Where:Apia, Samoa. Oceania. When: December 2024 What: text How: text Country counter: No.97 Illnesses or mishaps: text
travel tips, links & resources
Solo travel is a bit daunting, even for the most fearless of travellers. If anything goes wrong you are pretty much on your own. As this was a solo adventure I made sure I packed a comprehensive first aid medical kit which included several rounds of antibiotics. Travelling alone does have a number of advantages: people are far more likely to engage you in conversation and you are also more likely to engage others in the same way.
If getting some good photographs of you on your trip is important to you, as it is me, and you're travelling alone, a crucial piece of kit to pack is a mobile phone tripod. Mine includes a Bluetooth remote clicker. Sure, you could ask strangers to snap photographs of you but, in my experience, these are normally of poor quality. My tripod enabled me to get some well-composed, website-worthy photographs of myself in-situ.
I am cautious about what I eat abroad. Trying to eat on a budget can end up being a huge false economy if you become sick, lose days of your trip ensconced in the bathroom or have to seek out expensive medical help. Sure, your insurance may pay out in the end, but this won't recoup the travelling time you have lost. Where eating abroad is concerned, prevention is better than the cure. I'm even more cautious when travelling alone. Therefore, what and where I eat is always at the higher end of the market. I do this knowing that it is an investment in the journey itself just like the cost of flights or accommodation.
