Earlier this year I shared a list of things I’m no longer waiting for other people to do with me. One of items on that list was traveling and this past week I finally bit the bullet and went on my first solo trip to Amsterdam! In a Q&A format, I’ll be sharing all the details about how and why this trip was truly the most amazing experience!
Why did you do it?
I pretty much covered why I knew a solo trip was inevitable in a previous blog post. It’s not that I necessarily wanted to go on a solo trip, but I absolutely did not want to let my vacation days as a teacher go by without embarking on an international adventure. I had an entire week off for Thanksgiving break and that seemed like the perfect opportunity to travel. If someone else had decided to come along with me, of course it wouldn’t have been a solo trip. I would have been open to having others join but not having anyone else definitely didn’t stop me. In short, I went because I wanted to take advantage of some vacation days!
Why Amsterdam?
My language proficiency is very limited (English and Yoruba) and for my first solo trip I wanted to go to a place where English was the primary language or very close to it. While I would have loved a tropical vacation, being on the beach for four days straight seemed too boring and monotonous to me. I knew I wanted to travel to an urban setting. Once I also factored in my budget for flights, the search was pretty much narrowed down to London and Amsterdam. London was less appealing for a four day trip because it is much more expensive and larger city. Amsterdam was small enough for me to see a lot of the city in the short time I’d be there. After all this consideration, it was settled: I was going to Amsterdam!
Where did you stay?
While most solo travelers opt to stay in a hostel in order to meet other people, I decided to stay at The Muse Amsterdam, a boutique hotel located in the city’s Museum Quarter. This location ended up being super convenient as it was located near much of what I planned on seeing during my time there. On top of that public transportation was very accessible–there were a number of different tram lines about a 2 minute walk away from the hotel. Although the hotel wasn’t conducive to the social atmosphere associated with a hostel, I wasn’t too interested in being “on” in that way all hours of the day. It was supposed to be a restful vacation after all, so I was really fine with having a quiet home base. The cost of staying in the hotel was actually comparable to another hostel I was considering!
What did you do?
For one, I slept. A lot. I don’t know if it’s because I experienced some jet lag or if because I was worn out from the stress of work, but since this was a vacation, I listened to my body and enjoyed some extra sleep! Once I was ready to head out for the day, I took my talents to eat brunch, visit museums, and wander the city. When I got too cold to stay outside, I hung out at a couple of cafes. Luckily on the first night I met up with a friend who also happened to be visiting the city at the same time. On the second night, I went for a walking tour of the red light district and ended up meeting some really cool people on the tour who I hung out with the rest of the night. Needless to say that although I went solo, I still met people and I wasn’t alone the entire trip. Some highlights of my trip that I’d recommend for anyone visiting:
- Eat breakfast at Water & Brood: a black owned business featured in travel noire, this cute little spot has American soul food inspired dishes including Chicken & Waffles!
- Brunch at Bakers and Roasters: the wait time may scare you away but that just goes to show how good the food is!
- Lunch at Coffee and Coconuts: you really can go at any time of day but this cafe has such a cool atmosphere. It’s definitely a chill place to hang out if you’re trying to eat and not in a rush.
- Grab a meal at the Foodhallen: it’s this big food court filled with vendors of various international foods. It’s such a unique concept and the food is delicious. You can definitely hop around and try a little bit of food from multiple carts.
- Go on a walking tour of the Red Light District: I definitely did not plan on doing this until my friend suggested it and 30 min later I had booked it! If you have any preconceived notions about what the Red Light District is, go on the tour just to find out the truth along with interesting information about the history. That’s also how I was able to meet some other cool people that I ended up hanging out with.
- Visit the Rijksmuseum: this museum is like HUGE and you could get lost in it. There are a lot of cool things to see. While you’re there, you’ll probably want to check out the other museums in the area.
- Take a Canal Cruise: these cruises seemed cheesy and touristy to me at first but then again…I was a tourist. I learned a lot of cool facts and got to see the city from a different angle.
- Pro tip: Get an I Amsterdam city card while you’re at the airport before you go into the city. Purchasing this card made my life so much easier as it covered access to the public transportation, free entry to essentially all of the museums worth seeing, and a free canal cruise through the city.
Grabbing breakfast at Water & Brood is a must on any trip to Amsterdam!
Did you feel safe?
Most definitely. At first I told myself that I’d try my best to get back to my hotel before dark because that’s the safest way to operate, but in the winter the sun sets at about 4:30! Of course, that rule had to go out the window. People in the city are still out and about after sunset. The trams ran until 12:30am and they were pretty heavily used at all times of the day. Living in New York City is probably more dangerous than being out in Amsterdam so it truly wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle. Thankfully I had no run ins with theft or anything else that tourists tend to be hyper vigilant about. Still, I’d say to take the usual pre-cautions that you’d typically take when traveling abroad (not having headphones in, staying vigilant, keeping your belongings in sight at all times etc).
How did you get pics?
Believe it or not this is probably my biggest concern with traveling solo. Pretty much every seasoned solo traveler lists three options for documenting your trip: (1) selfies via your phone either regularly or using a selfie stick, (2) asking other tourists or locals to take your picture, and (3) taking self portraits with a tripod and bluetooth remote or self timer. I was so prepared to do a mix of options 1 and 3. I even brought along my tripod! Unfortunately I forgot the little piece I needed to screw my phone into the tripod so that option quickly had to be abandoned. While I could have used the tripod set up for my camera, the pictures were constantly out of focus and it was just too much to figure out.
So yes I asked people to take picture of me the whole entire trip. Obviously my biggest fear was that someone would just walk off with my phone so here are some things to keep in mind if you’re going to ask someone to take your pictures. Try to offer take pictures of another person or people and that way them taking a picture of you seems fair. Ask trustworthy people like the leader of a tour group or another solo traveler you may have met. It helps if you have a sample picture in mind to show them how you want the picture to come out.
Would you do it again?
Why yes I would! I truly miss the experience already and I can’t wait until my next one. It was so great to just do a trip on my own time. There was no need to check in with someone else to decide what to do for the day or what we wanted to eat. Those decisions were left to me myself and I! I will say though I don’t think I’d do a solo trip to anywhere outside of Europe (and maybe the Caribbean) and I wouldn’t do a trip longer than 5 days. That’s just a personal preference of mine and who knows, maybe I’ll change my mind in the future.
Final Thoughts
Whew! If you made it to the end of this post shout out to you because this definitely goes down as one of my longest blog posts to date! If you’ve been considering a solo trip, my advice to you is to do it! If you choose the right city for you, I trust you’ll have an amazing time! If you decide to go to Amsterdam or on a solo trip let me know! I’d love to hear about your experience. Thanks for reading!
“By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night.”
Exodus 13:21
