest cynics were begging to get into my group selfies. My secret weapon for making friends!

10. Social Media

An inexhaustible tool for travellers, whether you're looking for travel buddies (I met two Germans who were driving around together after meeting on Facebook) or trying to find cool places to go (Instagram, Instagram, Instagram). Also an amazing way to keep in touch with everyone and share photos, either while you're travelling or in future - I met up with a friend I'd met in Vietnam again in Budapest after seeing her Snapchat story.

Also the best way to keep in contact with friends/family back home. Or start a blog... like this one!

Hong Kong

When I booked my Australia trip I thought I'd make the most of the fact I was travelling across the world by extending my stopover in Hong Kong by a couple of days to see the sites and visit friends and family. It really is an incredible place like nowhere else I've ever been to; an urban jungle where everything is built on top of each other so you're always moving about different levels through a contrasting mix of traditional markets and luxurious hotels. Meanwhile, outside of central the city is by no means all concrete skyscrapers, but a sea of greenery with gorgeous views of the surrounding bays.

I arrived late on Monday night and took a taxi to my cousin Mike's apartment in the beautiful Repulse Bay. His wife, Jane, took me out in Central the following day and was an excellent tour guide, taking me up Victoria Peak where there were amazing panoramic views (we were very lucky with the weather as it was a clear day for HK) and we took the tram back all the way down which was really steep - like taking a funicular in the mountains. She took me to a cute local restaurant for lunch then we had a very pampered afternoon with traditional massages and foot rubs before we picked the kids up from school and relaxed by the pool at the country club for the afternoon (it's a hard life).

Later I met up with my uni friend, Anthony, for cocktails at the famous Captain's Bar in the Mandarin Oriental, where we had a quick catch up before supper. Mike, Jane and my other cousins very generously took us out to The China Club, which had the most beautiful interiors and a very impressive art collection. We watched the daily Hong Kong light show from the rooftop then headed down for a delicious meal of Chinese delights: Peking duck and pancakes, spring rolls, dumplings, sizzling beef and of course fortune cookies. We definitely had the best table in the room, positioned right in front of the stage where all sorts of acts were performing throughout the evening, including a tea dancer and a noodle-making display!

Jane took me to Stanley Market the next morning to stock up on souvenirs and presents for everyone back home, then it was Anthony's turn to play tour guide and he was keen to show me the true local experience: lunch at Macau restaurant in Tsim Sha Tsui for fried rice and China tea, a walk around the gorgeous tranquil spot Chi Lin Nunnery in Diamond Hill, fortunes read at the Won Tai Sin Temple (apparently I am going to meet a nice man in November at a party), ate famous 'cheese tarts' despite being so full from lunch (when in Hong Kong), took the Star Ferry to central for dinner at Joy Hing in Wanchai, arguably the best barbecued pork in Hong Kong. This place runs out every day is always packed. We were lucky to get probably the last two portions of the day!

Next was time to check out HK's vibrant nightlife. Anthony booked us a table at Scratch in Wanchai where a huge group of his friends joined us for a few games of stack cup, a game I'm definitely going to take back to uni with me! Afterwards we jumped on a tram to Lan Kwai Fong where we hit up a few clubs, Levels and Play, in an amazing multi-storey building. The 7/11 also pretty much turns into a bar at night, with everyone buying drinks and chatting in the streets. The atmosphere was absolutely buzzing and everyone was so friendly, was really gutted to be leaving having just met some wonderful people! HK, I'll be back!

After a flight that felt like forever I finally touched down in London Heathrow. It's good to be home, see friends and family and chill out back in my own bed (although I'm also secretly planning my next trip)!

Melbourne

My final stop in Australia! During my travels I met so many people who had already been and had a list as low no as my arm of places to visit (mainly brunch/dessert restaurants) as well as a handful of places I'd seen on Instagram. Melbourne really is the brunch capital of the world!

I spent my first day with a visit to the state library which had an impressive dome and a couple of interesting exhibitions about Melbourne's history. As I left the museum there was a free walking tour going on so I joined the tour for about an hour as the guide led us around the city, eventually peeling myself off to meet Jack, Theo and Astrid for souvenir shopping at Queen Victoria Market followed by Nutella-filled doughnuts at Doughnut Time, which seemed to be the busiest/most popular place in Melbourne! Afterwards we went around the film museum and had fun with the interactive exhibits, filming ourselves in bullet time predicting we were in The Matrix. Later we ticked off another place on my list, the Ponyfish Island Bar, a really cute bar on the river where we properly experienced Australian winter with mulled wine and outdoor heaters. Harry, another Exeter friend studying at Deaken this year, came in to meet me and we all went for dinner together in Chinatown. That evening I went to see what Melbourne's nightlife had to offer and a group of us went to the famous Revolver (or "Revs") on Chapel Street for a rather edgy night out. 

The next morning I met up with Harry again who gave me a personal city tour - it always helps knowing some locals! We explored the street art in Hosier Lane, visited the National Gallery of Victoria then went over to Fitzroy in the afternoon where we browsed the adorable Rose Street Market and had ice cream at Messina (another one crossed off the list)! That evening my friend Meijke who I'd met on Fraser Island hosted a drinks party at her house to celebrate her birthday. It was fun to catch up with her and meet some more Aussie (and Dutch) locals!

On my last full day I managed to tick off the one place I'd been desperate to go to before I'd even got to Australia. I saw an Instagram from The Naughty Boy Café before I flew out and knew I needed to visit when I got to Melbourne. Turned out it was just round the corner from Meijke's house and she also raved about it so it was a no-brainer. Breakfast that morning was an 'instashake' - brownie, Nutella and freeze-dried fruit - that was so impressive the man sitting opposite me insisted he took a photo. Probably just fast-tracked myself to type 2 diabetes and was in a sugar coma for the rest of the day but it was totally worth it!

Harry had tickets to watch an Aussie Rules match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground that afternoon so we went along with a group of his uni friends to watch Collingwood get thrashed by Port Adelaide and tried to grasp a concept of the rules. Afterwards we explored the shops for some final souvenirs and said our goodbyes and I packed my bags, ready to leave for Hong Kong.

The Grampians and Great Ocean Road

Becca far too generously came with me to the pick up point for my Groovy Grape tour from Adelaide to Melbourne which left at 6:45am - I've clearly got very nice friends! Our tour leader, Sid, stopped by every hostel in Adelaide picking people up then we headed for the Grampians. Sid had an impressive music collection on his 128gb iPod and had put together a playlist of entirely Melbourne talent that had us all singing along and shazaming throughout the journey. There was a complete mix of people on the trip - everyone from gap yah travellers to a 60 year old and her 14 year old niece (who had somehow made it on to an over-18 only tour).

After a little drive, we stopped off at Josephine Falls where we walked down to a waterfall before hiking back up. Sid also took us down some hidden tracks that even locals didn't know about where we discovered incredible views and not another tourist in sight. We finished the day at Halls Cap Oval where there were wild kangaroos everywhere, then finished off in a tucked away cabin for the night where we played board games by the fire. The freezing weather was definitely a shock to the system after travelling up the East Coast!

The next day we made it on to the Great Ocean Road, stopping off at more secret lookouts and beaches as well as visiting the famous ones - The Bay of Islands, Port Cambell and sunset at The Twelve Apostles.

Another night's stay in another pretty much private hostel then we were up again at dawn for a short hike to Beauchamp Falls Conservation Reserve. Towards the end of the Great Ocean Road we stopped for lunch at Kennett River where there were wild koalas sleeping in the trees and we had a chance to feed the exotic birds!

Finally Sid dropped us off at our respective hostels in Melbourne. I was staying at Nomads along with Jack and Theo from my tour and the boys signed us up for a trivia quiz the hostel was running that evening. Fia and their friend James joined our team and we went on to win a decent $50 bar tab!

Adelaide

Although the flight down from Cairns was only a couple of hours, it passed really slowly as I was impatiently waiting to be reunited with my Exeter besties I hadn't seen for almost a year. Becca was waiting for me at the airport and we had a very over-excited reunion as we both tried to catch each other up with everything that had happened in our lives over the past year. After dropping off our bags we headed straight into town for linner (if brunch is a thing why not have a meal inbetween lunch and dinner?) at Sit Lo, which we took away to eat down by the Oval riverbank where we watched the sunset.

Later we met up with Beth and their group of friends to do The Escape Hunt, an escape the room experience where you and your team are locked into a room for 60 minutes and have to crack the clues to escape. The ten of us split into two teams of 5 and were put into rooms next door to each other so we could hear through the walls how well the others were getting on. Our team whizzed on ahead until we were stumped by a blurry projector screen to help us configure the final clue. After 20 minutes playing around with a magnify glass and pondering every last letter/number/symbol we could see, we heard the other team escape and our time ran out. A woman came in to release us and show us how to crack the code, only to look at the projector and say "oh, well that's never happened before". Turned out we had a faulty projector and we could have cracked the final code in minutes! We called it a draw.

Afterwards everyone headed to their favourite student hangout, The Austral, for celebratory drinks - after all, everyone was a winner. The girls were pretty tired although classic Becca still had endless realms of energy for a night out. We went to meet up with her Aussie mates at The Cumby where we had a great night out with some real Adelaide locals.

The following morning, the girls and I headed for Sunday brunch at The Marketshed, an amazing little place tucked away and full of organic brunch superfood stalls on a Sunday morning. Becca and I then spent the afternoon in Hahndorf, a cute local German-influenced town a short bus ride from the city centre. Our hangovers had begun to kick in by the afternoon but we soon perked up after some strawberry milkshakes in the sunshine and a walk around town. I popped out for a drink with another friend from uni in the evening to give the girls a chance to get some work done in time for their deadlines the next day. Afterwards I finally got to try kangaroo, as we tucked in to homemade burgers for dins.

Monday was a chance to spend some time with Beth and we got up bright and early to take the train to Hallett Cove for a coastal walk with Sophie and India, two other Exeter students out here for the year (bleeding green everywhere). Beth and I then went for a wander around the centre of Adelaide and had haloumi and chickpea burgers in the central market. In case you hadn't realised, Adelaide has a pretty strong brunch game. Later, Beth showed me round the uni and I explored the shops while she got some work done - it's the end of term so deadlines were looming. Becca came and found me after work and we hung out for the afternoon until dinner time when we met up with some friends of my Grannie who very sweetly took us out to an amazing Asian restaurant, Ky Chow. We headed back for early birthday cake to celebrate Beth's 21st in a few days time then I packed up for my tour along the Great Ocean Road early the next morning.

Thanks for a great few days girls!

Cairns

I arrived in Cairns, my final stop along the East Coast, bright and early at 5:30am on Wednesday morning on my final Greyhound bus of the trip. Although it was a bit of an early start it was worth taking an overnight bus to give myself more time in the day to explore and save myself a night's accommodation. In Cairns I stayed at Gilligan's hostel which had been recommended to me by loads of people and turned out to be in a fantastic location whereas the others seemed to be a little walk away - no fun when you're carrying a heavy backpack.

I made the most of my early start by having a quick Skype call home - something that's usually a little tricky to orchestrate out here thanks to lack of wifi and a 9 hour time difference. Later Emer, a girl I'd met on the Clipper and was also on the 5am bus, and I met up for breakie at a place called Re:hab, another brunch place I'd spotted on Buzzfeed which was just what we needed. Coffee is amazing out here and was definitely necessary that early in the morning!

Anyone travelling up the East Coast will finish in Cairns, meaning you're pretty much guaranteed to run into other backpackers you've met along the way so I was never without friends. The first day was a very chilled one, swimming at the Esplanade and catching up with friends.

Next it was time for a trip to the Great Barrier Reef and I'd booked a cruise with Ocean Free, a really friendly company who really looked after us - lots of good food, fish feeding (including Barry the barracuda who followed the boat everywhere), riding their glass bottom boat around the reef and snorkelling. Two minutes after we got into the water on girl looked down and saw a huge reef shark. Most people thought she was joking until she showed us the GoPro footage! The highlight was definitely swimming with turtles, just like Finding Nemo!

My final day was a Waterfall Wanderers tour into the rainforest. While the tour is usually full with 28 people, there were only 6 of us girls and our guide Mikey so we ended up having a really intimate tour as a small group. We visited all the famous spots including Josephine Falls where there is a natural rock slide and Millaa Millaa, known for the Herbal Essences advert and Peter Andre's mysterious girl video. We also had a chance to spot some wildlife, including a wild tree kangaroo which looks more cuddly than a koala.

Made it back for a $4 (about £2) hostel dinner and a night out at the Gilligan's bar. At the airport now, having packed up my summer clothes and suncream in preparation for real Australian winter down in Adelaide.