For so many women, the hardest part of solo travel is taking that first trip.

Some are overwhelmed by the possibilities. Others let doubts and fears creep in, often fueled by family and friends who come from a loving place but also are filled with often unfounded warnings about all the bad things that might happen to a woman traveling alone.

Those barriers are real but they are surmountable.

This is my step-by-step plan to overcoming them and going on a trip that will likely change your life forever:

(Click here to see an example of how I booked a six-week solo travel trip to Ireland, Scotland and London.)

Step one: Decisions, decisions.

The first major barrier is deciding where to go. As someone who wants to travel to every continent and every country that’s reasonably safe, I can relate.

A good way to get started is identifying what you’re passionate about. Hiking? Switzerland might be perfect for you. Cooking? It’s hard to beat Italy, where there are countless cooking classes in English and other languages. Learning about a new culture? Depending on your upbringing, that could be anywhere.

I went on my first solo trip when I was 18 and the decision about where to go was fairly easy. I had been taking four years of Spanish and working as a server at IHOP, where all the cooks and bussers only spoke Spanish. So by the time I was 18, I was quite fluent. I had also been to Spain on a small group trip when I was 16 and already knew that I loved the people, the food, the culture, the countryside and pretty much everything about it.

Knowing the language and having been there before really helped the anxiety I felt about leaving home for two months and spending them alone in a foreign country.

So ask yourself, is there somewhere you’ve already been with other people that you’d like to go back to? Would you like to go somewhere you already know the language? Answering those questions is a great first step and can narrow down your choices.

Step two: Go easy on yourself

Your first solo trip does not have to be a foreign country. I’ve had solo adventures two hours from my house. I also once drove from Phoenix to Seattle alone, taking the Pacific Coast Highway through California. I didn’t even have to get on a plane for that one.

I know a woman whose first solo trip was to Argentina and Antarctica for 18 days. I know another who went to West Palm Beach for a weekend.

If you don’t have the funds, time or confidence for a big, long foreign trip, do not let that stop you.

You can get your solo life started by opting for something close by. Consider camping or sleeping in your car (see my safety section for tips about this). If you’re in LA, that could mean driving up to the Eastern Sierra and camping in the foothills of some of the most beautiful mountains in the country. If you live in Toledo, Ohio, go to Hocking Hills for a couple nights. Live in Houston? Head on down to Galveston.

Step three: Research

No matter where you go, you need to do some basic research to make sure it’s safe.

Search the country name in Google News and see what’s been happening there lately. You’ll quickly learn that now might not be the time for one of your bucket list places. In March 2023, for instance, France was experiencing transportation strikes and resulting upheaval including canceled flights and trains, a gas shortage and electricity outages. Parts of Peru were seeing violent protests and political turmoil.

Stateside, research safe and unsafe neighborhoods. Google the city’s name and crime if that’s a concern.

Are you interested in hiking in Alaska or Montana? You might want to reach out to a local hiking group and make a friend or two to stay safe in grizzly country. I’m a seasoned solo hiker and backpacker and I don’t think I’d want to be on a trail in grizzly country alone.

Now you’ll want to identify what time of year you’d ideally like to go and make sure that’s a good time to visit your destination. If your heart is set on Italy but you can only go in August, I would strongly advise you to reconsider. It’s hot as Hades all over Italy in the summer, most buildings don’t have air conditioning and many locals go on holiday and their businesses are closed. Are you really going to enjoy walking around the Colosseum with sweat pooling in your lower back and underarms, and ruining that cute new dress you bought?

You know what’s great in August? Switzerland. Generally it doesn’t get too hot, the nights always cool down, the scenery is stunning and the public transportation system is flawless.

The more research you do, the more information you’ll be armed with to make the right decision for you.

Step three: Book it!

After you’ve considered your options and done your research, it’s time to press some buttons.

Once you confirm your destination, you’ll need to figure out an itinerary. For me, I decided to keep it simple and stay in Alicante, Spain for two months on a study abroad. When I did a solo trip to Mexico, I stayed in Guadalajara for 10 days. When I went to Italy alone, I stayed in Florence almost the entire 10-day trip.

In other words, think about keeping it simple. Constantly changing cities and towns can add stress onto a first trip so don’t feel like you need to see everything. If you love the country enough, you’ll go back and you’ll feel more comfortable moving around. If you want to hit up several places, absolutely go for it but book your transportation in advance and understand how you’re getting from Point A to B before you land.

Now it’s time to look at airfare. I recommend using Google flights in incognito mode, entering your destination and scrolling forward to see what ticket prices look like. If they’re too expensive, wait a few days and look again. Keep checking, and prices often will go down as long as you’re not too close to your departure time.

Be ready to change your destination to another one because of airfare, and think about alternate airports at your destination. For instance, when I booked a trip to Switzerland I was willing to fly out of Geneva or Zurich. The prices out of Geneva happened to be a lot better, and train travel makes it easy to get to either city, so I went with Geneva.

Now that you have an idea how much airfare will be, decide how much you’re willing to spend on accommodation. When I was in my teens and 20s, that answer was no more than $30 a night, which meant staying in hostels. Now I tend to stay in places that are at least $100 a night but up to $200 if it’s a splurge and can fit into my budget.

Whatever you’re willing to spend, there will be choices as long as you’re planning at least four months in advance (but I recommend at least six months). Use Expedia, booking.com, Airbnb, VRBO and other websites to confirm that there are plenty of accommodation options for your travel dates.

Once you’ve all that, book the plane ticket! Don’t overthink it, just book it.

Step four: Finalize where you’ll sleep

Once you have your airline ticket, you have some wiggle room on booking your hostels, hotels or apartments.

If you’re like me, the airline ticket was a big hit to your bank account and you probably can’t afford to pay for all your overnights in advance. There are ways around that.

If I’m staying anywhere for more than four days, I tend to spread out the financial pain, paying for some now and some later.

Many hotels on booking.com do not require down payments and you can pay for them all the way up until you show up at the front desk. Airbnb often allows you to pay half now and half later.

Another way to save money is narrowing down what lodgings are available on booking.com and then booking directly with the property (it often saves you from extra fees).

Since this is your first trip, make sure you’re staying in nice places. I don’t mean expensive. I mean make sure that whatever place you’re staying has consistently stellar reviews. On booking.com, that means at least 8.8 out of 10. On Airbnb, I tend to prefer super hosts who have a 4.8 or higher. On Google, reviews need to be at least four out of five stars.

If you do want to move around and see many sites on your trip, try to stay in one place at least two nights. Three is often better. Stays of only one night can feel too frantic, too short and a waste of time if you’re checking in at 3 p.m. and having to leave early in the morning.

You don’t have to book every night’s stay now but book something! With each new reservation, you’ll have one less thing to figure out later and you can focus on planning your day-to-day travel.

Step five: Make a plan

With the major components booked, now comes the fun part!

I spend hours and hours researching my destinations and figuring out what my priorities are. If you’re anything like me, you want to see and do everything. Let go of that desire.

A far more rewarding trip focuses on doing several things well, not a ton of things poorly. For instance, I spent nearly two months in Switzerland and I still didn’t get to do everything I wanted. Outside of a 12-day trek along the Haute Route, I never stayed anywhere for fewer than two nights. Most of my stops were between three and five nights.

Building in longer stays allows me to relax and get to know an area better. I didn’t get to spend any time in places like Interlaken, Zurich and Bern, and that’s OK. Switzerland isn’t going anywhere.

What I did get to do was spend five nights in Lauterbrunnen, allowing me to fully explore all the beautiful surrounding villages including Murren, Wengen and Grindelwald. I also booked a hotel room with an unobstructed view of the famed Staubbach Falls. Most people visit the falls for an hour or two and stay in Lauterbrunnen a night or two and move on. For five days I watched the sun rise and set with a view of the falls and the soundtrack of the bells at the nearby church.

I also spent significant chunks of time in enchanting towns and villages like Zermatt, St. Moritz, Ascona, Montreux, and in bigger cities like Geneva and Lucerne.

If you have more like two weeks in a foreign country, I recommend no more than three different accommodations and including at least one small town or village, not just a big, bustling city.

I use three primary resources when planning an itinerary: actual old-fashioned guidebooks, Internet searches and social media discussion groups. I compare what people are saying, what guidebooks are recommending, and I seek out online reviews to help me prioritize.

Maybe that’s too much planning for you. Some people enjoy wandering about and seeing what they come across, and that method is just as good.

However, for places that tend to see lots of tourists, you will miss out on opportunities by failing to book in advance. In Italy, for instance, there are many attractions that require advanced tickets and reservations, which will sell out, somethings months ahead of time. Just something to be aware of.

Step five: Pack and go!

My No. 1 piece of advice for anyone traveling anywhere for any length of time is to take only a carryon-sized suitcase and a medium-sized backpack.

When I first started traveling, I would take these humongous suitcases. I overpacked on trips to Spain, Italy, Japan and France. I finally realized that I needed to change the way I pack after a trip to France, where I had to lug on oversized suitcase on cobblestone streets for about a mile after landing, take it up and down flights of stairs on the Metro and get it into a fourth-floor apartment that didn’t have an elevator.

Other challenges with overpacked luggage include trains and buses, which sometimes have limited space. I’ll never forget once seeing a man struggle mightily to move an absolute behemoth of a suitcase from a luggage hold and hurl it down the steps of a train. As for planes, if you checked a bag and it gets lost, you are setting

You don’t want to be that person. It is physically difficult, embarrassing and puts you at more risk of being robbed. (Having too much luggage almost cost me in France when some street thieves tried to rob me on a train.)

So, pack light. If you don’t book accommodations that have washers, hand wash your clothes in a sink using some shampoo or whatever soap is convenient.

For some helpful tips on what to pack and other helpful tips before you take off, read this.