Breaking the barriers and hitting the road for the first time brings a wave of new challenges and new emotions for anyone. Fear, anxiety, happiness are some of the many. Its not quite easy to take a decision to travel (especially solo) for the first time, and those who do so set themselves on a journey that they have never experienced before. They hope for excitement, new adventures and many memorable memories in their journey. It opens a world of new possibilities ahead of them thinking of which excites them and also makes them a bit nervous.
If you also find yourself in the same category, well than I have some tips for you. With nearly three years of travel experience I know a lot of things that you possibly don’t know about being on the road for the first time, the things that I didn’t know on my first trip, in which I took a backpack weighing even more than me and had to dump most of the things to get going. I don’t want anything like that to happen with you so I want to share some of my tips that are going to make your first trip on the road a much better one.
- Don’t Be Afraid
If you are too afraid of new people or new experiences, than I guess the road is not the right place for you. If you really want to experience the real fun of being on the road, than stop thinking about the negative things that can happen with you. Talk to the local people, they are not going to eat you. People everywhere are just like you, they also like to talk to people, they can help you in many ways that you cannot even imagine, only if you let them help you.
- Do Some Hitchhiking
The word ‘hitchhiking’ always reminds me about Jack Kerouac’s “ON THE ROAD”. It was the first travel book that I ever read and it filled me with so much of excitement that I couldn’t stop thinking about the protagonist Sal’s adventures, especially the part in which he leaves for the road first time and decides to go to San Francisco from New York all the way by hitchhiking. He meets new people, some friendly some not but the time that he spends on the road during hitchhiking becomes some of his best memories. Well, try to do that, every ride comes with a new experience and excitement plus it also saves you a lot of money of transport.
- Don’t Carry A Lot Of Stuff
Well, its a mistake that I committed on my first trip. I took my backpack and flooded it with all kind of stuff that I had. My shoes, a lot of clothes and many more. It didn’t bother me much initially because of my excitement but soon I couldn’t even walk straight for half an hour. I finally had to dump a lot of unnecessary stuff to get my trip going. You don’t need a lot of stuff during your trip, try to keep your backpack as light as possible and if you really need something, you can pick it up on your way.
- Don’t Expect A Lot, Be Flexible To New Experiences
This can be a problem with many of the new travelers, they don’t adjust to the new environment quickly. When you first leave your home and ditch all the comforts, its not easy to manage yourself. It’s not necessary that you are going to get great food every time, neither is there going to be a bed as comfortable as the one in your room. But you will have to adapt yourself to such situations. There can be a lot of fun in sleeping on the ground under the sky full of stars, you just have to understand that. Don’t expect an environment as comfortable as the one at your home, but keep yourself open to new experiences.
- Go Slow
Sometimes the excitement of your first trip can get to you. You may get super excited and may decide to see the whole town in a single day and you might actually do so. But in the end what you will be left with will be a few photos but no great memories or deep knowledge about the place you visited. When you are visiting a place, give it some time. Go slow, learn its culture, eat its food and talk to the locals. Remember, when you are traveling, less is more.
- Get Contact Information
During your trips, you will make a lot of friends. Some of them will be fellow travelers, well some of them will be the locals. There will be many with whom you will not be in contact for long, but some will become the dearest of your companions. But sometimes it happens that you don’t get their contact information and then you regret it forever. In this era of technology, it’s not that difficult to be in contact. Just take his/her phone number or ask for the email id. There is nothing better than meeting an old friend and remembering those experiences you had on the trips.
