My First Solo Trip
Riddle me this, if someone told you it only took about a 4 hour bus ride to get to Switzerland from where you were you would hop on the next bus too right?
That is exactly what I did in December 2019 when I was working as a performer in Karlsruhe, Germany. We had an extra day off from what is normally a six day working week and I took the leap of faith and decided to solo travel to Zurich, Switzerland for the day.
Heres what I did:
I knew I could only spend about six hours there so I didn’t need to shell out an extra $50 for a tram ticket. Instead, I scored a $20 round-trip bus ticket and the ride was only 4 hours long!
I woke up around 5am in my private hotel room in Germany and walked 15 minutes to the central tram station where the bus would be. Ya girl was super stressed out because I gave myself plenty of time to find the bus but I had no clue where that was so picture me running through the station and the bus leaves in 5 MINUTES! Luckily, I made my way all the way to the back of the station outside where the buses where located and I found mine.
Next, all I had to do was show my mobile ticket and on the bus I loaded.
Once we arrived to Zurich after a border patrol check, I made my way to the Starbucks across the street to go over my game plan. GlobetrotterCurls Tip: Always have a game plan when solo traveling
The night before (this trip was kinda last minute) I knew where I wanted to eat, stores I wanted to shop at, and the places I wanted to see because I did my research. [Thank you YouTube ]
Bahnhofstrasse is Zurich’s main downtown street with some of the most exclusive shopping! It was cute just being on my own time and browsing, keyword, browsing! Off of the main street there were more sensible stores like Zara and Mango which is ideal to shop at when in Europe! They have all of the latest styles months before it ever reaches the United States.
From there, I generally just took my time strolling through the city, shopping at their Christmas markets and taking candids in interesting places. A cute couple from FLORIDA took one of my photos which I thought was so cool since I’m from Florida. You can really go down any type of road in Zurich and be in awe of its beauty.
Of course I needed to taste Switzerland chocolate so after that experience it was time I found a cute cafe to eat and rest my feet at. The food was pretty good but I was more impressed with the design of the restaurant.
If I had a full day in Zurich I definitely would’ve made sure I visited the popular Swiss mountains! You could see them from almost any place in the city. With all the walking I was doing, I did make sure I was well aware of my surroundings. Do not walk around an unfamiliar city with AirPods in or being preoccupied with anything else. YOU CANNOT TRUST ANYONE, especially when solo traveling.
In order to make sure I was NOT breaking the bank, I made a budget for myself and stuck to it. (Yes I was woking full time in Germany but y’all Switzerland is highkey expensive)
The ride back to Germany is uneventful but I was able to reflect on the fact that I just successfully solo traveled for the first TIME. It was something I had always wanted to do and i did it! Not to sound corny but it feels amazing to conquer goals.
