[Serious] Recommend tips and countries to visit for solo traveller

[rrr2015]

no budget no time limit? why not just pick a world cruise ...

First-time solo.
No budget.
No time limit.
No one else but me...
Preferably: Sightseeing like temples/cathedrals/sceneries. Explorations. And food. Don’t mind long walks.

Gimme ideas for a post-ORD trip, please.

Location? Duration? Interesting places?

Would like to ssrr the world before I settle down on studies and working till beyond retirement age...

No dangerous places, please. I want to experience the world, but without the life-endangering part.
No third world country or go there help do hard labor as activities. I’m not a volunteer or activist, I just want to explore the world a bit more.
No driving.

Any general advice or interesting tips to share?
What backpacks do you guys use?
Did you guys have a luggage with you?
What website would you guys recommend to book for hotels/flight?

 

[dilphinus]

Went before Taipei, not sure if it’s worth to go through the whole of Taiwan to get an overall experience if the rest of Taiwan would be like Taipei.

Have you been to Su-ao, Tamali, Shitiping, Tainan, Penghu, Kinmen, etc?

 

[butterbarter]

Cruise is probably the most boring way of spending your time, especially for a solo traveller. Most of your time is spent in a ship, and just eating and experiencing the same entertainment as you would on land. Some cruises allow passengers to disembark, but that is only a small percentage of time compared to the time you spend in the ship. I don't know why people bother unless you like staying in a floating hotel.

no budget no time limit? why not just pick a world cruise ...

 

[rrr2015]

cruise not solo friendly cos must pay 150% single supplement

since no budget limit ... so 150% single supplement shouldn't be issue lah

Cruise is probably the most boring way of spending your time, especially for a solo traveller. Most of your time is spent in a ship, and just eating and experiencing the same entertainment as you would on land. Some cruises allow passengers to disembark, but that is only a small percentage of time compared to the time you spend in the ship. I don't know why people bother unless you like staying in a floating hotel.

it's not any cruise but WORLD cruise & I believe the type of people takes world cruise are different from regular. probably many retirees with lots of interesting life experiences & stories to share.

besides mingling with others. there's always plenty things to do like get into habit of exercising, learning to dance, movies or even read books that one wish but unable during working days.

i feel the sea journey will be interesting & very different from land journey. you also get to sample various cities. while not in-depth, one can always followup later if a particular city interest them

so plenty to do, up to your creativity

p.s I haven't done a world cruise yet but it's definitely in my bucket

 

[butterbarter]

But still, world cruise or regular cruise, you'll be spending 80-90% of your time in a floating hotel. Doesn't sound all that interesting. Mingling, learning to dance, etc etc etc, can all be done on land, so I don't see why you should pay thousands of dollars to do it at sea.

When you travel, you wanna experience the places, the culture, the architecture, the food, the people. I don't see how being in a ship with a few hundred well-heeled people soaking in a pool or singing KTV achieves any of this.

To each their own.

since no budget limit ... so 150% single supplement shouldn't be issue lah


it's not any cruise but WORLD cruise & I believe the type of people takes world cruise are different from regular. probably many retirees with lots of interesting life experiences & stories to share.

besides mingling with others. there's always plenty things to do like get into habit of exercising, learning to dance, movies or even read books that one wish but unable during working days.

i feel the sea journey will be interesting & very different from land journey. you also get to sample various cities. while not in-depth, one can always followup later if a particular city interest them

so plenty to do, up to your creativity

p.s I haven't done a world cruise yet but it's definitely in my bucket

 

[Din0saurus]

Use this rare opportunity to go as far as you can for as long as possible if time and money is not a concern. It will be hard to travel for 1 month or longer once you start working. Quite annoying to take 20+hr flights when you have limited leave also. You can always do Taiwan/Japan/Australia when you've started working.

You get more value out of that 1-2k airfare by visiting multiple places within the same region too.

I like using kayak for open jaw flights but if time is not a factor, definitely look into trains and buses. I'd much rather have stuff to look at although many land border crossings can be f-ed up.

 

[5408854088]

Antarctica

 

[BirdbrainZ]

Any general advice or interesting tips to share?

Travelling for prolong periods of time thru various countries requires adequate cash management. It usually does not make sense to carry too much cash of different currencies on your body at any given time.

I would advise looking into bank charges for ATM cash withdrawals on Cirrus or Plus networks. From my six months trip abroad two years ago, I heavily relied on this to manage my on hand cash, as carrying all the different currencies and the amount I need to spend for weeks to months at a time just wasn't a good idea.

Depending on your current banking status, I would recommend carrying two different set of cards (credit & ATM) from two different banks just in case you run into incompatibility trouble with the local machines.

Bank A - Credit Card (A) + ATM card (A)
Bank B - Credit Card (B) + ATM card (B)

* For example, lets pick credit A as the preferred choice to carry on your person

Carry on your person one credit card (A), and both ATM cards (A and B). These three cards will be with you throughout your trip, while the second "spare" credit card (B) will be left back home, but with the card details that are needed to make online payments should card (A) not work for some reason - also kept online but encrypted on some cloud service or simply as in an email draft that you are able to access should you need to.

Rationale: Credit card (A) will be used to make most of your purchases and online payments (booking of accommodations & online ticket purchasing). Should you encounter issues making payments with card (A), access your online encrypted copy of credit card (B) and make those payments. Should both fail, you always have the option of using your ATM cards (A or B) to withdraw local cash (exchange rates + bank charges) to make payments with cash on hand. I recommended two different bank ATM cards because sometimes you may run into issue where one ATM does not work, while the other does. It has happened to me during my six trip thru Europe two years ago. What had happened was both ATM cards were on Cirrus and Plus networks, but one bank ATM card just simply wouldn't work with one ATM machine at the airport, but resumed working when I used it elsewhere.

Edits: To clarify, my credit card (A) is still in working condition and did not fail during my trip. I just simply had to rely on my credit card (B) for a couple of online payments because some websites simply wouldn't accept payments with credit card (A) for some odd reason, whereas (A) worked fine almost always on majority of the other websites.

What backpacks do you guys use?

I relied on my 45 litre Karrimor rugsack for my six months trip abroad. The capacity was more than what I needed, but it had straps that allowed me to reduce its bulk profile when I needed to keep it streamlined. In it, I carried with me camping gear and my regular day to day urban clothing and basic items for the entire trip.

Did you guys have a luggage with you?

No. If you're referring to those box type luggage on wheels, I did not bring one, and I'm glad I didn't. For long term backpacking trips with most of my accommodations being in hostels and only on rare occasions in hotels, I wanted to be free of dragging one around. Most parts of my trip are simply easier to traverse with a rugsack. At one point, I had to cross the Albania - Macedonia border on foot, so having only to carry my belongings on my back instead of pulling a luggage just allows for so much more freedom.

 

[BirdbrainZ]

Additionally, I would also advise exchanging some local currencies before crossing the border into a new country with their own currency.

For the most part, if you're taking land transportation (buses or trains) when crossing a border, the bus/train terminals will usually have ATMs for you to withdraw cash. But if for some reason they do not have ATM machines there or aren't working, its always a good idea to have local currencies on hand to buy your next bus/train ticket to your next accommodations if the situation calls for it.

What I tend to do was to use whatever leftover currencies from country A and convert them into currency for country B, maybe a day before I cross the border, while saving just enough currency from country A to last me till I get to the border. Alternatively, you can use whatever left over cash to buy cigarettes, snacks, drinks, etc from the bus/train terminals (or airport) if you do not want to collect too much unused currency - particularly coins.



You may also want to plan out which month of the year to begin and end your overseas trip. Beginning your trip during colder weather may require you to bring along big and bulky cold weather clothing, but as the months pass, it will transition to warmer weather, and you may find yourself frowning by needing to pack and carry all that weight and bulk.

As a means to overcome that, you can choose to mail your excess clothing or items back home if the local parcel rates are to your liking. I did that twice, but with some souvenirs and items I have noticed that I am not going to use instead of clothing.

For the transition from colder to warmer climates in different countries and months in the year, I brought along layered clothing instead of a single bulky and heavy winter coat. As to whether this method will work for you, it will largely depend on what your destinations are and their climates when you're there. This doesn't really require a whole lot of planning, but is something you will want to take into consideration for a prolonged trip abroad.

I hope this helps.

 

[magna_strike]

Travelling for prolong periods of time thru various countries requires adequate cash management. It usually does not make sense to carry too much cash of different currencies on your body at any given time.

I would advise looking into bank charges for ATM cash withdrawals on Cirrus or Plus networks. From my six months trip abroad two years ago, I heavily relied on this to manage my on hand cash, as carrying all the different currencies and the amount I need to spend for weeks to months at a time just wasn't a good idea.

Depending on your current banking status, I would recommend carrying two different set of cards (credit & ATM) from two different banks just in case you run into incompatibility trouble with the local machines.

Bank A - Credit Card (A) + ATM card (A)
Bank B - Credit Card (B) + ATM card (B)

* For example, lets pick credit A as the preferred choice to carry on your person

Carry on your person one credit card (A), and both ATM cards (A and B). These three cards will be with you throughout your trip, while the second "spare" credit card (B) will be left back home, but with the card details that are needed to make online payments should card (A) not work for some reason - also kept online but encrypted on some cloud service or simply as in an email draft that you are able to access should you need to.

Rationale: Credit card (A) will be used to make most of your purchases and online payments (booking of accommodations & online ticket purchasing). Should you encounter issues making payments with card (A), access your online encrypted copy of credit card (B) and make those payments. Should both fail, you always have the option of using your ATM cards (A or B) to withdraw local cash (exchange rates + bank charges) to make payments with cash on hand. I recommended two different bank ATM cards because sometimes you may run into issue where one ATM does not work, while the other does. It has happened to me during my six trip thru Europe two years ago. What had happened was both ATM cards were on Cirrus and Plus networks, but one bank ATM card just simply wouldn't work with one ATM machine at the airport, but resumed working when I used it elsewhere.

Edits: To clarify, my credit card (A) is still in working condition and did not fail during my trip. I just simply had to rely on my credit card (B) for a couple of online payments because some websites simply wouldn't accept payments with credit card (A) for some odd reason, whereas (A) worked fine almost always on majority of the other websites.


I relied on my 45 litre Karrimor rugsack for my six months trip abroad. The capacity was more than what I needed, but it had straps that allowed me to reduce its bulk profile when I needed to keep it streamlined. In it, I carried with me camping gear and my regular day to day urban clothing and basic items for the entire trip.


No. If you're referring to those box type luggage on wheels, I did not bring one, and I'm glad I didn't. For long term backpacking trips with most of my accommodations being in hostels and only on rare occasions in hotels, I wanted to be free of dragging one around. Most parts of my trip are simply easier to traverse with a rugsack. At one point, I had to cross the Albania - Macedonia border on foot, so having only to carry my belongings on my back instead of pulling a luggage just allows for so much more freedom.

Your tips are very good, thanks for sharing! Im just curious about the overseas atms part though, since im not familiar with the whole cirrus and plus thingy. Do our local banks have that? E.g. Does it mean if i go this country and my atm can use cirrus network or something, i just use my usual atm pin number for it or is there a different set of pin numbers for overseas withdrawal?

 

[BirdbrainZ]

Im just curious about the overseas atms part though, since im not familiar with the whole cirrus and plus thingy. Do our local banks have that?

If you have a saving account with local banks that issue cards with the logos seen below, you're on the respective network.

Does it mean if i go this country and my atm can use cirrus network or something, i just use my usual atm pin number for it or is there a different set of pin numbers for overseas withdrawal?

You can withdraw cash from your savings account from overseas ATMs that displays the respective logos. You bank balance will be displayed in foreign currency depending on which country you're currently in. For example: Should your savings account have a balance of SGD $1000, it will display a balance of appropriately ‎¥81,000 when viewing your bank statement in Japan.

But I would advise against viewing bank statements when overseas, as to my understanding - it counts as a "transaction" which may incur bank charges. Based on what I know from my last trip abroad two years ago, the bank charges were SGD $5.00 per transaction if I am not mistaken. I recommend consulting your bank for more information before you leave for an overseas trip.

Some might view the bank charges per transaction as prohibitive, but in the grand scheme of things with prolonged trip duration, it sure beats carrying all the cash on you. If you estimate your cash usage with some accuracy, you can reduce the amount of times you go to the ATMs to withdraw cash, thus similarly reducing the number of times bank charges are incurred.

Also, be sure to enable/activate all your cards for overseas use (both credit cards and ATM bank cards). One can usually do that with any local ATM or thru online banking if I'm not mistaken. As for credit cards, simply give them a call and request it if you're unsure on its status.


Edits: Based on my usage, overseas cash withdrawal uses the same pin you have set for your respective ATM cards. If its six digits, it remains six digits. But this is only from my personal experience, so other members here may wish to weigh in if this isn't always the case.

 

[rottingapple]

Its my virgin solo this june, im going Taiwan! Going Jiufen, Hualien and Taipei!

 

[dilphinus]

Citibank has no overseas withdrawal fees/charges (using Citibank cards at Citibank ATMs).

 

[BirdbrainZ]

Alternatively, should you want to check your bank statement for some reason but without incurring bank charges, you can always rely on online banking by bringing your "token" along for the trip or have the verification code sent to your phone to login.

For prolonged trips abroad spanning more than a month, you will eventually want to pay your credit card bills online even while abroad.

 

[magna_strike]

Wow thanks for the info birdbrainz! Appreciate it!

 

[hotdogboi909]

Hi， does anyone know how what service provider is the best for roaming?

 

[beanstalk6]

Hi， does anyone know how what service provider is the best for roaming?

This depends on where you are going to.

 

[sunnynun]

Since it is your first solo trip, probably a place where you do not have any language barriers to start with? Although language is never a barrier, for first timer, I would usually suggest that.

Someone suggested Taiwan and you had been to Taipei. Taiwan is not just about Taipei. I've stayed there for months travelling and working in local farms and guesthouses but still never managed to finish the whole of Taiwan(as in every single corner of Taiwan). Whenever, I go back to Taiwan, there is always something new for me to discover.

I especially like the eastern of Taiwan, e.g Jinlun, Taimali, Du Lan, ChiShang, etc. Transport is less accessible as compared to the city. Tainan is also nice to explore. Get yourself lost in the alleys and you will be surprised to find nice and interesting shops or cafes there.

Visit aboriginal villages if you can, or stay in aboriginal villages. If you want, you can also go round island cycling trip. Cycle from one point to another. If not public transport can still bring you from one place to another, just with some transfers here and there.


Alternatively, if language is not an issue to you, South Korea is also another place worth doing solo trips and I am not talking about going to Seoul. Go into their slow towns/villages like Changpyeong. Even if you don't speak a single word of Korean, you can still survive.

Everyone has different preferences, some like shopping, some like nature, some like culture and monuments, etc. Depending on your own preference, you can decide what to see and what not to see. Ultimately, its your solo trip, you are the one to decide. Anytime you don't feel like it, you can still change your plans.

Have fun!

 

[havealaughclown]

Since you are a solo one , you have to consider the language first.

And also, where to have fun. If you are straight or gay, you have to think of that too.

Lastly, your daily budget. Plan it out first and come back to us.

 

[Delsamor]

No budget no time limit but want us to plan for him. I can only think of one place. The world. Go travel around the world ts. Got many people did it, not dangerous.