Research the actual place
General caution is not research. The State Department publishes a travel advisory for every country, graded from level one to level four, and the useful part is the text under the number: which regions, which crimes, which local laws. The country pages also cover the legal and social climate for women and for LGBTQ travelers. Enroll the trip in the department's free Smart Traveler Enrollment Program, which sends you security alerts and lets the embassy find you in a crisis. Learn the local emergency number, which is 112 throughout the European Union, and find out how licensed taxis are marked.
Arrive in daylight
The most exposed moment of a solo trip is arriving tired, at night, with all your luggage and no plan. Book flights and trains that land before dark where you can. Reserve the first night in advance, and work out the route from the airport to the door before you leave home, including roughly what a taxi should cost.
A check-in that works
Leave one person at home your flight numbers, lodging addresses and a copy of your passport. Agree on a rhythm, such as one message every evening, and share your live location from your phone. Then agree on what happens if you go quiet: after twenty-four hours they call your lodging, and after that the embassy. A check-in plan with no escalation step is only a diary.
Daily habits
- You are allowed to lie about being alone, and a friend who is joining you tomorrow is a useful fiction.
- Watch your drink being poured, keep it in your hand, and set your limit lower than at home, because nobody is watching your back.
- Carry one card and a day's cash, and leave the backup card and the rest locked at your lodging.
- Check the map inside a shop or a cafe, not standing on a corner with your phone out.
- Post photographs after you have left a place, not while you are still there.
Instinct is information. You owe no stranger politeness at the cost of your safety, and leaving a bar, crossing the street or stepping into a hotel lobby costs you nothing. A wasted taxi fare or a forfeited night is the cheapest item in the trip budget.
Tip Carry a card from your hotel with its name, address and telephone number in the local language. It gets you home when your phone is dead and your pronunciation is not up to the job.
