My First Solo Trip! Berlin, Prague, and Munich

Some awesome photos from my first solo trip to Europe – Berlin, Prague and Munich – plus a few tips to make your solo trip as successful as mine!

Back in November, I took a leap of faith and did something I’ve been dreaming of doing for a long time: I took a solo trip, not only as a female traveler alone, but as a female traveler alone abroad! I know a lot of incredibly brave individuals – some much braver than me – who have taken this very same leap of faith, but I’m still willing to pat myself on the back for having the courage to throw myself out of my comfort zone and do something that not only excited me, but also terrified me. And I’m happy to say that my trip went off without a hitch (although maybe a few tiny hiccups) and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

I only spent seven full days in Europe, but I certainly packed enough activities in that I feel like I was there much longer. My three stops were Berlin, Prague, and Munich, and when all was said and done, I visited 9 museums, saw 3 different castles, traveled on the Germany subway upwards of 30 times (the German public transportation system is awesome!), and drank more beers than I should probably count. Oh, and I fired my camera shutter at least 1500 times. That’s why I’m really writing this blog post: to show off some of the beautiful sights I encountered. But while I’m here, I might as well offer up a few tips and tricks for anyone out there willing to take that leap of faith that is a solo trip. There are thousands of articles out there about how to budget your trip, what to pack, and how to avoid pick pockets (I think I’ve read hundreds of them). So instead of reiterating all that information, I want to give a few pieces of advice to make the most of your solo trip as an experience; to remind you that this is an opportunity not only to have fun, but to force yourself out of your comfort zone, to meet people from a completely different walk of life, and to discover a thing or two about yourself along the way.

Take this opportunity to do what you want to do – and only what you want to do

 

Before this trip, I only ever traveled with family or with boyfriends, which was never necessarily a bad thing. I’m lucky to say I’ve always had travel companions who were excited to do and see all the same things as me. One year, on a trip to Italy with my family, my dad and I made a vow to see every Caravaggio painting in the many churches of Rome, and even got to see a few churches decorated with human bones along the way (creepy, yes, but anyone who knows me well knows these two things are right up my alley). But when you travel with other people, you always ending seeing a few things that you may be less than excited about, and missing out on something you may have been looking forward to. But that’s the beauty of traveling alone; you get to do and see all those things you want to, and none of the ones you don’t. In Prague, I not only got to visit the museum for art Nouveau painter Alfons Mucha (boyfriends don’t always share my taste in art) but also the famed 5 story night club Karlovy Lazne (never would have gone to a night club if I’d been traveling with family). So: take the opportunity of your solo trip to do and see all those things that you truly care about, without having to worry about what anyone else wants to do.

Have a plan – but don’t force yourself to stick to it

 

I just want to start by saying that in the weeks before I left, I planned every last detail of this trip down to a tee. I’m talking written schedules for each day containing details down to meal times and printed google maps showing exactly how much time it would take to get from point A to point B. I never realized how much of a Virgo I was until I started planning this trip, never fully identifying with that organizational, methodical approach to life (you should see the desktop on my computer right now, it is far from organized) that defines a Virgo. But I planned every part of this trip with more detail than I’ve ever planned anything in my life, and I’m glad I did. That being said, not a single day of my trip did I stick to that schedule – and it was not at all a bad thing. Between rain in Berlin, snow in Munich, and an achey achilles tendon in Prague, there was no way that each day could go exactly according to how I had planned it. Plus, if I had stuck strictly to my plans, I never would have stumbled upon a cozy jazz bar in Berlin or an awesome Salvador Dali exhibit in Prague. But having those plans in place served as a guide to know exactly what I sights I wanted to see, what museums I wanted to visit, and what restaurants I wanted to indulge in. So: use your plans as a guide, but don’t forget to stumble upon those amazing and magical little places that live in every corner of the world.

Don’t be afraid to sit at a table alone – but welcome it when you have company

 

Living and working in New York City, I am more than well versed in sitting in restaurants alone. On the days that I go out for lunch at work, I almost exclusively sit alone at whichever restaurant I’m eating in, cozied up with a good book or Netflix on my phone, and it’s a great break from the somewhat non-stop human interaction I have all day long at work. Because of this, I was not at all worried about sitting alone in restaurants while traveling. In some instances, lunch and dinner while traveling offered a quiet moment to send out email updates to my family or to mull over one of the many European history books I purchased. In other instances, it was the perfect opportunity to make some new friends. A lot of typical German restaurants have these giant wooden tables with family style seating, and they’re great for meeting new people. Asking someone who you overhear speaking english in a Berlin restaurant to watch your stuff (no valuables!) while you use the bathroom is the perfect icebreaker for striking up a conversation (although I did actually have to use the bathroom). And offering a cheers to someone else drinking Gluhwein (German mulled wine!) at an outdoor Christmas market in Munich is a great opportunity to meet a person from the other side of the world. So: take your meal times to eat, of course – with all that traveling, you need your nourishment! – but also take them as the perfect moment to meet someone with completely new perspective who you never would have met otherwise.

Keep a journal of some sort – even if it’s just notes on your phone or emails to family and friends

 

As a pre-teen girl, I was pretty big into journaling, as I think most pre-teen girls are. Once I outgrew that adolescent angst, the desire to journal my deepest feelings, hopes and dreams subsided; although I guess this blog could be considered a journal of sorts, and I have to say it actually feels pretty great to be journaling again. But I actually didn’t actively try to keep a journal while traveling – honestly I hadn’t even thought of it. Instead, email updates to my family and friends – inspired in combination by email updates that my dad always sends when he travels to see our family in Italy, and a promise to my grandma to send her pictures from my trip – became my journal. Each time I would send my family a batch of photos, I would also include an itinerary of the things I had seen and done that day, the people I had met, and of course things that I had eaten. I was super grateful at the time to have that moment to reflect upon the inevitable jumble of experiences that made up my days, and I’m super grateful now to have those emails to to remind me of all the awesome things I did. My next trip – solo or not – will most definitely include a journal. So: take a moment on your trip to jot down you’re experiences, not only to reflect upon them right then, but to have something to look back on to remind you of your incredible journey.

If you start to panic, take a few deep breaths a remember why you’re doing this

 

The only reason I’m putting this one in here is because I fell pray to it. Like I mentioned, I had every single aspect of this trip planned down to a tee. I knew that as soon as I got off the plane in Berlin, I was going to take the TXL bus to the train station, which was a 15 minute walk from my hotel. I landed in Berlin, excited to get off the plane, stretch my legs, and breath some German air for the first time ever, only to get outside and see absolutely no sign of where this bus stop was supposed to be. It seems trivial now; I easily could have asked someone, or taken a few more minutes to explore the airport and figure out exactly where I needed to be (I did find it eventually). But in the moment, my absolute first thought was: what the hell am I doing here? I wanted to kick myself for thinking I could have been brave enough to face navigating another country alone. This may have been the first time I had these thoughts on my trip, but it certainly wasn’t the last. But every time I started to panic like that – it’s easier than you might think when you’re alone in a foreign country – I remembered exactly why I was taking a solo trip in the first place: to explore another part of the world, to throw myself out of my comfort zone, and the face those moments of fear and panic. So: if you do start to panic, for whatever reason (even if it’s a pretty dumb one, like mine), remind yourself that fear is a part of life, and overcoming it can be exhilarating – that’s what your trip is all about.

So now, without further ado, I’ll treat you all to a few of the awesome sights I experienced on this trip: everything from Berlin’s Reischtag building, Stalinist architecture and famous Wall to Prague’s gorgeous historic synagogues and castles to Munich’s beer halls, Christmas markets, and stunning Bavarian alps. I hope that some of you out there will have the courage to take your own solo trips, because honestly it was an experience I would not trade for the world.