Hi everyone! Thank you so much for coming back to my blog! This post is all about traveling, specifically planning my first solo trip that I took last October! I’ll go in-depth about the trip in another blog post!

Why a solo trip?

One of the first things I was asked when I told people I was planning a solo trip was “Why are you going by yourself?”. I didn’t give everybody an in-depth answer, but I would say the half-truth of why I wanted to go. Which was I needed to do something for myself. That was the truth, but also that last year I was struggling with my mental health. Traveling had always helped center and refocus me, so I decided I needed to do something completely and only for myself. Thus my planning for a solo trip began.

Planning

I knew I wanted to go to a place that I had been to before and someplace I felt comfortable. I also have been wanting to go back to Europe since my backpacking trip in 2019. You can read all about that trip here. One of my favorite places in Europe is France and more specifically Paris, so I decided that’s where I wanted to go!

So fun fact, I actually booked this trip twice. I originally booked all of my flights and the hotel room for Monday – Saturday. Super quick trip, but I couldn’t afford to take more time off of work. Plus, I wanted to try to be really cost-efficient. When I booked all of my flights and the hotel I paid the extra amount to get refunds, in case anything happened. Thankfully I did because I found out one of my friends was going to be in Europe and I knew I needed to see her! So I canceled all of my bookings and started over so that I could visit her! I do not recommend doing this, as I know I could have called the company I booked through to change things, but it was easier for me to re-book it myself. Onto what I actually booked!

My flight to Paris was the same, a red-eye flight with a layover in Lisbon, Portugal. Then a flight to Paris, arriving mid-morning. Since I was now going to be flying to visit my friend I knew I needed to book a different place than before. I ended up finding a private room at a hostel for a great price! I decided to keep the same amount of days in Paris, so Tuesday – Saturday. Then I found a direct flight early Saturday morning to Copenhagen, Denmark to visit my friend. I was only able to stay for 2 nights and then I had an early flight home Monday morning.

I only booked my flights and hostel before leaving on my trip. My favorite way to travel is to look up things to do or places to visit once I get there. I like to come up with a plan every night and map out my routes. Now, that I had my trip officially booked, I started to think about what I wanted to pack.

Packing

My original packing plan was to use a carry-on suitcase, but I realized that the airline I was flying on only allowed 17 lbs for carry-on and the suitcase was about 8 lbs, so I turned back to my trusty carry-on backpack. I was only going to be gone for 8 days including the 2 days of traveling to and from Europe, so I didn’t need much. I’m all for re-wearing clothes or hand washing them in the sink, so that’s how I packed, but I completely understand that packing like this is not for everyone.

I was able to fit everything into my backpack and tote bag. Although, I have to admit that my bag weighed 18 lbs. I was just keeping my fingers crossed that I wouldn’t have to check it. Then once I was all packed and ready to go it was time to head to the airport!

I’ll be sharing all the details of my trip in another post and if I’ll ever solo travel again. Spoiler alert, I definitely will! Please give me a follow on Instagram and Facebook to stay updated about when I post next! Thank you all for your continued support!

Take care and stay safe,

Renée