Remember those magical family road trips from childhood? The singalongs, the roadside attractions, the endless games of I-Spy? There's something deeply nostalgic about hitting the open road—but experiencing that freedom solo introduces an entirely new dimension of adventure and self-discovery.
Safety doesn't mean sacrificing spontaneity when traveling alone. I've learned through countless solo journeys that preparation creates the foundation for freedom. Establishing a reliable check-in system with a trusted contact (supplemented by location-sharing apps like Life360 or Google Maps) provides crucial peace of mind. Your accommodation choices matter tremendously—opt for hotels with interior corridors over exterior-access motels, or try car camping near populated areas for both security and flexibility. That converted van or simply reclining your seats with a proper mattress can transform your vehicle into a cozy, lockable haven wherever you roam.
The practical elements of solo road tripping deserve attention too. Download offline maps before departure, pack traditional paper maps for the big-picture view that digital navigation can't provide, and ensure your vehicle passes a pre-trip inspection (tires, oil, brakes). Your emergency kit should include self-contained battery chargers, tire repair tools, first aid supplies, blankets for all weather conditions, and power banks for electronics. But beyond these practicalities lies the true gift of solo travel: uninterrupted reflection time. Those hours behind the wheel become meditative spaces for thinking, listening, and reconnecting with yourself away from daily demands. Why not draw a circle representing your comfortable driving radius and discover what unexplored wonders await within reach this weekend? The road is calling—what's holding you back from answering?
Ready to create your own road trip memories? Subscribe to Solo Travel Adventures for more practical tips and inspiration for your next journey. Share your favorite solo road trip destinations in the comments below!
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Episode Transcript
Do you have fond memories of a road trip growing
up, or one you did as a parentwhen your children were young?
In recalling both sets ofmemories for me, I became very
nostalgic for a good old roadtrip of my own.
In today's episode, I willshare some tips on solo road
(00:22):
tripping, because you arelistening to solo travel
adventures and I'm Cheryl Esch,your spontaneous road traveler.
Well, whether you are wingingit or you have every mile
planned, you do need to.
Number one, have a contactperson, and this would be
(00:42):
someone who knows your itinerary, or someone that, if, since you
, someone, that if you're doingit spontaneously and you're not
sure where you're going to befrom day to day, that that
person is your check-in point,and I would say you'd want to
check in with them about twice aday.
Or, if you're moving to adifferent spot, let them know
(01:02):
hey, I've arrived here, or hey,I'm going here right now.
There are some apps out therethat you could also use.
I still like the check-inmethod, but there are the famous
Life360, find my Friends,family Locator, m Safely Map my
(01:23):
Run believe it or not and GoogleMaps, and many of these, though
, do cost a monthly fee to have,but Google Maps does not, and
if you are a runner, youprobably already have Map my Run
, which is also a way someonecould track where you are.
So these are you know apps thatyou can track each other,
(01:43):
especially as a family membermight be able to see where you
are.
So these are you know apps thatyou can track each other,
especially as a family membermight be able to see where you
are in real time.
So that is a big suggestion, asyou are solo traveling, that
you have somebody that knowsyour whereabouts and if you
don't check in at a certain time, or maybe you miss a day or
(02:07):
time, that they know, kind of,what to do next.
You know if it's somethingserious enough that they would
know who to call and to makesure you are safe, or if you
just forgot, maybe your phonedied, so giving sort of a backup
plan to for them to follow incase you don't check in.
(02:28):
Just having someone to knowwhere you are always makes me
feel good.
Even if my children don't likeit, I often, if I'm traveling, I
will let them know.
Hey, I made it here.
I'm going here.
I share pictures.
We do have Life 360.
They're not always on it,though, to check on me, but it
(02:51):
is a great app to have.
Number two you want to make sure, since you are traveling by
yourself, that there's safetywithin the accommodations you
have chosen, and there are acouple approaches to this.
It depends on whether you'restaying, maybe in a hotel.
I recommend, if you are stayingin a hotel, that you stay in a
(03:15):
hotel with interior rooms andkind of a front desk and
reception area, versus thehotels or what we call motels
here in the US, where all thedoors are on the outside.
I just never feel safe withthose, because A people can see
that you are by yourself.
(03:36):
First of all, and number two,they could.
You know it's a little easieraccess, depending on where your
room is just accessible withoutothers knowing, possibly.
So I just don't feelcomfortable with those types of
setups.
So a hotel with interior roomsis always a much better option
(03:56):
and if you're doing campsites, Ilike to stay near a bathroom or
the check-in area.
If possible, be near a lamppostas well, just, or a more
populated area so that you arefeeling surrounded by other
people is always always kind ofmakes me feel a little safer.
(04:18):
In general, depending whetheryou stay in a hotel, airbnb your
camping, your car camping.
Airbnb, your camping, your carcamping whatever it is that you
have decided for youraccommodations, you want to
(04:38):
check the area out for safety,and it might be hard to assess
that online.
So often I wait to book thesethings kind of last minute
because then I can drive around.
Kind of last minute becausethen I can drive around, get a
sense of the area and whether itactually feels safe to me or
not.
So that could be an idea.
I've also recommended in thepast that you could use Google
(04:59):
Maps and use the satelliteversion or the street version to
also get a better sense of theplace online, because they could
post beautiful pictures of thebedrooms and whatnot.
But the outside area I mean itcould be just next door to some
place that has bars on thewindows or just not a safe area
(05:23):
possibly.
So something to consider as youlook at that.
Now I will car camp.
Now, what is car camping?
If you are unfamiliar, somepeople have these beautiful like
sprinter vans, they call themthat have it, or other vans that
they've converted where theyactually have a bed and they
(05:44):
stay there.
It's almost like a mini RV, soto speak.
Or there's car camping whereyou put a tent.
There's a pop-up tent that youcan put on your roof or in your
car.
So I actually do quite a bit ofcar camping.
Even if I pick a campsite,sometimes I'll hop in my car to
(06:06):
sleep because maybe the noise istoo much.
I've noticed as I've gottenolder that I'm definitely more
sensitive to noise and I'm nottalking about outside cricket
noises, I love that noise.
I'm talking other people noise.
For example, I did do acampsite over near July 4th
weekend here in the US andunfortunately that night was
(06:30):
super noisy.
People were setting offfireworks really late and it
wasn't even July 4th yet, andthen someone had their
motorcycle and a dirt bikedriving around the campsite
really noisy and loud, and so Iprefer the encompassing feeling
(06:51):
I have when I car camp versus ina tent.
Honestly, I actually feel saferbecause I can lock my doors
right.
But car camping, you know, ifyou don't get into a campsite,
so to speak, and utilize carcamping, I have parked in safe
parking lots, a place that has,for example, truck stops.
Other truckers are stoppedTypically.
(07:14):
That's pretty safe.
I love my love travel centersand Buc-ee's, and there are
certain Walmarts that also willdo the trick.
There are certain Walmarts thatalso will do the trick.
So, making sure you feel safeand when you car camp, try to
(07:38):
make it like I will not get outand crawl through the back.
I'll actually stay in my carand crawl from the front seat to
the back so no one can tellthat I'm actually sleeping in my
car.
Just some tips.
If you decide to do car camping, which I love to save money and
so and I actually feel safe inmy car, so that's sort of tips
that I use safety in youraccommodations.
(07:59):
With this trip I do actuallyhave a trip coming up and I'm
going to do a combination of Ihave a hotel my first night and
then two nights I'll be in astate park which I will car camp
, and I bought myself an actualinterior mattress that fits in
the back part of my, my Jeep,and then, um, I'll stay in
(08:23):
another hotel, uh, on my fourthday or so, and then I haven't
decided really what I'm going todo on my last night I'll be
headed home, so we'll see whathappens there, but either way, I
make sure I'm safe.
I feel safe in myaccommodations.
(08:43):
Number three tip is that youwant to download maps.
I say download them on yourphone so that if you lose GPS,
so you kind of download them sothat you can access them what's
called offline in case you're ina dead zone or you know.
I do recommend paper maps whichI'm headed to.
(09:05):
Here in the US we have what'scalled AAA where I can get maps,
and back in the day, justbringing up memories of those
lovely triptychs that AAA usedto give to us I don't even know
if they do that anymore, but Ijust have some regular state
maps to help me.
I love to see things kind offrom a broader view and it's
(09:25):
really hard, not just, you know,small on your phone.
But even if I were to look at amap on my laptop, I just can't
get all the views I want to seewhen I'm trying to just do a
road trip and spontaneously plan, oh, that looks like an
interesting place, and then Ican look it up.
So download those things so youhave them on your phone if you
(09:47):
lose GPS or lose service, so tospeak.
I would also recommenddownloading any kind of podcast,
music or audiobooks that youalso may want to listen to, so
they're already downloaded onyour phone before you leave,
because you never know when youkind of again lose service and
it's nice to have those thingsalready pre-downloaded.
(10:09):
And number four I always packemergency items in my car and
this would include a batterycharger so I don't have to ask
somebody to jump my battery,it's a self-contained item A
tire pump and even a patch Firstaid kit.
I always keep a blanket aregular blanket and a thermal
(10:33):
blanket in my car, because it'sstill summertime here.
I have this little portable fan, which will be useful as I do
some car camping this trip.
A power bank totally definitelyone of those and, of course,
all your necessary chargers.
One of those and, of course,all your necessary chargers, but
(10:56):
a power bank.
If you happen to forget yourchargers, it could be a great
way to power your phone andpotentially anything else like
laptop or anything that alsoneeds charged.
Number five before you go,please make sure your car is in
good shape for a road trip.
For, for example, before youleave, check your tire pressure
your oil doesn't need changed,check your washer fluid and how
(11:18):
are your brakes.
So just making sure all that isin good order before you hit
the road so that you're nothaving to deal with that while
you're on the road.
And there's so much more Icould talk about as far as maybe
it's packing items, but thebottom line is road trips are an
(11:39):
awesome way to take a trip.
You don't even need to do awhole lot of planning, I think.
As long as you know yourdestination, you can probably go
from there.
Or if you don't want to go far,you just want to get out of
town, maybe for a weekend, youknow, look at your town and I
would say, you know, draw thislike circle kind of a certain
(12:02):
radius right and think you knowthree hours or five hours away,
whatever, however far you wantto drive and see what's in that
area that you have not exploredyet.
I love the idea of a road tripbecause there's so much
flexibility and freedom in thewhole idea of a road trip, and
(12:23):
for me it's also a great timefor reflection because it's just
me and I'm going to be spendinga whole lot of time staring
down the road thinking maybe I'mpraying, maybe I'm listening to
be spending a whole lot of timestaring down the road thinking
maybe I'm praying, maybe I'mlistening to some good podcast
and audio books, whatever it is,you know I love that time alone
(12:46):
and kind of away fromeverything else.
So I encourage you.
If you've never done a soloroad trip, it's not hard.
It just take a couple of thesetips that I gave you as far as
prep stuff to do and then pick aplace and just go.
What is holding you back?
Get out there and have thoseadventures.
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