I have already talked about how I prefer to travel and that includes being an advocate of solo female travel. Of course, I love to take trips with friends and loved ones, but I think that traveling alone, at least some times, is a great way to get out of your comfort zone and open yourself up to the world. That’s exactly what happened to me on my first solo trip!

The first time I ever took a trip alone to a destination where I was not meeting someone at said destination was to Venice. I was young and broke, but the thought of Italy had always enchanted me. I was living in London at the time, so it wasn’t a big leap to take a trip to Venice. I saved my pennies and booked a flight to go for a long weekend.

One of the main things I remember about that trip was the fear mixed in with my excitement. I couldn’t wait to see those infamous canals, eat gelato, and maybe take a gondola ride. But my stomach was also in knots. How would I navigate this alone? Would I find my way around? Would I be safe? Would I catch any smoke for TWB (traveling while black)? I had booked a room at a hostel in order to save money, which was a first for me. Could I get comfortable sleeping in a dorm with a bunch of women I didn’t know?

I remember walking from the main plaza to my hostel with my bags over the cobblestone sidewalks and narrow bridges that zig zagged over the canals. This was in the days before google maps or the rise of smartphones, so I only had Mapquest instructions that I had printed prior to leaving to guide me. When I got to the hostel, I was relieved that it was clean and tidy. I freshened up and went out to explore. As I mentioned in another post, I tend to plan out a few things that I absolutely want to do on a trip, and see where the trip guides me for the rest of the time. I ended up having a great time, and these are some of the highlights of my trip – planned and unplanned.

Sit in an authentic Venetian gondola

Notice I didn’t say ride. Lol. I wanted to take a ride, but I didn’t really have the money for it. Daniel the gondolier told me he’d let me ride in his gondola for free if I gave him all my kisses. Then after reassuring me that he was kidding, he offered to let me sit in his Gondola for free. As a solo female traveler, it can become worrisome or sometimes even scary to have random guys make passes at you all the time. But, it’s a good policy to be open-minded and realize when people are just joking around.

Take in the Architecture

The Grand Canal, the Rialto, the bridges, and all the beautiful buildings along the waterways; the architecture was unlike anything I had ever seen, and definitely did not disappoint.

Eat tasty Italian food

Although I love authentic Italian food in general, I have to be honest and admit that nothing I ate in Venice was spectacular. I’m not sure if it was my lack of experience in picking places to eat back then, or was it just the food in general, but I didn’t eat anything worth writing home about…except perhaps the gelato. I do recall chatting up an Italian who told me that Venice, the island proper, is more like Disney World – all catered to tourists because regular Italians couldn’t really afford to live there anymore. So that may have something to do with the quality of the food.

Take a water taxi to Murano

Murano is a small Venetian island known for its glass-making. I thought it would be cool to take a water taxi there and see the glass museum, and what else I could get into. I even got to see people in the process of actually making glass. And of course, there were all kinds of cool glass wares for sale.

Rent a bike in Murano

Turns out, you can rent a bike and bike around the entire island, which is what I did. It was nice getting to explore from that vantage point.

Meet a tall, dark and (slightly) handsome stranger

When I took a rest on a bench after all that biking, I met a stranger. He was a tourist from Mauritania, and he only spoke French. I don’t know any French, but somehow we managed to communicate (thinking back, I still can’t figure out how). We ended up spending the rest of the day together, bumping around Venice, and having dinner. It was nice to have a little foreign romance, even if at one point we resorted to drawing pictures just to understand one another!

Takeaway

The trip was a lot of fun. When you travel alone you get the chance to do exactly what you want to do when you want to do it. You set the tone of your trip with no compromises. And the bit of vulnerability that comes from bumping around alone can open you up to meeting new people in a different way. But more than anything else I think this trip was great because I proved to myself that I could navigate a new environment on my own. All of the things that had gripped me with fear, once I got there, I figured it all out. If I have one tip for someone considering taking their first solo female trip, it would be to stay aware, use your common sense about what situations you put yourself into, but also don’t let fear stop you from trying the things you want to try and meeting new people