I'm Kristin and I've been traveling alone for the better part of the past eight
years. I've been to six of seven continents by myself traveling to over 50 countries solo.
So what does a typical day for a solo female traveler look like? I am so glad you asked.
Good morning from Sedona. Each day as a solo female traveler is naturally gonna look different,
but I tend to begin them all with an all-important beverage. I accidentally made rocket fuel.
Hello, my pretties.
Can I do this one-handed? Oh, check me out.
I have to say, I love Airbnbs when I travel or some kind of vacation rental that has a kitchen because
waking up and having to go figure out breakfast when I'm by myself,
it's just so hard to get motivated to do that.
And then by the time I actually do it, I'm, like, hangry and it takes so much time.
That's the one thing I still can't get over is eating alone when I travel.
So I really think there are two kinds of people in this world,
those who plan everything out to a T and those like me who just show up in a place and hope everything works out.
Or maybe this is totally ridiculous.
Whoa
it's been a really long time actually since I've traveled solo, and I was a little bit nervous coming on this trip,
but it's just been a really different year and I'm kind of learning who I am again.
Sometimes what I'll do if I haven't done much research before arriving in a place is I'll look on all trails and see what trails happen to be nearby.
Definitely, in a place as outdoorsy as Sedona, I had hiking pretty high on my list.
I'll also Google specific things like the best sunrises or sunset spots in Sedona and that will often give me the most beautiful places to see as well.
Sometimes I'll Google things to do and whittle it down from there as well.
Okay, let's go.
Okay, but perk of not planning anything, I didn't really know I was gonna see this here. This is so pretty.
This view is amazing.
It's only, like, 20 minutes from my Airbnb. I won, I hit the jackpot.
Look at this beautiful cactus. I'm sure I'll
regret this. Oh, yeah. What about, like, the fleshy part? That's smooth and I like it.
Can we just talk about how nice solo traveling can be? I just love that I can be totally
on my own timeline and just doing my own thing and nobody is bothered by that. I'm also really
emotional right now, and I think it's because my period is starting in a few days, so I
wouldn't want to subject anyone to that. But, like, it's so pretty here that every, like,
rock I come around is so red and just, like, impressive that I want to cry.
It's also incredibly peaceful and when I'm hiking with other people or traveling with
other people, I don't really get to experience things completely with my own opinions. You're
always going to have their thoughts and opinions kind of coloring your experience. And sometimes
that's so nice and I love sharing it with people, but I don't find solo traveling to
be lonely at all. I actually find it to be really invigorating, and I really need to
be reminded that I'm like bad-ass and can do things on my own.
And so even when it's a trip to Sedona, which is not that far from where I live, it's just
a chance for me to come back to myself and remember who I am without anyone else sort
of reflecting anything back to me, and that's really powerful stuff that I think everyone
should get a chance to experience.
So I don't know what your favorite things are about solo traveling, but I would really
love to hear, so let me know in the comments. Or if you've never done it and you're, like,
dying to try, but you're nervous, which is totally understandable, and everyone's nervous
to travel on their first time, ask any questions you have in the comments because I love helping
other women get out there and travel alone.
Awesome little hike. And I've got a little bit of time before a crystal sound bath healing
that I booked, which I'm super excited about, but why not the world's shortest Airbnb tour
first? So this is my Airbnb. It's super cute, and it's perfect for just one person or maybe
even a couple. It's got this little seating area that my electronics have exploded all
over, this, like, huge TV I'm not gonna use.
One other feature that's really nice is this fireplace. So this is the heating for this
whole unit. It also has air conditioning. So I think both of these are pretty important
when you're in Sedona. I really think it just adds to the coziness. So now let's end the
living room tour and begin the bedroom tour.
I just love the color scheme that they ended up using. I think it's just perfect for Sedona,
but for me, all the other things are really nice but the biggest selling point was definitely
the kitchen. Having a kitchen and being able to cook for myself is kind of a big deal,
especially not having to go out for every single meal. I mean, that really starts to
add up both mentally, but, like, financially.
So here I have a full cooktop and an oven that I can make really anything with. Hot
water kettle, toaster, all of the plates and stuff. I also really like that there's a blender.
That's a nice perk to have. There's also a really cute bathroom, and it's small but it
totally does the job. The hot water works, which is super important and that's the grand tour.
Okay. If you're curious how I get my own photos when I'm traveling alone... It's windy. I
basically will use anything in my environment as a tripod. I've been using rocks all day.
I bought a little cheapy tripod from Walmart, I'm not proud of it but I did, so that I could
come here without having to check a bag because you have to if you have tripods.
It's actually not that hard once you learn how to operate a camera, if your camera has
an intervalometer, if not, you can buy one. I have a whole tutorial on how to pose for
photos so I've included that in the show notes below, you can sign up. It's, like, an email
challenge. So do it, tag it on social media and let me know about it, but that's basically
how I do it. It's pretty easy once you get the hang of it.
What a cherry on top of a gorgeous day.
So excited. It's almost time for my crystal healing necklace to charge it up too. I bought
this from a street vendor in Oakland, and I love it.
So what is a sound bath? The origins date back thousands of years. Maybe you've heard
of Tibetan singing bowls or the indigenous didgeridoo, but basically, the vibrations
of the sound can cleanse your aura, your body, your chakras, or just relax you. The practitioner
had us draw aura cards first and write down anything that we wanted to manifest.
I found this experience for $44 on Airbnb experiences. There were also Reiki offerings
and all kinds of different chakra clearings, but this one really resonated with me because
I just love the feeling of sound baths.
Wow. I feel so relaxed right now, and I really built up an appetite too. Well, if you go
to a restaurant for dinner, you can't dance while you make the food. Well, you wouldn't
make the food. This is gonna be pasta primavera with veggies, and I really like these chickpea
noodles. They have, like, way more protein, fiber, and fewer carbs than pasta, so I can
still indulge.
All right. We got one more thing we gotta do. I think we can't really say this was a
full day of solo traveling without it being 24 hours, which means we're gonna watch a
sunrise together. Yep. We're getting up at, like, 5 to do it so I'll see you tomorrow.
Announcer: Three hours later.
Kristin: I've been having trouble sleeping so we'll see if I can actually get up in the
morning, but it feels like someone punched my uterus. Why?
The snooze button looking real friendly right now. It's really hard sometimes to get up
for a morning hike when it's just me because I'm, like, "No one's gonna be disappointed
if I just don't do it," but I'm not putting on real pants.
Let's go.
So many birds.
That's where I'm planning on going.
I'm literally so close from the top up. Come on, let's do it.
There's the sun. Okay, it was worth waking up for.