I spent fifteen years planning travel down to the minute.
In my life before this one, I worked in opera houses, the Paris Opera and then the Palau de les Arts in Valencia, and opera is planned years in advance. Seasons, auditions, the dates of performances, and around them my own life: flights booked, taxis ordered, hotels confirmed, dinners fixed, every free hour annotated. My trips were immaculate and entirely without surprise, because surprise was the enemy of a schedule that could not move.
Then I changed my life. I moved back to Italy, opened a small hotel in the Cinque Terre, and started travelling only because I love it. And I discovered that I wanted the exact opposite of what I had spent fifteen years perfecting.
I wanted to be able to improvise.
So this is my honest guide to independent travel, which is not the same as unplanned travel. My method, arrived at over a decade of solo trips across four continents, is this: plan as much as possible, precisely so that you are free to improvise once you are on the road. The planning is what buys the freedom. Here is how I do it, and at the end, the trips where I have put it into practice, each written up in full.
What independent travel actually means
Independent travel means you arrange your own trip and travel under your own steam: no package, no group tour, no guide deciding your day. You book your own transport, choose your own beds, and change your mind whenever you like.
It does not mean travelling without preparation. The travellers who come unstuck are usually not the over-planners but the under-planners, the ones who assumed they would sort it out on arrival and then lost three days and a lot of money doing so. Independent travel is planned travel that keeps the right to change.
And for me it is almost always solo travel, because the freedom is the whole point: silence when I want it, company when I want it, last-minute changes with nobody to negotiate with, and the particular way a place reaches you when there is no familiar face between you and it. If you are drawn to that, my guide to the best countries for solo travel is where to start.
Where the trips come from
Almost every journey I take begins with a book.
A novel, a travel memoir, sometimes just an article, and I fall for a place before I have any idea how to get there. I start reading everything I can find, other travellers’ accounts and official sources, and I deliberately avoid photographs and videos, the way you avoid the film before you have read the book, so the place stays mine until I arrive.
Some of these love affairs I cannot afford for years. Some I may never take. But planning them is a way of living them a little in advance, which I recognise is slightly pathological, and which I make no apology for.
My method, step by step
1. Build the file
I open a spreadsheet and start building the ideal itinerary: dates, the stages in order, flights, the things I must not miss at each stop as recommended by people who have been, the kind of accommodation I prefer, and the cost of each piece.
The file does two jobs. It tells me whether I can afford the trip, and how much I need to save. And it tells me whether the route is even possible in the days I have, because once I am there I move only by public bus, train and ferry, which is slow, and slowness has to be budgeted for in time as well as money.
2. Decide, then book the flight
When the file is honest with me about the cost, I decide. If it is out of reach, I park it for the future. If it is possible without contorting my life, I book the flight straight away, before the price climbs. I find fares on the comparison sites, then book directly with the airline, because the price is usually the same or better and the customer service, when something goes wrong, is far superior to a third-party agent’s.
3. Book only what must be booked
Then I stop. I reserve only the things that genuinely have to be reserved in advance: a place to stay for the first night or two, so I arrive somewhere known rather than negotiating in a strange bus station after dark; any accommodation that is an experience in itself and sells out; and any single expensive, unmissable, capacity-limited thing, a particular train, a permit, a timed entry. Everything else I leave open. For how I actually choose and book the beds, and why booking direct now matters more than ever, see my guide to hotel bookings from both sides of the desk.
4. Pack for freedom
The day before, I make my list and pack in the night, always at night, because I am too excited to sleep and want something to do. A backpack, never a wheeled case, because independent travel means buses, cobbles and stairs. My full reasoning is in packing light.
5. Leave, and let the plan go
Once the bag is shut I file my trip with my government’s online traveller-registration service and send a copy to my family, so someone always knows my rough shape. Then I put the phone on aeroplane mode and go.
And here is where all that planning pays off: because the scaffolding is solid, I can now dismantle it freely. I land, I start talking to people, I take their advice, I let my mood lead. I extend a stop, cut another, add somewhere I had never heard of that morning, follow travellers I have just met. I have stayed a week in a town I planned two days for, and skipped a “highlight” entirely because the light was wrong and the company was good. That is the freedom the file was for.
Staying safe and unscammed while you improvise
Improvising does not mean dropping your guard. Two pieces I would send every independent traveller to before they go: my honest account of avoiding theft and scams, where the thread is that almost every scam I fell for happened when I was distracted, and my thoughts on sleeping in hostels, including the solo-female-safety section, from someone who runs a hotel and still chooses the dorm.
Where I have done this: the trips in full
Here is independent travel in practice, the long journeys where the method above met the real world. Each has its own full guide.
Long-haul, by public transport
- A solo trip to Peru. Seven weeks alone from the Pacific coast into the high Andes, all by bus, and still the best solo trip of my life.
- Independent travel in Sri Lanka. A month across the island by train and bus, arranged entirely by me, with the visa now free for many nationalities.
- A cross-country adventure on Amtrak. Two months across the United States by rail, New York to San Francisco, fifteen stops, filling the gaps with Greyhound.
Europe, slowly
- Discovering Norway: a 47-day winter journey. The length of an Arctic country in deep winter, by ferry, bus, train and one week under sail.
- Bergen in winter: a five-day solo itinerary. A shorter, gentler solo trip, if a month in the Arctic feels like a lot.
- A solo itinerary in Stockholm. A long weekend in a very easy city to travel alone.
The building blocks
- The best countries for solo travel, for choosing where to go alone.
- Hotel bookings, from both sides of the desk, and sleeping in hostels, for where to sleep.
- Avoiding theft and scams and packing light, for travelling safely and lightly.
The whole point
Independent travel is not about doing everything the hard way, or refusing all help, or proving anything. It is about keeping the authorship of your own trip.
I spent fifteen years travelling to other people’s schedules, beautifully, and I would not go back to it for anything. Plan the trip so thoroughly that you can afford to abandon the plan. Then land, and let the place tell you what happens next.
And you? How do you plan your independent travel? Tell me in the comments. I read them all.
FAQ
What is independent travel? Independent travel means arranging and taking a trip yourself, without a package or a guided group: booking your own transport and accommodation, setting your own route, and changing it whenever you wish. It does not mean travelling without preparation. In practice, well-planned independent travel gives you more freedom, not less, because the groundwork is what lets you improvise safely.
How do you plan an independent trip? Start by researching the destination thoroughly and building an itinerary with dates, stages, transport and costs, so you know whether it is affordable and possible in your time. Book your flight early, then reserve only what must be reserved in advance: the first night or two, anything that sells out, and any capacity-limited highlight. Leave everything else open so you can adjust on the ground.
Is independent travel cheaper than a package? Often, yes, especially if you use public transport, book accommodation directly, and travel outside peak season, but the real advantage is freedom rather than only cost. You control every choice and can change your plans at will. Packages can occasionally be cheaper for flight-and-hotel city breaks, but they trade away the flexibility that defines independent travel.
Is independent travel safe for solo travellers? Yes, for most destinations, with sensible preparation. Research local conditions, keep someone informed of your rough plans, split your money and documents, use registered transport at night, and trust your instincts. Solo independent travel is one of the most rewarding ways to see the world, and much of the anxiety around it eases once you have done it once.
How far in advance should you plan independent travel? Book flights several months ahead for the best fares, and reserve popular first-night accommodation and any sell-out experiences early. Beyond that, the beauty of independent travel is that you can leave the middle of the trip loosely planned and decide on the ground, which is easier off-season and in less-visited places.
