Musings on Solo Travel

As the days leading up to my trip grow fewer in number, my emotional state fluctuates between nervous and excited. Now that departure day is here, I can honestly say I’m scared out of my damn mind. I’ve traveled alone before, sure, point A to Point B, no problem. But for significant chunks of this trip I’ll be traveling alone, sightseeing alone, staying (relatively) alone and doing everything by myself. It’s terrifying. But I’m so excited to travel!

21st Century Travel Upgrade: iPhone Apps!

One of the biggest changes between this trip & my last big Eurotrip is technology. Four years ago I ran around Europe with a basic “not even flip phone” disposable phone, with no GPS capabilities whatsoever. This time around, I’m bringing my iPhone and digging through the numerous apps available with wifi and data -free capabilities.  

Here are the three I recommend:

• CityMaps2Go: Very basic street map app with a GPS location point to mark your location (fun fact, you don’t need wifi or data for this function to work). You can star your favorite locations & easily navigate to them using the map – sometimes simple is best. 
• Trip Advisor: Allows you to download data packets for all the major cities around the world, and access the information (accommodations, restaurants, attractions, etc) at any time. The downside is data packets for smaller, lesser-known cities aren’t available
• Triposo: Has maps and guides all rolled up into one app. Like TripAdvisor, it has data packets for major cities, but is much more expansive and includes packets for entire regions and countries as well. One extra bonus feature – it has currency conversion capabilities so you don’t need to download a separate app for that.