Travelling single

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The greatest advantage to travelling alone is the flexibility it allows you. Because of that, I wanted to share some ideas on how to save when you travel on your own, as it is commonly found to be pricier than in company. 

How to save on your travel arrangements 

The key to that is research: if you're looking for airline tickets, train or bus ones, or cruises on well-established pages, check on all and check again. Prices change throughout the day. Also, use SeatGuru when choosing a seat; it provides layouts of each flight seats, scoring each seat for comfort, accessibility, and passenger traffic, which will help you find a seat to your liking and budget. 

When you search for dates, try to be flexible on your departure and return dates, using that

Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany

option on your query because sometimes you save hundreds of dollars just by switching a day here or there. Another advantage of travelling alone is that you can take advantage of overbooked flights, offering to stay behind if they ask in exchange for something: money, an open ticket, etc. Furthermore, if you are not skimping on this trip, and you see that your flight is full to the brim on economy, you can ask a flight attendant if any business or first class seats are available for upgrade and pay for it on the spot with your bank card. 

Plus, you should keep in mind that there are times when flying business or first class is affordable. If you travel during times when you know that business people will not be travelling –4th of July, Christmas, your country's national holiday-check for offers on business tickets as they can be down even 80%. Oh, and what I said earlier about staying back if your flight is overbooked? You can ask that your seat on the next flight be upgraded and you will often get it – start by asking for an upgrade to first, as it will give you more chance to get upgraded, be it to first or to business. You lose nothing in asking and you are doing them a favor by staying behind. 

Are you going to rent a car? Book the absolute cheapest (and this isn't stinginess!) 

Car rental companies work like the airlines, they overbook. And people always want the

Rio Celeste in Costa Rica

cheapest cars for budget reasons. So, the later in a day you go to pick up your car, the likelier it will be that those more affordable rentals, even if you booked one, will be gone. If the agent offers you an upgrade for a low fee, decline politely saying that you wish but cannot afford it. They will likely give you an upgrade for the booking price that you requested. I can tell you that a reader on LifeHacker (an online magazine that I'd recommend anyone to check out) said that by using that trick he got a Mustang convertible for $12 a day. Also, if you dress nicely your chances of an upgrade will go up because you'll look more trustworthy and agents are more likely to hand the keys of a pricier car to someone who looks the part. 

Save on lodging 

The smartest thing for that is to exchange your house or apartment. There's a film on the

Siq, the entrance to the ancient city
of Petra, in Jordan

subject, even; if you live alone you can exchange your home with someone else for one week, two, a month, your call. The nice thing about the sites that arrange this is that you can choose with whom you exchange homes safely, as the same way you expect someone to not mess your place up, you won't mess with theirs. Because if you do, you'll never exchange your place again. Traders are rated. 

Another advantage of the home swap is that you can communicate with the person(s) with whom you're swapping and get inside information on anything: grocery shopping, clubbing, tourist attractions, undesirable parts of town, personal safety; all those things that could help you make the best of your trip. 

If you are going to pay for lodging, the obvious choice is AirBNB. Hundreds of thousands of rooms available worldwide for every taste and budget. As you are travelling solo, remember that it's even more important to book a place that has tons of good reviews, and you check the reasons for any bad reviews that those places had in the past. It's the best way to get a good, safe place. 

And finally, if you want a professional lodging your best options are:

• Look for a travel package along the lines of airline ticket plus hotel, because you save

  

  Balloon ride over Bagan in Myanmar

  on both that way. 
• Learn about local hostels, B&Bs, inns and paradores (in Spanish-speaking countries these are old properties that the state has converted into very nice lodgings, often located in wonderful historic neighborhoods or even national reserves or parks) 
• If you're a traveler looking to be soaked in culture, looking for hikes, or for awesome flora and fauna, be aware that there are very, very good tour agencies that specialize on trips for singles. Here's an article that talks about several of these agencies.

A final note: as a woman, I am aware that there has been a lot of talk about the subject of when we travel on our own. I've traveled on my own many, many times and I could write a whole article on that subject. Instead, I looked online and found a super-insightful article from BuzzFeed that is full of good advice, not just for women, but for anyone travelling alone.

(The header photo is a view of the Japanese Garden in Portland, Oregon)