{"id":399,"date":"2018-08-09T14:46:45","date_gmt":"2018-08-09T13:46:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/209.222.30.173\/?p=399"},"modified":"2020-12-22T13:48:53","modified_gmt":"2020-12-22T13:48:53","slug":"considering-a-solo-interrail-trip-top-tips-for-interrailing-around-europe-on-your-own","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/interrailplanner.com\/blog\/considering-a-solo-interrail-trip-top-tips-for-interrailing-around-europe-on-your-own\/","title":{"rendered":"Considering a solo Interrail trip? Top tips for interrailing around Europe on your own"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">My first encounter with solo travelling is the movie <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Before Sunset<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> where a handsome Ethan Hawke convinces a stranger, the beautiful Julie Delphi, to jump off the train and spend the day in Vienna with him.<\/span><\/p><div class=\"inter-content-paragraph\" style=\"margin-top: 20px;margin-bottom: 20px;\" id=\"inter-1537941821\"><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-4633244982126279\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display:block; text-align:center;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-4633244982126279\" \ndata-ad-slot=\"7158573474\" \ndata-ad-layout=\"in-article\"\ndata-ad-format=\"fluid\"><\/ins>\n<script> \n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); \n<\/script>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Unfortunately, my own solo adventure didn\u2019t quite look like this. There was a lot of jumping off trains. But that was only because I\u2019d fallen asleep and missed my stop. Here are some of the things I wished I\u2019d known before adventuring as a party of one.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4 style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Pick social hostels<\/b><\/h4>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These are the best places to start meeting people as they are full of like-minded travellers embarking on the same adventure you are. At the start, I made the mistake of picking boring, sterile places that had no energy, and struggled to make great friends. Focus on hostels which have reviews raving about the social atmosphere or that host their own social events like free dinners or day trips. You definitely won\u2019t get a 5-star meal, but these events are the best opportunities to strike up conversation with strangers and bond over under-cooked pasta.<\/span><\/p><div class=\"inter-content_2\" style=\"margin-top: 20px;margin-bottom: 20px;\" id=\"inter-25050078\"><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-4633244982126279\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display:block; text-align:center;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-4633244982126279\" \ndata-ad-slot=\"7158573474\" \ndata-ad-layout=\"in-article\"\ndata-ad-format=\"fluid\"><\/ins>\n<script> \n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); \n<\/script>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bonus points if the hostel has a common room or its own bar that people hang out in. Actually go and hang out in these common spaces. All the atmosphere in the world won\u2019t make a difference if all you do is stay in your room.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4 style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Triple check your departure times<\/b><\/h4>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And even when you\u2019re sure you know all the details &#8211; check again. Train and bus stations can often be really busy and confusing places. Especially if it\u2019s a country where you\u2019re unfamiliar with the language. Some of the larger cities have at least two airports, and multiple major bus terminals. If you\u2019re not careful, you could find yourself arriving at the wrong station, and no feasible (and cheap) way to catch your train out in time.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4 style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Hold your plans loosely<\/b><\/h4>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yes, you should have an idea of where you want to go, and what to do. But it shouldn\u2019t be completely set in stone. Festivals happen. Markets pop up. Roommates invite you on a day trip to other cities. Don\u2019t cling so closely to your perfectly planned itinerary that you miss out on all the fun the city has to offer.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can plan for every single calamity in the world, and things will still go wrong. Traffic accidents make you miss your bus. Trains will break down. Budget airlines will overbook flights and send you sprinting from one side of the airport to the other (true story). You\u2019ll meet people and fall in love with places that make you seriously consider ripping up your return ticket home. You connect so well with a local that he asks you to just stay one more day. I remember meticulously planning out my whole journey, only to scrap half of it and return to Budapest instead. It was even better the second-time round. Try letting spontaneity take the wheel and just roll with whatever happens.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4 style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Fake it till you make it<\/b><\/h4>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Literally no one knows what they\u2019re doing. Everyone is winging it and figuring it out as they go. Smile, relax and look approachable. Don\u2019t overthink. No one is looking at you and thinking you\u2019re sad because you\u2019re eating alone. Own it. As you meet people and open up about how you\u2019re really doing, you\u2019ll find that everyone else is just as lost as you are. You\u2019ll make mistakes and realise you should have packed more clothes and less makeup instead. Laugh and move on. Kindly tell your anxiety to piss off and meet you back home. In fact, don\u2019t even bring him along.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can be alone, and it won\u2019t kill you. Let me say that again for the people in the back. You can be alone and it won\u2019t kill you. You don\u2019t have to make best friends in every single place you visit. Don\u2019t force yourself to hang out with people that you don\u2019t click with. Get comfortable with feeling lonely because those feelings will happen again\u2026.and again. But you end up learning so much about what you like and who you are. You discover the parts of yourself you usually bury in the company of other people. There is something incredibly attractive about someone who can be by themselves and doesn\u2019t need the company of anyone else.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Not every day has to be spent ticking off every tourist attraction. You\u2019ll probably get sick of having to make the same small talk with people over and over again. Make sure you take time out to relax and do the things you love. I loved finding bookstores with cafes attached to them so I could just sit, read and scribble on postcards. Consider splurging on a private room for one night to recharge your batteries. You\u2019ll appreciate the quiet and a good night\u2019s sleep. By the end of my trip, I was so tired from all the socialising and sight-seeing, that I just spent my last few days camping out in the hostel common room watching Netflix. Listen to your body, and just do you. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you\u2019re still debating whether to venture out on your own, or nervous about your upcoming solo trip, <\/span><b>just commit<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Buy the ticket. Pack your bag. Breathe and relax. Everything will go the way it\u2019s supposed to.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And even when things go wrong, at least you\u2019ll have a funny story to tell when you come home.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ashley Chow is a writer in Melbourne, Australia. You can find more of her words at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ashchow.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">www.ashchow.com<\/a>.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"inter-after-content\" style=\"margin-top: 20px;margin-bottom: 20px;\" id=\"inter-4250077240\"><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-4633244982126279\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display:block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-4633244982126279\" \ndata-ad-slot=\"8015293915\" \ndata-ad-format=\"auto\"><\/ins>\n<script> \n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); \n<\/script>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My first encounter with solo travelling is the movie Before Sunset where a handsome Ethan Hawke convinces a stranger, the beautiful Julie Delphi, to jump off the train and spend the day in Vienna with him. Unfortunately, my own solo adventure didn\u2019t quite look like this. There was a lot of jumping off trains. But&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":569,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interrail-advice"],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":"","source_text":"Credit: Lucille Marnelli via Pixabay","source_url":"https:\/\/pixabay.com\/users\/lucillemarnelli-3587899\/"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/interrailplanner.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/interrailing-solo.jpg","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/interrailplanner.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/interrailplanner.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/interrailplanner.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interrailplanner.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interrailplanner.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=399"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/interrailplanner.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interrailplanner.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/interrailplanner.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interrailplanner.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interrailplanner.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}