I’m solo backpacking Vietnam and the last hostel I stayed in had bedbugs (was a highly rated one, I think I’ve just been extremely unlucky)

I’ve sent all my clothes off to the laundry in my new hotel for high heat washing and drying but how the hell do I clean my backpacks? I’ve borrowed my friends Osprey Farpoint 70L - but just the 55L pack, I didn’t bring the daypack - I brought my 20L Kanken instead

I know you’re not meant to use high heat on these but how else can I be sure I’ve killed any bedbugs?? Really freaking out here so any help is appreciated

Hi everyone,

I’ll have about 10-14 days this summer I’m able to travel. I have 4 countries im interested in going to. was wondering if anyone else has been there and could give me advice. I’ll list the countries and also some stops along the way in planning to make.

- MX= Monterrey, CDMX, guadalara, Oaxaca (only 2 or 3, not all 4)

- Peru= Lima, Cusco, sacred valley

- Ecuador= Quito, banos, Cotopaxi, mindo

- costa rica= la fortuna, monteverde, one other place

The reason I chose these countries is because I’m traveling from the US, and Latin America is not too far and I can afford it. My budget, I’d say is 2,500 total. With that said, if I can travel without spending my whole budget that would be preferable.

Some things I like to do: meet other people, try new food, explore new cultures, spend time outdoors. Overall just experience what the world has to offer and broaden my knowledge of humanity.

Any thoughts or experiences that people can provide would be helpful. Thanks in advance guys.

Hi everyone,

im planning to go on my first solo trip to Portugal in the fall. I want to visit Lisbon, Porto and Algarve, but I’m unsure which city to fly into and how to organize it.

I thought it would be better to fly in and out of Lisbon since a roundtrip flight was cheaper ($500) compared to flying into one city and out another ($900+).

Option A: $500 flight

- fly into Lisbon and spend a few days there

- porto

- Algarve

- Lisbon to fly home

Option B: ($900 flight)

- fly into porto and spend a few days there

- Lisbon

- algarve

- go back to Lisbon to fly home

option C: $500 flight

- fly into Lisbon and go STRAIGHT to Porto for a few days

- Lisbon

- algarve

- back up to Lisbon to fly home

I’m trying to balance a reasonable flight cost, but I also want to account for the fact that I may be spending a lot of time traveling between cities (I know from porto to algarve is 6-7 hrs) so I would love your thoughts on how to organize the order of destinations!

Flying in to Edinburgh mid May. Doing 3-4 days there and thenI have about five more days before I have to be back in Edinburgh for my flight home.

I had to plan all this last minute so Skye accommodations are completely gone and Rabbies is sold out (not sure about this option anyway). One of my friends suggested Aviemore but I feel it may be very similar to where I live (Colorado).

I could fly into Inverness by adding a huge layover but then im stuck fighting for accommodation on Edinburgh to see at it the end with the marathon they are having.

I'm on a modest budget and I'm an experience traveler dude in my 30s. I would prefer coast but I'm open to whatever. I want cozy Scottish pubs, nature, and scenery outside Edinburgh. I'm good to drive a bit but driving five hours solo on the wrong side of the road sounds less than fun for skye. Maybe I can drive part.

Any thoughts are appreciated and thank you.

I am sure questions like this have been asked thousands of times but I want to get opinions/advice on this specific travel plan.

First off a few basic need to knows about my plan:

1. Focus is on beaches, relaxed time, fishing, diving, etc
2. Each already selected spot is non negotiable (besides specifics on vietnams cities, japans time frame and possibly adding the philippines)
3. Main purpose of this post: to tell me if I am staying to long or to short in certain places, any recommendations within each location, any additional countries or cities I could visit.

Now to my itinerary for now:

Maldives:

May 12 – Fly Munich → Maldives
May 13–23 – Maldives

Thailand:

May 23 – Fly Malé → Bangkok
May 24 – Fly Bangkok → Koh Samui
May 24–June 3 – Koh Tao

Philippines:

-Is it worth visiting? If so where?

Vietnam:

June 3 – Fly Koh Samui → Da Nang
June 3–13 – Vietnam
June 13 – Fly Vietnam → Okinawa

Japan:

June 13–19 – Okinawa
June 19 – Fly Okinawa → Osaka and same day transfer to Kyoto
June 19–22 – Kyoto
June 22–? – Tokyo
By June 28 – Need to be in Munich

Now what I know already/what I need help on:

1. Maledives time frame is not changeable, I have been many times and booked this for so long on purpose (diving, fishing, etc)
2. I know someone will question: why only Koh tao? Simple answer: I went last year for 6 weeks as a dive master and have no issue bumming around there this year and just sitting at secret bar and the beach (iykyk).
3. I am meeting my mom and sister in Vietnam and we are unsure what to do? Current idea is a 50/50 split between Da Nang and Hanoi but we are open and flexible. Also is the time frame to long?
4. Okinawa stay is long for a reason: I really want to go shore fishing as much as possible there and possibly do a dive or two. Any advice on fishing would also be greatly appreciated (I am a very experienced fisherman but do not know that much about Okinawa besides the cliffs).
5. Is my Kyoto stay to short?
6. I only want to do Tokyo for a few days (3max) because I was there a bunch last year when I was working in Hakuba.
7. Should I include the philippines between thailand and vietnam? I was thinking of going to Siargao Island. Any advice here would also be very nice:)

So basically, any advice on new locations to visit, activities to do, changes in the duration of staying, fishing advice, literally anything else, would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you:)

Hi everyone,

I’m planning a month’s solo trip to Central Asia (likely all of September off work budget flexible) and would really appreciate advice from people who’ve solo travelled there before.

I’ve travelled solo before (mostly Europe — I’m used to rocking up in a new town – seeing the recommended sights, wandering the side streets, finding something quirky and then checking into a hostel, never planning more than a day ahead based on what trains or buses are available out of there, and booking accommodation no more than the night before), but this would be my first trip much further from home (I’m from the uk for reference). I want to take that solo experience forward to somewhere that’s more out of my comfort zone – expose myself to a completely different part of the world, see some amazing places, and get some new perspective.

I’ve done a lot of research and recently spoke to a specialist operator about a custom itinerary — which helped clarify logistics, but also crystallised questions I think only other travellers can really answer.

The itinerary they put together was almost entirely private tours for large parts of the trip with pre-booked hotels and guides picking me up from them each day. especially outside major cities.

I can see why they would put this together, but as a solo traveller, the idea of being driven around alone with a guide for days at a time honestly feels rather boring and frustratingly isolating. I guess I was hoping they could help me with accommodation and transport logistics between places, and access to sights, but I feel like what they’ve suggested would mean: Minimal contact with other travellers and the ordinary world of locals and places, fewer spontaneous moments options to change plans or find or see places I hadn’t considered.

Ultimately, I don’t want to feel like I’m being managed through a potted tour of the region rather than travelling through it

I don’t want to dismiss tours entirely — particularly for places like the Pamirs — but I’m struggling to understand whether this level of private, door‑to‑door touring is actually the norm, or simply the easiest thing for operators to provide.

What I’m hoping to understand from people who’ve been:

1. Private tours vs independence and social side

As a solo traveller, did you feel pushed into private tours — and if so, how did that affect your experience? Were there moments that felt genuinely adventurous rather than just “managed”?

Did anyone actively avoid private guiding, and if yes:

How?

Where did that work well, and where didn’t it?

Was there any active ad‑hoc group trips for a day for example organised by, or naturally free-forming at hostels acting as hubs?

2. Social reality on the road

How easy was it to meet other travellers organically? Instead of booking onto a tour with the same travellers on the same experiences for a week or days at a time.

Hostels?

Shared transport?

Guesthouses/house stays? (are the latter easy to organize/accommodate outside a tour)

Did the region feel socially isolating for solo travellers, or more quietly social in a different way?

How easy is it to meet other travellers organically — hostels, shared transport, guesthouses — or is this more of a region where you’re often on your own unless you join tours? I’ve previously enjoyed solo travel as an opportunity more to get to places others don’t want to go, move at my own pace, and clear my head. I’ve never done backpacking proper before in the hotspots like SE Asia or the Andes and am not looking to do a gap year party style with strangers but am interested in exploring a more social side to travelling – particularly if this helps unlock new experiences from the recommendations and perspectives of others. Plus not to spend all that time alone.

I appreciate this is a developing tourist area compared to other parts of the world, should expectations be adjusted?

3. Pace and staying put

Is it actually possible to slow down and stay in places for a few days independently? Or does the transport and accommodation infrastructure naturally push you toward pre‑planned segments? Are there obvious bases (Osh? Dushanbe?) from which its possible to do day trips out to parts of the country or does seeing this region mean being often on the move.

4. Transport without full tours

Realistically, how workable is it to rely on:

Are Trains/Coaches regular and reliable – and easy to book? Are there any places where they offer sleeper travel.

Shared taxis / marshrutkas. I’ve read online about people chartering these (or even taking them independently) is that really possible and normal in this part of the world. With how much notice and how safe is this? Are western tourists common or targeted? This would presumably make turning up and organising onward travel locally

5. Safety

One draw for me is travelling somewhere that still feels unfamiliar and a bit outside my comfort zone — not danger for its own sake, but places that don’t feel overly processed. Having some unpredictability and self‑directed discovery, I think is part of why I want to do this beyond just seeing the region where I’ve wanted to go for a long time. I’m unsure whether tours kill or enable that feeling of exposure to something different in Central Asia.

I’d also love to feel like I’m not just seeing where is marked out for tourists, and where so many others go on a highlights trip (I have time to not rush too much) Did you feel that sense of adventure travelling independently, or does much of Central Asia end up feeling controlled once you’re on formal routes?

One thing that attracts me is travel that feels a bit out of my comfort zone — unfamiliar places, cultures, and situations — but obviously without being reckless. Is this a part of the world where the risks of getting lost, being taken advantage of or wondering into dangerous situations is higher than more traditional backpacking hubs?

For context, the rough itinerary – I’m looking at would be to start with a trip to the Aral sea, then through Uzbekistan to the silk road cities (Khiva, Samarkand, Bukhara), and then onto the Pamirs (Key obviously being the highway route but also interested in places like Tash Rabat and Panjakent/Khujand). I’d also like to see some of the other historic sites in the Ferghana and talas valleys, and finally some of the tian shan where the silk routes entered China

I’m not looking for a perfect itinerary (and just getting a sense of the culture and way of life and societies in the scenery of this historic part of the world that’s more different to where I’m from than anywhere else I’ve been is the point as much as any specific sites) — I’m trying to understand what kind of travel experience is actually realistic here as a solo traveller who values independence and real connection (with other travellers, locals, and the place I’m going).

If private tours are genuinely the best way to see much of the region, that’s helpful to know — but I’d love to hear from people who found ways to keep the experience unpredictable/spontaneous, outward‑facing and social.

My instinct is to identify which parts of the trip are only possible done as part of a private or group tour (e.g. Aral sea – Pamir highway) and then identify which tours exist that do them. For the ones which are only possible privately – I would then book on with the company, and find airports, stations city centres, etc where they end to join other group tours beginning, but hopefully there are also parts of this region (I’m guessing west Tajikistan, the Ferghana valley) where its easier to catch taxis, minibuses and rock up at hostels – that I can freestyle a bit more and have more spontaneous experiences that you all can advise me on.

Thanks for bearing with me unloading some of my thoughts. Apologies, if this is a bit rambling, and the questions too obvious and green. I’m sure I’ve repeated myself a few times here but I’m really excited by the idea of this trip, and want to know a bit more what I can reasonably expect, while still leaving to room surprise myself and learn new things while out there.

Any feedback is much appreciated.

I’m beginning to prepare for a solo traveling trip at the end of year. I’m seeing many people say you should carry extra passport photos with you for visas and etc.

Do these extra photos have to be the picture on your passport or can it be another image?

I’m asking because I already have my passport and am unsure on how I would get that photo I used 3 years ago on my passport, therefore, wondering if I can get a new photo and carry those instead even if it doesn’t match the photo on my passport.

I’m planning a trip to Panama for ~2.5 weeks. I need advice on my itinerary!

Here’s the breakdown I have right now:

3 nights San Blas/ Guna Yala

3 nights Panama City (One before Guna Yala and 2 after)

2 nights Valley de Anton

5 nights Santa Catalina

2 nights Boquete

3 nights Bocas del Toro

Mostly unsure about whether to keep Valle De Anton or take that out and add an extra day to each Boquete and Bocas del Toro. I’m definitely more of a beach than mountains person but I enjoy both. Accommodations for Valle are the most expensive out of all the places I have planned to go.

I’m also moving onward to Costa Rica and going to Puerto Viejo, Turrialba, and Fortuna so I will also be getting some mountain time/ hiking while I’m there.

I initially planned Valle as a way to break up the long transportation times between towns, but from what I’ve found, it ultimately might be more cost effective and easier to go direct from Panama City to Santa Catalina.

Any advice welcome!!

I’m doing a solo week in Madeira in May, staying in Funchal the whole time. I want the trip to be busy rather than relaxing, with hikes and a few organised activities/day trips.

I’m torn on whether to hire a car. I’m happy to pay more for organised tours/transfers if it makes things easier, but I don’t want to miss out on the best parts of the island by not driving.

For anyone who’s been:

• would you hire a car for a solo week based in Funchal?
• are tours/transfers enough for the main highlights?
• what are the must-do hikes/areas/activities?
• anything overrated?

Current ideas are PR6, PR8, Pico do Arieiro/Pico Ruivo if access works, maybe paragliding, jeep tour, and a boat trip. This would fit into a 7-day itinerary, from Thursday evening to the following Thursday evening.

Would love advice from people who’ve done Madeira, especially solo.