Our whole April feature is devoted to solitary travel. Whether it's a meditative hike, a relaxing beach vacation, or an energising city escape, travelling alone has never been safer, simpler, or more empowering. Explore this month's features to learn how to make friends while travelling alone and how technology has altered the solo travel experience, then get lost in motivating tales of bus tours of Africa, trips to Mount Fuji, social experiments in South Korea, and birthday celebrations for solo bikepackers.

Plan a trip. Avoid remaining out too late. possess a fully charged cell phone. Plan your travel ahead of time. We've all heard the tried-and-true advice for travelling alone, and while each tip is excellent (and crucial), we wanted to delve further with actual solo-travel professionals. From Morocco to Machu Picchu, these authors, photographers, and businesspeople have travelled the world, and we've compiled their best advice for you.

Take Care to Stay Safe in Your Hotel Room
The Lady Who Travels founder Abigail Akinyemi never travels without a doorstop, but she offers a quick fix in case you do. For the door handle, Akinyemi advised TripSavvy to "Use two glass cups." You can tell whether the glass cup breaks if someone tried to enter your room.

Take a Tour After Dark
Tours are a common way for lone travellers to meet people and get to know a new location, but Jen Ruiz, a lawyer-turned-traveler and the creator of Jen on a Jet Plane, always advises taking a tour at night. She said, "I prefer to reserve tours to go out at night, like ghost walking tours or culinary tours. This way, you feel safe because you're with other people, and if you want to stay out a bit longer, hopefully you've met some new friends along the way.

Get a Hostel Room for a Night or Two
Yes, even if you feel your age is a barrier. Hostels do have some benefits for solitary travellers, as Sophie Clapton, the writer and photographer at We Dream of Travel, discovered on a solo journey to India. While we all reach a moment where we're past the hosteling lifestyle, After going five days without running into anyone, Clapton says, "I discovered a hostel with great recommendations and booked two nights there." "My vacation to India became the best single trip I've ever had because to this easy tweak. I made longtime friends at the hostel and travelled to other countries with them while we explored India." (Many hostels provide private rooms if you don't feel comfortable sharing a room.)

Never reserve tours in advance
Although it may seem paradoxical, travel blogger and photographer Catherine Xu, who has visited 63 countries, learnt early on to avoid making reservations for excursions in advance. Once she arrives at her location, Xu prefers to locate a local guide and agency shop, with the exception of excursions that frequently sell out. "I stop by two or three tour operator offices once I get here to explore my alternatives. Typically, a lot of these tours are hard to find [online], especially in less popular nations, "added Xu.

Put the phone away.
Nate Hake, the blogger at TravelLemming.com, contends that while this advice is useful for all travellers, it is especially crucial for solitary travellers to put their phones away and be present. "It can be very tempting to keep your smartphone out at all times. It is simple to let it turn into a sort of social safety net, a means to make ourselves feel at ease in social circumstances, "Hake elucidated. But your phone also acts as a deterrent, telling people to avoid you and making you feel more alone. Hake suggests the Forest App, a game that gives you points for putting down your phone.

Avoid bringing more than you can carry.
Lydia Mansel, the creator of the website Just Packed, which aids travellers in packing for journeys, has just returned from a four-month solo journey around the United Kingdom. Her main lesson learned: don't overpack. This entails carrying no more than two bags, with one of the two bags preferably being a backpack, she explained. "This gives you at least one free hand to use while you move between areas and to find your way. You must be able to carry your luggage independently because you're travelling alone, whether it's in and out of an aeroplane, train, cab, or bus."

Record Your Travel
Solitary travel can be very intimate, and you could find yourself yearning for a more profound memory of your journey after your return. While it's simple to shoot photos and post about your trip on social media, solo travel can be highly personal. Dan Meyer, the creator and director of BACK&PACK, an experiential travel programme for 18 to 30-year-olds, writes a diary entry on his adventures on the back of each postcard he purchases rather than traditional journaling. Meyer added, "I have a stack of these from my solo travels. When I occasionally pull them out to read over, "there's a really unique sense,"

Book a room at a casino hotel
Even if gambling isn't high on your list of hobbies, pay attention. When Leslie Carbone, the blogger behind Sancerres at Sunset, goes on a solo trip, she always searches for a casino hotel. She pointed to the numerous cameras and security guards and said they were safe and economical because the rooms were frequently free or cheap. Additionally, Carbone remarked, "there's always something to do." There are numerous games, spas, pubs, and dining establishments.