Active Travel Adventures podcast I Inspiring Multi-Day Adventure Trips Around the World · Kit Parks

Solo Adventure Travel Tips and Advice

·1 hr 4 min·4 clips

Jackie rejects fear-based solo travel advice and says “common sense is your best defense.”

1. Active Travel Adventures podcast’s “Solo Adventure Travel Tips and Advice” focuses on solo hiking and solo adventure travel across New Zealand, France, Italy, Switzerland, Peru, and Scotland. 2. Host Kit Parks frames the episode and brings together Jackie Norse, Monica Aaron Gurin, and Jason Waitkins, each of whom has years of solo or semi-solo adventure travel experience. 3. The episode asks what solo travel actually feels like, why people choose it after major life changes, and how they handle safety, loneliness, and meals alone. 4. Jackie says solo travel forces every decision onto one person, including breakfast, beer, and daily routing, which she describes as both a burden and a freedom. 5. Jackie says loneliness is real on month-long trips, but she also says solo travel helped her rebuild after leaving a relationship and a house behind. 6. Kit repeats Jackie’s quote “lose yourself until you find yourself,” and Jackie explains that she had to create a new normal after choosing to travel the world solo. 7. Jackie says foreign languages, foreign currency, borders, flights, and hotels all make solo travel more challenging than staying in familiar places at home. 8. Jackie argues that safety concerns should not dominate the decision, saying “common sense is your best defense” and that bad things can happen anywhere. 9. Jackie says solo diners often worry too much about what others think, but she reads most stares as curiosity about her backpack, accent, or table-for-one. 10. Jackie recommends practical comfort tools such as a favorite beer, a book, people-watching, hostel common rooms, and staying where social contact is available. 11. Monica Aaron Gurin says she began hiking alone after becoming single again around 2007 or 2008 and then chose New Zealand as her first bigger adventure for her 50th birthday. 12. Monica says she has used both guided group trips and self-guided trips with logistics support, including maps, luggage movement, GPS, and a 24-hour contact. 13. Monica says the pros of solo travel include expanding beyond familiar boxes and meeting people she might not meet when traveling with a companion. 14. Monica says her main con is sleeping alone, so she prefers a single room to avoid snoring and protect her sleep. 15. Monica says she has never felt unsafe on these trips, and she gives an example of chatting in Italian with an older man while she was walking with her camera in Italy. 16. Monica says she keeps in touch with trip companions, including four singles from a Mont Blanc trip in 2016 who have now held multiple reunions, including one in Toronto. 17. The tone stays conversational and practical, with Kit moving between direct questions, follow-ups, and short prompts that keep the pace steady. 18. The format blends host narration, guest testimony, and anecdotal examples rather than a formal panel or a single long interview. 19. Listeners interested in solo hiking, confidence, and practical trip planning. 20. Listeners wanting destination deep dives or high-drama travel stories.

As heard by us

A grounded, encouraging conversation about solo travel that emphasizes courage, freedom, and unexpected connection.

The episode treats solo travel as more than a question of logistics. Kit Parks frames it as a test of courage and a way to understand who someone is in a new normal, while speaking with three solo travelers about the rewards and the hard parts of going alone.

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Why you'd press play

Listen if solo travel feels exciting, risky, or long overdue.

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