(Part 2) Best products from r/solotravel

I solo traveled through the Balkans quite a bit, and you're going to love it!

When you're in Slovenia, Ljubljana is a great base for day trips. If you have the time, I would highly recommend renting a car and checking out the following places:

• Lake Bled (obviously) -- spend the morning there before the crowd hits and then make the quick drive to Lake Bohinj. It's another gorgeous lake, and you actually get a better view of the mountains.
  
  
• Skocjan caves -- I believe that they are the 3rd or 4th largest caves in the world, and it really feels like the mines of moria when you're walking through. You can see old bridges and steps from original explorers. It's just really cool. There are another set of caves that are more popular, but I actually prefer Skocjan. There are also far fewer people there
  
  
• Piran -- Slovenia doesn't have much coastline, but the stuff that it does have is phenomenal. Simply a gorgeous little town full of atmosphere
  
  
• The Vršič Pass -- This road is an absolute blast to drive through as it winds through the Julian alps near the Italian border.
  
  
  If you rent a car, you can easily do a couple of these in a day.
  
  
  For Croatia, I would try to hit up:
  
  
• Rovinj -- This town is the most beautiful I've seen in Croatia. It's tucked up in Instrian part of the country near Slovenia. You do get a descent amount of tourists there, but nowhere near as bad as Dubrovnik (see below). The town more than makes up for it, though. Seriously, this place is gorgeous. Wake up early and stroll the cobbled alleys as the sun rises then grab a burek and some fresh figs for breakfast. Highly recommended.
  
  
• Zagreb -- I actually really enjoyed Zagreb. It has a really cool vibe, and is mercilessly without too many tourists (huge problem in Croatia). The museums in particular were fascinating, my favorites being the museum of broken relationships and the museum of naive art..
  
  
• Plitvice Lakes -- This national park is simply gorgeous. If you go, get there as soon as it opens to have the park all to yourself.
  
  
  
  Split and Dubrovnik and really beautiful places, but in my opinion they have been ruined by the number of tourists, esp. Dubrovnik. Holy shit number of people in Dubrovnik. You can barely move in that city. Don't get me wrong, it's stupidly cool to walk around the city wall and 'see' kings landing, but it's not really worth it in my opinion. Not to mention that Dubrovnik was easily the most expensive Croatian city that i went to. I would say that I had this conversation with about a dozen people in my hostel, and almost all of them agreed with this. If you have limited time, I'd honestly give Dubrovnik a pass (it is a great launching point to go to Mostar and Kotor, though). Split is better, and I really enjoyed the old palace. Didn't go to Zadar.
  
  If you're trying to hit up an island and have a unique experience, try couchsurfing at Hvar with this guy. You'll be 'camping' at this private beach with other CSers, and it's incredibly cool.
  
  
  For B&H:
  
  
• Mostar -- Forr suuuuure. Awesome, awesome place.
  
  
• Sarajevo -- one of my favorite cities in the world. I stayed at the Ferdinand Hostel (I think), and I had a great time. I've heard good things about other hostels there too. Hit up the Sarajevski brewery and the abandoned Olympic bobsleds. Also go to a football match if you can; their fans are really passionate. The Tito bar by the university is also a good spot to check out.
  
  If you're going to be near Dubrovnik anyway, I'd highly recommend:
  
  
• Kotor, Montenegro -- A criminally underrated city in a gorgeously tucked into a bay surrounded by mountains. Spending two days there is a great decision as you can do a quick tour of the country in a day trip. Stay at the Old town hostel
  ___
  
  General tips, notes, suggestions:
  
  
• Bring some compression travel bags for dirty clothes. They keep in smell and keep your bag small. One of the best travel accessories.
  
  
• All of these places are very safe. There's no need to worry about that
  
  
• The public transport is very good, and hitch hiking is definitely an option if you're comfortable.
  
  
• Bring good ear plugs. Just do it
  
  
• I'd suggest bringing a sleeping bag liner. If you don't have a ton of time (or a ton of backpack room), you might not use it often, but when you need one they are a lifesaver.
  
  
• Get the Rick Steves Slovenia & Croatia guide. It's a phenomenal resource (much better than lonely planet IMO), and it includes sections on both Mostar and Sarajevo.
  
  
• Eat hella burek, Cevapi, and figs.
  
  
  Good luck, have fun, and let me know if you have any questions!

>For instance, how do I make sure my stuff is safe in the dorm room?

Well that depends on the room. Are there 12 people, or 4? Are there lockable containers for bags? I can't speak to Costa Rica, but check out hostels online. They'll tell you if they have these amenities. Bring locks, and lock your stuff up.

>Do I need to bring my own toiletries?

This depends on where you're going. Can you get the toiletries you want to use in Costa Rica? I have no idea. I would bring all my own, especially since a week isn't that long. I keep all my important stuff in a hard see through plastic TSA safe bag.

My best suggestion for a hostel amenity is a lightweight packable towel.

This is what I use, and I love it.

>I do not speak Spanish, will that be a big problem?

It's not hard to communicate, if you put the effort into it. But learning phrases and greetings will make you a more pleasant person to converse with. Whether its that important is really up to you.

>How do you meet people?

I am a very lazy traveler. I don't like to overdo things. I try to find one, maybe touristy type of attraction or place to visit a day, and spend most of the rest of my time wandering around taking pictures, or reading in bars, cafes, wherever I am really. It's easiest to meet people in bars, because if you walk up to someone smiling, it's generally not that hard to make friends. Hostel bars are purpose built for this usually.

>Any other advice of stuff to bring, or things to do?

If you drink, do so moderately. When you're all by yourself in a foreign country, always be careful. Know how much you've had, and stay hydrated. Don't do drugs, it's just not worth buying from unknown sources.

As for hostels in general, the golden rule is, DON'T BE A DICK. Literally everything else goes. Banging in a shared room is ONLY ever acceptable if it is non peak use hours, and you have the room to yourself. That means stopping and becoming civil if someone comes in. You don't have to talk to everyone you meet, but I highly recommend it. Great way to practice your small talk.

I also highly recommend a pack of these earplugs.
They are not like normal foam earplugs, and always remember to put both in at a time. Just in one ear will throw your whole heads pressure system off.

Expect to pay 10-20 bucks a day on the subway. Really depends on how much you plan to move day to day and how much you plan to walk. Major cities can be walked across in a day through the major metro areas so it's possible to land someplace, walk all day, and then just take the subway/train back. A bullet train ticket is about 130 or so. If you plan to take the bullet train, get a rail pass. One roundtrip on it pretty much pays for the pass. There are also airpasses, where you can fly to like 5 different cities for about 10,000 yen.

Food is all over the place. But in general again you'll be walking everywhere. You'll be eating all of the time and still losing weight probably, unless you are normally super active. Expect food to be generally a bit more expensive and expect to be eating a bit more than normal.

Tips -

Buy this. http://www.amazon.com/Say-Japanese-Dover-Language-Guides/dp/0486208079/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1348785755&sr=1-2&keywords=say+it+in+japanese My favorite phrasebook.

Make sure your phone can type in Japanese characters if you're planning to head outside of the big cities. Often subway/train maps aren't romanized so I would cheat and type in the name of the station I was trying to get to and then look for the characters. If you have an iPhone or Android phone there are a few metro apps that are useful for planning routes.

Look into staying with a family. It can be a pretty fun first experience and you'll have someone to lean on. But depends on the family. :) Something to look into.

Plan to walk -a lot-. Perhaps more than you ever have in your life. Whenever I travel I expect to walk 6-10 hours a day. I make sure I have comfy shoes, bring anti-fungus cream, lots of clean socks, band-aids for blisters, etc etc. Not having your feet in tiptop shape can really bring down a trip.

Look into various festivals and stuff going on. There's always something interesting coming up. Spring has cherry blossom season (which is amazing), Summer has like a summer festival and fireworks someplace in the country every weekend it seems. Festivals in fall and winter as well and of course, christmas and new years is a big todo there.

And my favorite tip -

Before I went on my solo-trips to Korea and Japan, I made penpals in both countries. So, when I went to visit I had friends there already ready to show me about, go drinking with, etc etc. It was a ton of fun.

> I have booked everything with free cancellation or the ability to modify dates, so I’d rather know now then when it is too late.


I don't have any feedback for your plan as I've never been to Portugal before. Though I just wanted to say is great that there's free cancellation because it means you can keep things a bit flexible. Try not to over plan as it takes the spontaneity out of it! One of the biggest perks of solo traveling is that you can do what ever you want, how ever you want, when ever on the fly! So the less structure means the more freedom.


Since you're staying in hostels you're going to meet a lot of people a long the way, so you'll never know who you'll meet and click with and end up traveling with for part of your trip too, so yeah is good to be have a bit of that flexibility! There's plenty of awesome places that I've otherwise wouldn't have been to, if it wasn't for recommendations from other travelers I've met in Hostels. I've also traveled with some amazing people for days and weeks because alll because I decided to ask them randomly what they were doing that day and if I could tag along! Though yeah of course there's boxes to tick off and prebooked flights from one city to another so is hard to be super flexible, but you get the idea!


> a light enough backpack (booked low cost airlines)


If you're struggling to keep the weight down, beyond wearing all your heavier clothing when you're at the airport, have a plastic shopping bag on hand and put some of your heavier stuff inside it! Bonus points if is a bag that looks like or is a duty free one from the airport. I've done this so many times and no one ever asked to weigh it.


> how to keep my money and myself safe


Get a money belt if you didn't already have one! I never like to carry a lot of money at one time. If you can, get a travel visa card. Is a good idea to use it to withdraw from ATMs once every few days so you're not carrying a crazy amount of money on you all the time. Find out if you can get a card that doesn't charges like foreign transaction fees, and exchange fees if possible, that would save some you money (Find out which local banks ATMs has the lowest ATM withdrawal fee too if money is a big concern). Always keep some emergency money and maybe back up card hidden in your main pack. So you'll have two separate sources of money in the worst case scenario that you loses one. One of my friend lost all her money in Turkey one time because she carried like $1000 in cash and her passport in her backpack and then when she woke up from her overnight bus trip her backpack was on the floor and all her money and passport was gone. That was a headache to say the least! So yeah be aware of your belonging at all times. This tip is more for like Southeast Asia but I guess could apply for any overnight journeys. Besides having locks for the zip in your bags and stuff, a small cable lock like this can be pretty handy just to lock your bag against something so people can't just easily snatch it and run off with it.


As for keeping yourself safe. Trust your gut, if something doesn't feel right, nope the fuck out of there. Avoid dimly lit streets at night. Just the usual big cities stuff really! Read up about pickpockets and scams that a common in Portugal so you have a better idea what to deal with.


Sorry is not really all doom and gloom, I haven't been mugged once and I've been on so many solo trips since my first one almost year ago (I was fondest of that one). You're going to have such a crazy time since is your first solo trip too! Be brave, be spontaneous and don't worry too much, go with the flow sometimes! Is going to be an experience! Sorry again that I couldn't help you about Portugal in general!

I'm a female solo traveller who has been to Thailand twice because I enjoyed it to much -- and would go back to see more someday. A couple of notes...

While I'm definitely a fan of having a plan, I've learned that it's good to be flexible as you start your trip. You don't have to decide now if you are going to do a day trip to Ayutthaya or not -- just see how the week is going. It's super easy to get there and back by train and you may be wanting a break from the city. It's different from Angor Wat and could make for an interesting comparison if you like ruins.

Hospitals in Thailand are so ridiculously cheap. I had bad food poisoning at one point and went to the emergency room in Pai. I had blood work and antibiotics and rehydration fluids for... $8.50. That having been said, the vast majority of foreigners were in there for scooter accidents -- they're not inherently unsafe, just be careful.

If you're looking to save money, considering spending some time away from the major tourist destinations. Chiang Mai is cheaper than BKK and the islands but you can do the Mae Hong Son loop for even less... and other less travelled areas for cheaper still.

Bring new, small USD bills for the border crossing to and from Cambodia.

Scuba diving is truly one of my favorite things to do while traveling but it will break your budget of 20-25 USD a day.

I haven't gone but have heard that there's good rock climbing up near Chiang Mai as well.

I use wikitravel.org a lot instead of guide books.

Most of the scammy problems I encountered were in BKK and at border crossings. As a solo traveller be prepared to be a bit wary -- a friendly but firm no works well. If you do take a cab or tuk tuk always negotiate the price in advance.

It will be a long travel day to Angor Wat and back to Thailand. Consider seeing more of Cambodia if you are going to make the journey... Battangbam and the southern beaches (Kap, etc) are close once you're already to Siem Reap. Much much cheaper too.

Be sure to bring good sunscreen and mosquite repellant and afterbite. I use this which works well for me but I don't burn super easily: https://www.amazon.com/Avon-Guard-Plus-Expedition-Spray/dp/B00CECC6JK/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1468245948&sr=8-2&keywords=skin+so+soft+repellent+spf

ENJOY! Thailand is great.

Itinerary and duration for Budapest in June looks fine to me. It doesn't sound like you're ill-prepared at all. Meeting your mates for the football is also a great psychological 'goal' (haha) on your journey to keep you moving. My other thoughts:

• I find having a Lonely Planet really helpful. I'd recommend getting their 'SE Asia on a Shoestring' guide.
  
• I pack as light possible. First time I went travelling I threw/gave away half my clothes/stuff cause I wasn't using them.
  
• For hostels, if you want to stay flexible with dates and locations, I'd say book the night before otherwise you may potentially be tied to a date/location that is not your preference (if you had booked well in advance). Also consider Couchsurfing where kind locals accommodate you for free. A great way to meet people and save money.
  
• I made a video guide for the Trans-Siberian railway, which provides info on costs, tickets, internerary, mistakes, etc. Vladivostok to St Petersburg can be done for just £200.
  
  Good luck. Your trip sounds awesome. Within a week, I'm sure you'll be super confident about it all! : )

A little late to the party here but I have a few things that I think will help.

• Get a camera insert bag (like this one - $10.
  
  
• I absolutely LOVE this Peak Design Capture Clip system - $70. It has an all-metal construction and holds up really well. It keeps your camera attached to a backpack strap or belt loop and is so much more convenient than a neck strap. Highly recommend.
  
  
• I use this small backpack for daily use - $20 -- it packs down to the size of your hand and is great when you just need something to stash your camera, rain jacket, sunscreen, bottle of water, etc for daily activities. Not camera specific, I just love it.

First: https://www.amazon.com/FBSport-Inflatable-Mattress-Camping-Universal/dp/B01EKT08U8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1493212805&sr=8-1&keywords=car+bed

The most important 40 bucks of the trip lol.

Second: since you are going to go up the east coast, I HIGHLY recomend going all the way up to Montreal, Quebec, CA and Quebec City. Not only will you feel like youre in Europe, but you will eat (imo) the best food in North America. Im talkin putine on poutine on poutine. If you are interest, I have about a dozen recs on restaurants in Quebec, Ca.


3rd: I would definitley try to be in Texas or some other Red state for July 4th. Say what you want about Conservatives, but you cant deny that they know how to do Independance Day.
As for the remainder of the trip, there are DEF some unique places I would recomend at least stopping at for a day, for example I would recomend a south stretch something like this: Malibu or some other fucking awesome beach on the pacific, then to grand canyon, then to Albuqurque NM to see some cool Alien shit, then to The Alamo (may need a night in between, I dont know the exact distance) Probably spend a day or two in Dallas or Austin, then head to New Orleans. From there, go to the coastal part of Alabama for a nice relaxing beach day, then head home.

I did a 100 day backpacking trip around the world with a North Face Backtrack 50. It was small enough to be a carry on. Some advice others have mentioned here, first aid kit is very important, along with copies of your passport and some passport photos just in case. You should also have photocopies of your credit cards and their 1-800 number if you're bring them along. A lock to keep your belongings safe. Travelers duct tape is also useful. They're small and doesn't take up space but very handy to have. If you'll be doing laundry yourself without a machine, a sink stopper and cloths line are useful too. Eating utensils are also useful like this immersion heater, or fold up cups etc.

Wardrobe is fine, though it's better to use synthetic fabrics for t-shirts and such since it dries faster and doesn't wrinkle like cotton does when you shove it into a bag. Also to not stand out as much as a tourist, all your cloths should also match. Greys and browns work well with everything should you decide to wear the same cloths a few days in a row. If you're paranoid about getting robbed, a money belt is also good. If you get past the dorkyness of it's wonderful. I had most my stuff in it while keeping some money in my pockets. You don't want to be whipping the belt out for every purchase. That's all I can think of at the moment. If i come up with more I'll edit this comment.

Looks like an OK kit. You will probably do better buying things on your own. Personally I prefer a head lamp over a flashlight. I also highly recommend a backup battery. I have the EasyAcc 26,000mAh to replenish my electronics.

I would also recommend a camera of some sort. I am using the Nikon AW1 for its ruggedness and underwater ability.

I think the clasp is incredibly cheap and nothing more than security theater giving you a false sense of security.

I have used those soap sheets and if you get even a few drops of water in the container it basically becomes a bar of soap.

For the cutlery, you will want a better knife for multipurpose uses, that knife looks like it won't cut much of anything. I use the Sea to Summit Long Spoon and a Buck knife to handle all of my cutting needs.

You probably only need one towel and zip locks make fantastic toiletry bags. Spare stuff sacks or even a cheap mesh sack work well for laundry bags.

TL;DR: That pack will cover you, but you will be able to find better gear more to your liking if you piece it together yourself.

Hope this helps!

EDIT: Google Chrome will auto-translate that to English as well!

I prefer a crossbody bag over a backpack, it's easier to deal with on public transit, etc -- I can keep my eyes on it better and it just looks like a purse. I've been using one of these Pacsafe ones for the past few years and really like it. Most of the anti-theft features are overkill but it has some nice travel features, like water bottle pocket and umbrella pocket and lots of various compartments. I got it on sale though, not sure I would pay full price though I have gotten a lot of use out of it and it still is in really good shape after multiple month-long trips. But prior to purchasing this one I used a few different cheap cross-body bags/messenger bags with zippers and they were just fine too.

Edited to add: Another advantage to a cross-body bag is that I can easily wear it with my full-size backpack on travel days instead of looking like a doofus with a backpack on my front too (which has always looked super uncomfortable to me), and still be able to access everything I need from my daybag without taking anything off.

You need a passport. Get that going first. (If you're a US citizen, this is the link you want.)

I think the best thing to do is to pick up a travel book for your intended destinations. Read through it, use it to plan and budget, then bring it along when you go. Let's Go is geared towards young adults. It's kind of fun to read through and plan.

Kayak.com is great for finding budget flights. Late night and early morning flights, mid-week flights, and flights with a few connections save airfare. Basically, less convenient = lower fare most of the time.

You'd probably do well staying in youth hostels. You can meet other people your age very easily in them. There are also rail passes for western europe that can save you money and hassle. There are also very cheap flights to be had within Europe: Ryanair comes to mind.

Plan to pack light, it will save you money and make your trip far better. www.onebag.com is a helpful resource there. You really only need a couple changes of clothes, a bathing suit, a travel towel, toiletries, a smartphone, and some warm & waterproof layers. Packing light makes a trip so much better.

Not OP but I can really recommend this tri pod it's awesome and is great if you like to travel more "rough" terrain where a normal tri-pod wouldn't work as well :) It's pretty cheap too ^enough ^adds ^for ^now ^/s

How long are you going for? I'd ditch the macbook if you can.

As for hostels, pick up a spare battery like this Anker 6000mAh one.

Basically, you can charge the battery during the day (if it's stolen, it's only worth $20-$30), and then when you need to charge your smartphone or camera you can just toss it in the locker to charge.

For SEA, be the most careful in Vietnam, particularly HCMC. I met at least 5 people that had their phone stolen there. Vietnam was still my favorite country of my trip, but you just have to be careful. I'd highly suggest leaving your phone back in the hostel locker when you go out at night drinking.

Don't bother with those pacsafe nets. I personally used an Osprey Porter 46L bag, and had a small 13L daypack for day hikes/etc. The daypack turned out to be a bit small for some used - I'd probably want to bump that to about 18-20L for next time. The 46L bag worked as carry-on luggage just fine for my flight from the USA->BKK, but all the local flights actually were TINY little planes. They don't give a shit though - when it doesn't fit they just tell you to toss it on an empty seat next to you.

Also, if your phone is unlocked, buy local SIM cards for data there. In vietnam I paid $6 for 30 days of unlimited 3g data + some credit for texts/calls for my phone. Unbelievably cheap and really fast too.

If you are hopping around Phuket / Koh Phi-Phi, etc, try to make it to Railay beach near Krabi. It's gorgeous.

1. Exactly which countries will you need this to work in? As you can see from this map, there are a bewildering variety of plug types around the world.
   
   
2. What type of plugs do your devices have—North American ones?
   
   
3. How many outlets do you need this device to have? What about USB?
   
   If size is your primary concern, check out something like the Kikkerland UL03-A Universal Travel Adapter, which I own. While it is small and works in most countries in the world, I find plugging in something heavy like a Mac adapter into it tends to pull it out of the outlet.
   
   TooManyAdapters recommends the Flight 001 4-In-1 Adapter. While on the expensive side, they say it fits snugly into all the outlets they tested.

I was looking for the same thing so I settled on these in navy:

https://www.amazon.com/Timberland-Mens-Killington-Chukka-Walking/dp/B01HSNWNS8?th=1

Extremely comfy (seriously), was walking 10+ miles a day. Also, they looked good enough (to me) to get into clubs, and the navy went with all of my outfits I packed (black jeans, blue jeans, olive jeans). The only downside is it looks like these are becoming hard to find since it's last year's model.

Your phone, laptop, and most other chargers work on any voltage between 100 and 240. You won't need a converter for them.

Blow dryers, straighteners, etc typically require a converter to change the voltage. Power tools will need specific voltage and a specific hertz, making them the most complex.

But for just your phone, laptop, etc, you just need an adapter.

Kikkerland is a favorite of a lot of travelers because it's small and light. Heavier ones sometimes have trouble staying on the wall. Ones like this are popular also, but larger in your bag

You can take this as a carry-on as well. And it has tons of room inside.