r/solotravel

Hello, I'm soon to try a solo hiking trip and I'm very excited for the days as I will be out and about, but I'm struggling to plan what to do in the evenings and was looking for some tips.

I don't really want to just spend the evenings sat in my hotel room after I've been out to eat, but I'm also pretty introverted and not sure I could just sit in a bar alone every night. The world cup is on so that's my only idea so far, to find a bar that shows it and watch the game while I have a few drinks and that's probably what I'll end up doing for at least a couple of the nights, but was just curious what others do in this sub. thanks in advance!

About Me - mid-30s male on summer break from a teaching job in the US.

About the Trip - I wanted to go back to an event that I really loved in Seoul last year, and as long as I was in Korea again, I also chose to revisit Busan and then go to some other nearby places that are bit of a step further past the "standard" international tourism destinations in the country.

Itinerary

Incheon (one night) - I arrived late-ish in the evening, enjoyed a massive dinner in the airport, and then in my sleep deprived state got kinda confused about how best to get to my hotel near the airport but figured it out. In some ways figuring out which shuttle to take to my hotel was actually the most confusing transit experience of this whole trip lol.

Busan (four days) - Busan was a real highlight for me last time and I was excited to go back and explore some more and also just hang out and enjoy the city. Last time I missed the famous and slightly tourist trappy but still very pretty Gamcheon Cultural Village so I went there, revisited some of the street market areas I loved so much last time, enjoyed more of the great seafood and visited Shinsegae (the world's largest department store, though IMO not a particular highlight of Busan)

Geoje Island (three days) - Korea's second-largest island after Jeju, and not too far from Busan by bus. This island seems pretty far off the international tourism map but parts of it seemed popular with domestic Korean tourists. I stayed in Geoje city and did two hikes from there, the more exciting and worthwhile being to the summit of the small-ish Gyeryong-san mountain with some fun rocky terrain at the top and lovely views of the island and some smaller nearby islands. I also did a day trip to another part of Geoje Island to an area called "windy hill," from which you can walk to see some other natural features. Quite a few Korean tourists around there, and it was close-ish to some small villages on the coastline that were pretty.

Tongyeong (three days) - I mainly wanted to use city as a base for a day trip to Someamuldo Island, a very small island reachable by ferry from Tongyeong, but the city of Tongyeong itself was really fun. Some nice walkable markets, pretty coastal scenery, and an again very local Korean domestic tourist crowd and just generally a pleasant atmosphere. The ferry out to Somaemuldo island was a fun experience in and of itself, with some old Korean dudes day-drinking and inviting me to hang out and drink with them for a while; again I think they just don't see a ton of foreign tourists go out that way and I was something of a novelty for them. And the island itself was very pretty with one tiny village situated on it and some nice scenery including great views of other small islands nearby. Another old Korean dude bought me some noodles and a beer for lunch, and yet another older Korean couple invited me to sit with them for a while despite completely insurmountable language barrier, just nice to be treated with such friendliness as an outsider.

Daejeon (one day) - a large city somewhat centrally located in Korea and a transit hub, and honestly a place without much draw for tourists, but a convenient stopover. The bus ride from Tongyeong to here took a few hours with probably the worst driver I've ridden with in Korea. Daejeon itself isn't really a tourism-oriented city, but made for an interesting chance to see what felt like a somewhat "normal" Korean big city. I had some superb food here and wandered around a bit but it again was sort of a stopover mostly.

Seoul (four days) - much of this time was non-solo since I was attending an event and meeting up with some friends I met here last year, but I did do some things solo including going to the Korean National Museum (wish I had done this last time since it gives some helpful context to some of Korea's major historical sights, even though some wings were closed for renovation/repairs) and enjoying some shorter walks around neighborhoods. The social event was really great too. Pending final stages of visa process I, uh, may or may not be moving to an East Asian country rather soon, so returning to this social event in Seoul was helpful for deepening some friendships in the general region of my future homeland as well, but I'm keeping some of the specifics of that private for now until it's more finalized.

What went well

This was my first time going back to a country I'd already visited solo before, and my experiences with that were very positive. Last time I got a good feel for how to get around, what to expect from the social climate in the country, what apps were most useful and so on, so this time it felt like I skipped more of the culture shock and just fell into a really comfortable rhythm right away. I ate better this time, with a better sense of what sorts of places to look for, what my favorite dishes are, and what sorts of places don't serve solo diners which really confused me last time.

I adored Busan again, just such a nice city to walk around in, and was thankful for the extended time to hang out there. Tongyeong was a nice surprise and a comfortable and fun home base for a few days, and I enjoyed seeing some more of Korea's islands and doing some hiking.

I also frankly was just in a happier mental space this year. Last year, I still enjoyed S Korea, but I was also in the final stages of a bitter, badly communicated interpersonal situation back home that sometimes distracted a bit from my usual carefree travel mode. This year that situation is thankfully far behind me and I felt more consistently present and just generally much happier.

I felt like Korean people were also nicer to me this time? But maybe that's partly because I was more relaxed and gave off a more approachable energy. I suspect though it may also be that I was pushing farther out of where foreign tourists usually go, so maybe I was more of a novelty and more local people wanted to chat with me or at least say hi.

I think this trip affirmed my general impression that Korea is a very easy place to get away from international mass tourist traffic, and that can be fun and rewarding, especially once you get used to how to navigate.

What didn't go well

By Korean standards I thought public transit and pedestrian infrastructure on Geoje Island were sometimes lacking. For instances, some buses run quite infrequently (again by Korean standards) or their frequency and routes aren't listed accurately on Naver Maps, and likewise there were a few areas where the walkability wasn't very good and Naver Maps again was not very accurate about what could or couldn't be walked.

It was mostly fun, but occasionally getting extra attention as an obvious outsider intruded on my "me time."

This last gripe is actually kind of funny, but it also taught me a useful lesson. I have facial hair and have for years, and wanted to trim/neaten up my beard towards the end of this trip, but I hadn't packed an electric razor. I assumed it'd be easy enough to find one for a decent price in Korea but turns out, it's very difficult to find facial hair-grooming products in a country where almost nobody grows out their facial hair! Even in the major cities I had a real tough time finding anything that would do the job. Lesson learned!

Otherwise this was a great trip and a very peaceful one.

I just began my global quest to find my home in the world, but I have been struggling with how to interact with male solo travelers/locals.

I have some past trauma with men that makes me very distrusting of them naturally. I will not treat them poorly but I’m not going out of my way to chat up a strange man, although I will indulge in a conversation if a man initiates it.

Generally speaking there really aren’t many, if any, men in my life so this trip has been like exposure therapy lol. In every city I’ve gone to so far I’ve hung out with a man at some point and had a great time, but still that fear of my kindness being taken advantage of was always in the back of my mind.

But today the owner of the dispensary next door to my hotel took me to the beach, waited (3 hours) until I was ready to leave at sunset, took me to his friend’s bday party, fed me cake, then dropped me back off at my hotel and didn’t ask for anything in return 😭😭

On the ride back to the hotel I looked up at the sky and saw more stars than I’ve ever seen before in my life, and all I could think about was how grateful I am to him.

When I arrived at this place I was afraid to ride on a motorbike or to trust a strange man, but tonight I did both (while very scared) and turned out better for it.

So ladies be safe but don’t be afraid to listen to your gut and do things scared.

Sorry to break the romanticism that they are trying to sell us with cats in Chefchouen. Reality is most of them are in terrible state. Thousands are sick, kittens with eye infections, many already blind, kittens with diarrheas and diarrheas all over the place, cats and kittens with skin infections and some kitten literally dying in front of locals and tourists. Almost every female cat is pregnant turning the situation in a no turning point. No cat or animal should live here. People throw them any trash to eat, including clearly rotten and they do it on top of the feces that kittens and sick cats leave behind. Therefore, many are born in filthy environment, get sick and end up dying of infections, including respiratory. I had planned 3 days in Chefchouen, saw 2 kittens die with the total indifference of humans around and that was enough. After 2 days I left. And no one should go. We need to put pressure on the local authorities to act now and tourists should stop selling fake images of Chefchouen. Only if we touch their pockets this inhumane attitude will change. I live and work in developing countries in the south fo Africa, so no, Im not a western lunatic tripping, I just don’t put a filter and accept as normal what in no place should be normal. And the situation in Chefchouen Is something I had never seen before. Don’t believe “instagrammers” who post the beautiful blue picture. Behind that picture is a mess. A mess for animals who live in hell. Chefchouen needs an URGENT a sterilization campaign (NOW. Not tomorrow), a veterinary, and associations who ensures the minimum. Yes, the minimum. Today there is no one, nothing and locals and expats don’t care and tourists with its “filter” neither. If you care do not visit Chouen. Thanks

Looking for some advice.

I booked and paid for a 12-day Ethiopia tour through Viator months ago. The tour starts in tomorrow.

Today, the tour operator contacted me on WhatsApp saying they can no longer provide the itinerary I booked. They said due to security issues in Tigray and increased operating costs, they’ve replaced it with a completely different 8-day itinerary.

They’re offering the new tour for USD 1,800 and say they’ll refund my original Viator booking, but only if I cancel the Viator booking myself first.

The frustrating part is that two weeks ago I specifically contacted both Viator and the operator to confirm the tour was still going ahead because I wanted to avoid exactly this kind of last-minute situation. I was reassured everything was fine.

Now I’m in Addis Ababa with very few alternatives.

I’ve already contacted Viator and am waiting for their response, but I’m wondering:

Should I refuse to cancel and insist the operator cancels instead?
If I cancel myself, could I lose any protection or make it harder to get a refund?
Is it a red flag that they’re asking me to pay for the replacement tour outside the Viator platform?
Has anyone dealt with something similar? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I lost my job a month ago and have decided to take a career break and travel. I am single, in my 30s and have no commitments and it’s the best time of my life to do this. I’m in New York currently seeing friends, then I’m packing up my house to move and have some weddings. I’ll have no house of my own and will be doing some slow travel in Europe. I’ll be going back and forth and then at some point will move to Canada on a working holiday visa.

I find the adventure and novelty exciting and I have been craving something new for a long time. However, I have days where I’m quite tired of all the logistics, the planning and uprooting my life. It’s adding a lot of friction and complexity to my life and I am someone that does like stability at times, I don’t know if I’m overthinking and trying to control too much but I tire myself out. It’s like navigating several big life changes in one (losing job, moving house, travelling solo without a home, moving country).

I also have some moments of questioning what I’m doing while everyone around me is settling down.

How do you navigate mixed/stressful emotions when travelling, or the ups and downs of it all?

Context: first time in Taiwan, first time in Asia even, but have visited 30ish countries, probably 25 solo. 27M, interests are history, food, culture, vibes/nightlife, wandering around. Not too obsessed with nature, and have even seen lots of people saying that places like Sun Moon Lake and Taroko Gorge are nothing really special. With that, please critique, because I have no idea if the following itinerary looks good regarding days spent in x city or whatnot.

• Sunday 11/8 - land in Taipei, take express to Taipei Main Station and just get to hotel
• Monday 11/9 - Taipei - zero plans besides relax, get some food, try to get over jetlag
• Tuesday 11/10 - slow morning, do free walking tour from 228 Peace Park, go up to Taipei 101 observation deck, Elephant Mountain Hike for sunset
• Wednesday 11/11 - go to Beitou, spend day at one of the hot spring resorts, come back and hit a night market (Raohe, Shilin, Linjiang, Shida)
• Thursday 11/12 - Jiufen day trip
• Friday 11/13 - take HSR to Taichung, stay in West District
• Saturday 11/14 - take HSR to Tainan, head right to Anping area, stay near Anping
• Sunday 11/15 - Tainan, explore other areas of Tainan
• Monday 11/16 - take train to Kaohsiung
• Tuesday 11/17 - slow morning in Kaohsiung, explore more, take HSR back to Taoyuan later in the day, check into hotel in Taoyuan and get dinner near hotel
• Wednesday 11/18 - morning flight home

So all in, basically 3 days in Taipei, day trip to Jiufen, 1.5 days in Taichung, 2 days in Tainan, 1.5 days in Kaohsiung

Planning on doing the HSR trips in the morning, but likely after breakfast in city I am leaving. On one hand, it seems like a lot of travel to me but it also looks like the distances between some of these places is like 20 minutes on the HSR so it won't actually be too bad.

I am also looking for recs in any of these places on hotels, hostels, restaurants, etc. I have a solid list of attractions but am always open to hear more.

Hellooo! I have a question about trying to travel solo, but I have an obstacle, which is my mom. I’ve been saying things like “I have a ticket to another state” or “I’m going to this state” just to see what she says, but I’m met with “You aren’t traveling by yourself; I’m going with you, blah blah” which is honestly super annoying. Her going isn’t the issue; it’s the fact that I only have enough money for myself to go. I do not wanna wait for her to take time off her schedule and other things like that. I it’s even more annoying when I see 18- 19-year-olds traveling alone, even going out of the country by themselves :/ Convincing doesn’t seem like it will work, so I wanna see if it’s wiser to secretly buy a ticket and dip out while she’s gone or sleeping because atp idk what to do, and if she continues this when I turn 20 next year that will be ridiculous 💀. The thing is I’m mainly trying to attend out-of-state anime cons and also sightsee, maybe she’s concerned about my safety, but I feel trapped ugh.

TLDR: My mom won’t let me, 19F, travel alone for some reason, so I'm asking if I should sneak out and travel anyway or if there's any other alternative. Any other advice is welcome

Edit: this is getting alot of attention and some of you are being passive aggressive which is weird..but I wanted to include that I was planning on letting her know where I was and sharing my location. It’s more me sneaking out getting an uber than plane type of thing. If that changes anything? I wasn’t ever planning on disappearing for a few days saying nothing at all.

Booked a last minute flight to Seattle for the USA vs Belgium World Cup game and decided to turn it into a whole road trip that ends in LA.

Let me know if you guys have any recommendations or if Im missing anything that I should do. Also looking for food recommendations along the way!

(If America loses, I’m planning on taking another day for the road trip and getting to LA on Saturday instead of Sunday.

July 5: Arrive Seattle 9am. Pike Place Market. Discovery Park hike. Capitol Hill/Ballard bars.

July 6: Seattle Waterfront or Bainbridge ferry. USMNT game (Lumen Field).

July 7: Drive to Portland. Multnomah Falls and Latourell Falls hikes. Washington Park. Pearl or Hawthorne District.

July 8: Drive to Eureka. Cannon Beach. US-101 scenic drive. Yaquina Head Lighthouse. Stout Grove redwood hike.

July 9: Drive to San Luis Obispo. Avenue of the Giants walk. Golden Gate Bridge stop. Highway 1 Big Sur drive. Bixby Creek Bridge. McWay Falls.

July 10: Drive to LA. USMNT game (12pm, ultimately depends on if they win on Monday). Santa Monica or Venice Beach.

July 11: Griffith Observatory hike. West Hollywood or Culver City.

July 12: Solstice Canyon hike. Manhattan Beach. LAX departure 9pm.

Yeah, I've been planning a big graduation trip to SEA with one of my friends. I'm planning to go to Thailand for 16 days (9d in Bangkok, 4d in Pattaya, and 3d in CM). When I told both my mom and my dad, they strongly insisted that I cancel this trip altogether.

Because I'm a 2nd generation immigrant from East Asia a lot of news about Chinese and Korean tourists in Thailand being abducted by scam groups are floating around on the internet. I know those stories, but at the same time, there are 35 million tourists in Thailand every year and the chance of something bad happening to people is astronomically low. I'm also a decently experienced solo traveler who went to 22 different countries and know general safety measures, and I also know that no way in hell I'd go to countries such as Myanmar, Ukraine, Israel etc.

As of right now I still want to keep my travel plan, does anyone have safety advice for SEA countries (especially Thailand).

TLDR: I’m 28m and single, but I have zero desire to
have any romantic relationships. And I’m also very aware of many oversea scams happening in some places.

Edit: after watching stuffs about Pattaya I’ve decided to redirect the trip to Phuket, not only does Pattaya feel like a place for passport bro losers who can’t get laid, but Phuket generally felt way better for a beach town.

Hey everyone,

I'm planning a solo trip for this July and wanted to get some feedback on my route. I live near Munich, so the trip will start there, and it will end in Copenhagen, from where I will head back home. I have a budget of around €4000 and want to travel for about 26 to 30 days using only trains, buses, and ferries. I will be staying in hostels along the way.

I'm a bit more on the introverted side, so I’m looking for a mix of cool architecture, history, unique local vibes, and places where I can just wander around with my headphones on. I am definitely not into big party scenes or packed holiday resorts, and I prefer chill hostels over party ones.

The route goes from Munich to Prague, then Krakow, Warsaw, Vilnius, Riga, Tallinn, Helsinki, Stockholm, and finally Copenhagen before I make my way back home.

I traveled to Budapest last year and noticed prices went up quite a bit, so I know Eastern Europe isn't dirt cheap anymore, and I know Scandinavia will be pricey too.

I would love to know how realistic this timeline feels with an average of about two and a half days per city. Have any of you visited these specific cities recently and could share your experience? I would also highly appreciate if you could recommend a good, safe, and laid-back hostel in any of these locations that fits a relaxed solo-traveler vibe. Would love to hear your thoughts.

Thanks!

Hi folks -

Resuming weekly destination discussions, and in honor of their run at the World Cup, this week's featured destination is Cape Verde! Feel free to share stories/advice - some questions to start things off:

• What were some of your favorite experiences there?
• Experiences/perspectives on solo travel there?
• Suggestions for food/accommodations?
• Any tips for getting around?
• Anything you wish you'd known before arriving?
• Other advice, stories, experiences?

Archive of previous "weekly destination" discussions: https://old.reddit.com/r/solotravel/wiki/weeklydestinations

When I solo travel I always stay in hotels, usually mid-range ones (2-4 stars depending on exchange rates, etc).

Before the pandemic I found that I was often assigned bad rooms - for instance, above the garage, next to reception, facing onto walls, near the lifts, etc. My requests made as part of the online booking process were typically ignored. If I asked to be moved, I was usually assigned a much better room of the same type, which irritated me given that this would have been available when I checked in.

Since the pandemic things seem to have changed. I'm now usually assigned what seems like the best kind of room of the type I booked, have requests met and get upgraded more frequently (most memorably, from a small studio to a vast 3 bedroom apartment at an apartment hotel in Birmingham!).

I'm not sure if this is a change to hotel procedures since the pandemic, with solo travel becoming more common and staff being told to look after these customers, or is related to me now being middle aged.

Have other solo travellers experienced this?

I need to get this off my chest because 20 minutes ago a man fully masturbated at me in a dorm.

Im solo traveling for 3 months and got to a new hostel today. I was alone in the room with one guy which is not great but I try to not immediately judge. Although at this point all men are trash and deserve the dungeons.

Guy was being chatty and we talked for a bit, asked if I wanted to smoke ( I didnt). He was being a bit forward but I am pretty tolerant and pushed the weird vibes aside. I was in the bathroom getting ready for bed, glasses off ( crucial) and he asked what time it was ( sir you have a phone). I told him and he said no come here so I can see you? I poke my head around the corner and and almost 100 percent he was masturbating but as said I regretfully didnt have my glasses on. Me being not afraid of confrontation and sick of men's shit loudly go "what are you doing"? And he's like nothing and I go back to the bathroom to regroup then put my glasses on walk back out to confirm and did pretty much confirm but then a new girl walks in and he suddenly is fully under the covers.

I pull her out and say we must go, so room change and the desk was super nice and said if I could say 100 percent they would call the police but I couldn't which is really upsetting me because I would have loved for him to get taken away. Im just glad If it had to happen to someone that I am able and willing to literally fight a man and not someone younger and less sick of people's shit.

Anyways female only dorms from here on out, those have been my best experiences on the trip by far anyways.

I just wish as a women I could just exist safely and without the constant need to be aware of men. I don't care if its not all men, it's always men.

Ive had some mixed dorms experiences that were just lame but nothing this bad before :( probably be more upset when the adrenaline wears off. Remember girls you don't need to be polite and always trust your gut.

Hi, I’m a 20F college student from Los Angeles. I’m planning a solo trip to Austria, Germany, and possibly the Czech Republic for 20ish days in August. This would only be my 2nd time out of the country (I studied abroad briefly in London last year). I have already booked a plane ticket from Boston (where I’ll be visiting for a few days prior) to Vienna. I have a medium-ish budget. I am going to be staying in hostels, traveling by train, and I want to save as much money where possible.

Here is my itinerary so far:
Vienna: 3 nights
Salzburg: 2 nights
Munich: 3 nights
Daytrip to Neuschwanstein castle
Cologne: 2 nights
Hamburg: 2 nights
Berlin: 3 nights
Dresden: 1 night?
If doable, Prague: 2 nights?

My must sees are Vienna, Salzburg, Cologne (main thing is the Cathedral), Munich, and Berlin. The rest I’m very flexible on but I do want to hit as many cities as possible while still taking a decent amount of time to enjoy them. I am between Dresden and Nuremberg.

Please be brutally honest with me! I enjoy history, art, and going to museums but I don’t absolutely need to prioritize them. Love sightseeing and pretty nature areas. I’m goth and enjoy witchy/mystical things, metal music, etc. I’m not a huge party person but want to get out of my comfort zone lol.

I know I’ll be back to Germany in the future, so if there’s a place that can be cut on a first time see, I’m fine with it. My partner is Swiss and we plan to visit Switzerland & Germany within the next few years.

Apologies for the long post. Really hoping someone out here can relate to this because it’s beginning to make me feel like a crappy person. This year I had the opportunity to travel solo for a few months and leave normal life behind. I cannot emphasise how calming this experience was for me. I was able to have my own apartment in a totally different culture and travel around for little trips when I wanted. I was very open and keen to meet travellers and make friends because it felt on my terms. I also met someone during this time and we were very compatible travellers and the experience of sharing this with them - while it didn’t last long term- was very special too.

Since returning to normal life I’ve been on two trips to nearer countries with friends, hosted each time by someone from that place. It always starts the same- I’m excited. But I very quickly run out of energy and whilst I am having a nice time, in the back of my mind I’m very much aware of my social battery, of the next time I get to be alone, of tiny compromises I’m making on budget/ what I’d spend my money on or not / things we are doing. This was especially noticeable in the group trip where it felt like there were so many more emotions, budgets and expectations to navigate. Combined with sharing a room I felt almost violated? I know this sounds crazy and these are all lovely people, my friends who I genuinely care about and want to make memories with. I often felt though a pressure or awareness the whole time or how tired I was slowly getting.

I’ve tried my best to instill boundaries and emphasise it’s 100% a me thing to do with my social battery but it feels uncomfortable to do so. I can’t help but feel ungrateful, harsh, anti social when trying to make time for myself. I love that people are inviting me on these trips and I want to make these memories but I can’t escape the fact that it seems to make me increasingly anxious as I feel I don’t have control or that I can’t really relax. When I was travelling solo I was not an anxious traveller - delays, cancellations, food poisoning, paperwork issues no problem at all. I felt extremely calm because I only had to worry about myself and keeping me happy.

I’m wondering if my group travel days are behind me and it makes me feel quite sad and ashamed. I’ve always been an extroverted introvert - I love initial socialising and I can make people comfortable fast. I can maintain many friendships especially those I don’t need to see very frequently with some level of distance/ down time and I am low maintenance in that way but always up to meet up and catch up right where we left off including deep chats. So I’m wondering if travel is too intense for me in friendships because it often requires extended time together and even sharing a room (something I don’t think I could do now).

Does anyone else feel this way or is in the same transition? I’m currently on one of these trips now and I’m losing sleep over this because I feel trapped yet am having a good time in lovely company. I feel like such an asshole.
So, any tips for dealing with this or communicating it to others in a way that doesn’t offend? I have a few trips in autumn coming up with different groups of family and friends and I am dreading this feeling cropping up again and wondering if I should try to stay elsewhere whilst being aware of how this might come across and be cost it might incur to both groups if I’m not sharing with them.

Do you regret it? Do you wish you did anything differently?

I'm currently saving up for college and was thinking I could travel to japan for a week than go to college than get a car(1st year I'll have enough for trip to japan & car, 2nd year I'll have enough to go to college) it's not like I could go to college in the 1st year anyway since the college I wanna go to only opens spots 1x a year and I'd need more money than I could make in 1 yr. So I might as well wait, right?

added info: I already doing 1 year of community College while I save up money to go to my dream college(tho only 4 new students a year but I still believe I can get in!) while doing 1 year of community College and part time work I'll plan to have saved 16k but to go to college I need 20k and since my dream college only accepts 1x a year I'd have to wait till the year after anyways. with traveling I may go more than 1 week, maybe up to 1 month, it depends on how much it costs

Hi, I’m a 22M from the US planning a solo trip from early September through late November. My total budget is around $6-7k including flights, accommodation, food, and transportation.

My original plan was:
September: Bali or Lombok
October: South Korea
November: Japan

I chose these based on affordability, weather, transportation between countries, and the ability to stay in each place for several weeks instead of constantly moving.

I’ve also considered spending most or all of the trip in one or two surf destinations so I could learn to surf. Like Indonesia, Taiwan, or Sri Lanka.

My main interests are hiking, fishing, beaches, mountains. I also work remote, so reliable internet and a home base to work are important. I’m not looking for nightlife destinations, or some luxury stay.

The two options I’m considering are:
Option 1: Three countries, roughly one month each
Option 2: One or two locations for the full three months, mainly focused on surfing and outdoor activities

I’d love to hear any route recommendations for September - November, whether that’s in Asia, Europe, Central or South America, or somewhere else entirely. Ideally, I’m looking for two or three countries that are reasonably close together, affordable for a longer trip, and have a good mix of nature, beaches, mountains, and places where I could settle in for a few weeks.

I'm planning to spend 8 full solo days in Ireland for the first time, and with no car. I want to see some of the city/town stuff, but especially wanna explore the beautiful nature. I also don't wanna plan a really stiff itinerary, and want to keep it mostly flexible so I can swap days if I feel like it or change my plans entirely.

How does this sound? I feel like I'm missing out by not going to Cork and Killarney, but would it be pushing it to explore those too in 8 days?

Day 1: arrive in Dublin in the morning and spend the day exploring it

Day 2: Day trip via tour company to Blarney Castle, Rock of Cashel & Cahir Castle

Day 3: Day trip via tour company to Giant’s Causeway

Day 4: train to Galway and spend the day exploring it

Day 5: Day trip via tour company to Cliffs of Moher (there are 2 tour options I found for this: Cliffs of Moher + Burren or Aran Islands. Let me know which is better!)

Day 6: Tour to Connemara and Cong

Day 7: ????

Day 8: Return to Dublin and do more exploring as I have an early flight the next morning

Should I kick anything out of my itinerary and replace it with something better offered by Killarney and Cork? I want this to be a fun trip full of exploration, but not an exhausting one. If I find a cafe or bookstore I really like I wanna sit there and enjoy it and not worry about a specific thing I HAVE to get to. How can this itinerary be improved?

I'm Norwegian, and I came over to the US to catch three of our World Cup matches, which was a blast by itself, but the whole trip ended up being the best summer I've ever had. With all the negativity online lately, obviously I wasn't sure what to expect, but from what I've experienced in my month in the US, the place is awesome. New York and Boston were cool as hell, and I spent a lot of time checking out local dive bars and catching baseball games. After the cities, I took a road trip through New England because I'm a big nature guy, and driving through those deep forests and right along the coast actually gave me a bit of that familiar rugged feeling from back home. The whole road trip was just beautiful, I seriously couldn't get tired of the view.

Though, the best part was definitely the people, I’ve met a lot of fantastic people and made a lot of new friends throughout the trip. Whether I was hanging out at sports bars or just talking to people at the campgrounds, everyone was just so incredibly welcoming and always down to strike up a chat. Look, no country is perfect and my experience doesn't speak for everyone, but I had a great time and I'm definitely coming back for another road trip in the future!

P.S. This is a repost because my original post in another sub got removed after blowing up. Figured I might as well share it here instead