Houston, & yeah I’m seeing this is where u jus gotta say f*** it / meet up with online homies

We’re only getting older 😭

I was working for a startup, so I used the f*** out of my unlimited PTO and I was splitting rent with my GF back home.

The most expensive part of the trip was the flight. Me and a few folks at the hostel got a van so that we could drive places instead of flying or taking the train.

Wow didn’t expect this thread to be so motivating…was dead stressing who I could hit up to travel, but seeing it was never that serious, I could just up & go lol.

Any tips/ insight from your solo traveling experiences? Areas you liked more than others?

1. I would stay in an Air Bnb over a hotel if your money is tight. You can always find better, safer options and more recent reviews of the units. This is if money is tight. Expensive hotels are always gonna be good

2. If you fly internationally alot, get global entry, TSA pre check and clear. Trust me I nearly missed my flight to Colombia and these three turned a one hour customs TSA line into 10 minutes.

3. The best travel debit card to get cash (if you need to) is the Charles Schwab debit for their checking/brokerage account. You don’t need to have money in the brokerage but it comes with the checking. Just transfer some money before you travel to that account and use it over seas. It reimburses any and every single charge for ATM fees, conversion fees etc. no questions asked. For example: If you go to an atm in Prague and withdraws $20 usd. The atm might charge to transfer to Czech crowns. It might also charge extra. Fees. It can literally charge you a million dollars to take out $20 and they will reimburse it

4. I would get a travel credit card. Not only does it offer points, etc for travel but a lot of them have reimbursements for baggage, inflight entertainments, ticket insurance, baggage insurance, etc. just takes the hassle out of when the airline is acting an ass. Also they offer all those airport s*** (pre check, global entry etc for free)

I have like 20 more lol. I gotta go to work but imma add to this later.

I def gotta travel but I too have no one to travel with 😢
Can’t imagine doing solo travel tho, I feel like I would deadass never leave the hotel

Mf on asylum

Did you see a lot of Afro Colombians?

Yes! I not only saw but was invited into two homes in the Baru area (mainly Afro Colombians). S*** was life changing because it reminded me of how I grew up in the islands.

While heading to my hotel in the Baru area, I drove through a small town of all Afro Colombians. The kids were shooting marbles, playing hopscotch, tag, ring around the rosey, etc. that s*** was emotional and so nostalgic.

The adults were doing hair, doing laundry outside, cleaning fish etc.

That s*** was dope as hell. And they were beautiful. So many beautiful men and women. S*** was mindbliwinf.

Damn bro…legit sounds like a movie

I’ve always been hesitant towards traveling in South America..and ngl I’ve heard a lot of bad things about the prejudice there

But you made me interested now. Crazy how a simple convo can change a whole perspective lol

I mean just try it this one time. You dk unless you really know

Didn’t really sense any prejudice like that. Especially the way it is here in the states. I would say this and this goes for many countries, because you are a tourist you are a lick. That’s not saying it in a bad way like you’re bound to get robbed or something but you just kinda have to understand that in some places you can be the difference between someone being able to eat and not eat, so you just have to be cautious with how much money you carry, how you dress, and just how you treat people. Just can’t trust every one and that’s probably more of a common rule in general

I never made myself look or seem too touristy. Always dressed similar to the locals, was super nice and just made smart decisions.

But yes if you go to eat they will charge you a little more because you’re a tourist but I never had an issue paying because I understood the dynamic.

The guy that ubered me to my air bnb. I made friends with him. I told him instead of me paying him through uber I will just pay him directly so he won’t have to get fees taken out and he agreed. I asked him how much he made a week and paid him double that by the end of the trip and now I have a point of contact next time I got there. His wife even cooked for me one night.

In return he made sure I got the best exchange rate, he told me what spots were safe and which spots weren’t, and basically how to stay safe and made sure I was treated more fairly in terms of pricing.

Do it foo

You way more approachable solo. Can have some truly goated experiences. speaking from experience

It safe for real. Stayed in many over the years

Yo I’m thinking of heading down there soon. You remember what the covid entry requirements were?

Go hostels. Research good ones. You'll have a great time.

Vaccination card or negative Covid test 48 hours in advance of travel for an antigen test or 72 hours in advance of travel for a PCR test).

Y’all gave me at of confidence, much love.

So far planning on doing Europe & Japan. If anyone’s been, would appreciate tips.

Eastern Europe is probably the worst, when it comes to racism.

There is a few countries where the right-wing is taking over as well. The political climate is changing, for the worse imo.

Aside from hostels, any other recommendations on finding groups / people to meet up with at locations you wanna hit?

So far considering checking out meetup, Reddit on r/solotravel, eventbrite, tinder lol

Doing some sort of tour can help, be it a walking tour, pub tour, art tour, etc.

I went to Hawaii for a week by myself in March 2018. It was f***ing awesome.

The thing about traveling alone is no one knows you're alone unless you tell them.

This what I'm tryna do

Damn what part? Was hearing Honululu the best, and that there’s not as much going on over at Maui & Kauai