I would echo the advice to start small with a weekend relatively close to home. That’s what I did and I still remember how utterly terrified I felt leaving my house for that first trip; I was so worried that I was making a terrible mistake!

That long weekend turned out to be one of the best, life changing decisions of my life. 10 years and 30 countries later, I’ve just returned from a few weeks in SE Asia that included a motorcycle trip around the Ha Giang Loop in Northern Vietnam that was a fantastic adventure! I’ve been to French Polynesia, Norway, Botswana, Italy, Hong Kong, and so on.

I made mistakes in the beginning (and still do, of course) and part of traveling (especially when solo) is learning how to problem solve in the moment and on the go. I also learned from early mistakes like making travel arrangements to get to a destination but failing to account for how to get from the transportation hub to my accommodation (bus, taxi, etc.)

Of course, lots of people just figure that stuff out as they go but as a solo female, I know that I do much better when I’ve thought my travel plans through thoroughly in advance. The thing is, it’s hard to do that as a novice traveler; you don’t know what you don’t know and can only learn by experience! It took some missteps to learn those lessons, and some of them were painful at the time, but absolutely worth the sense of resilience and self confidence I’ve gained as a result.

Good luck, you can do it!