Journey On Your Own Terms

Social Apps to Meet Fellow Travellers

Meetup

Meetup is a great app for solo travellers who want to connect with locals and other travellers during their trip. With over 200,000 groups worldwide focused on various interests like outdoor activities, food and drink, technology, photography, and more, Meetup makes it easy to find like-minded people wherever you are. Some of the key benefits of using Meetup as a solo traveller:

• Attend events to meet new people and make friends
• Find groups that match your hobbies and interests
• Participate in fun local activities you may not discover on your own
• Feel less isolated and experience destinations more like a local

Meetup groups can be as small as a few people getting together for coffee or as big as hundreds gathering for a conference or festival. Review each group’s details to see if their meetups work with your travel itinerary and comfort level interacting with strangers. Meetup takes the guesswork out of finding things to do and makes it easy to make connections. 👍

Couchsurfing

Couchsurfing connects travellers with hosts offering free accommodation around the world. It began as a grassroots community for travellers to find a couch to crash on back in 2004 and has grown into an app with over 15 million members across 200,000 cities globally. 😮 For solo wanderers, Couchsurfing opens doors to meet locals and fellow nomads, gain insider travel tips, and immerse yourself in the destination’s culture. Beyond having a free place to stay, here’s why Couchsurfing is invaluable for the solo globetrotter:

• Build friendships and expand your global community
• Gain authentic local perspectives from your hosts
• Attend meetups to connect with other travellers
• Feel welcomed through thoughtful hosting and hospitality

The communal nature of Couchsurfing leads to forging new friendships, thoughtful cultural exchange, and unique travel memories. Review host profiles carefully and communicate expectations clearly to find great matches. For the budget-conscious solo wanderer looking for connection and community on the road, Couchsurfing is an unparalleled app.

Tourlina

If you crave adventure on your solo trip but want travel companions too, Tourlina is an up-and-coming app to meet other travellers. Tourlina’s UI resembles a dating app with travel profiles instead of dating ones. Swipe left or right on other users’ profiles to indicate interest in becoming travel mates. 👉 When there’s a match, you can chat and coordinate meetups or even plan an entire trip together. Solo travellers can use Tourlina to:

• Match with potential travel buddies based on destinations and dates
• Meet new friends to explore with or join other groups
• Feel safer travelling with others vs solo
• Split costs for tours, transportation, lodging, and activities

Tourlina also shares safety tools like live location sharing, emergency contacts and reporting. With over 30,000 users as of 2022, Tourlina makes it straightforward for solo voyagers to find adventure partners and new friendships across over 100 countries. 🗺️

Safety Tools for Solo Exploration

GeoSure

GeoSure is an essential app for solo travelers who want to explore confidently. It provides real-time safety scores for neighborhoods using artificial intelligence and data sources like local crime rates, natural disasters, transportation quality, and more (geosure.com). You can view color-coded maps that show the safest areas, receive personalized alerts if risk levels change, and get expert safety tips for your destinations.

Noonlight

For added peace of mind when traveling alone, download Noonlight. This personal safety app lets you hold down a button to trigger emergency responders if you feel unsafe. It can share details like your location and transmit audio from your surroundings. You can also set up alerts to check in with contacts or emergency services if you don’t arrive at your destination on time. Noonlight provides backup and a direct line to get help when you need it most.

Sitata

Sitata keeps solo travelers in the know about health and safety information at their destinations. It offers real-time updates on advisories related to crime, civil unrest, disease outbreaks, transportation issues, weather events, and more. You’ll get notifications if conditions change or new risks emerge in areas you’re visiting or traveling through. Sitata also provides safety tips catered to solo travelers, so you can avoid dangerous situations.

Navigation Aids for On-The-Go

Maps.Me

Not all of us want to rely solely on mobile data when traveling abroad. Maps.Me is a super handy offline maps app that lets you download detailed maps of over 380 locations globally so you’ve always got access to maps and navigation info – including public transit options – no matter where your explorations take you or what your connectivity situation is. The app is free and works totally offline once you’ve downloaded your maps.

TripIt

As a solo traveler, staying organized can be crucial for peace of mind, especially when you have multiple destinations on your itinerary. TripIt takes the stress out of travel by automatically creating an easy-to-use master itinerary from confirmation emails you forward to TripIt. Your full trip timeline, with all your hotels, flights, cars, trains, events etc in one place accessible on all your devices, is invaluable for on-the-go navigation needs.

Trail Wallet

Trail Wallet takes all your loyalty and rewards cards and puts them in one app so you don’t need to fish through your wallet or type numbers in at checkout. Solo travelers who love reward points will appreciate the convenience, and eliminating extra cards from your wallet means more room for essentials like emergency cash!

Health Supports While Far From Home

Airalo eSIM

An essential app for solo travellers is Airalo eSIM, which provides affordable, reliable connectivity internationally through eSIM technology. With Airalo, travellers can purchase country-specific eSIM plans for data, calls and texts, eliminating the need for local SIM cards. This is perfect for accessing maps, translation apps, and calling for help when needed. Airalo works in over 200 countries, offers flexible no-contract plans, and enables connectivity shortly after landing with automated activation.

Sygic Travel

Sygic Travel is a top app for finding nearby pharmacies and healthcare providers. It has guides for over 660,000 pharmacies worldwide, along with useful health-related translations and emergency numbers for each destination. Solo travellers can feel secure knowing they can quickly access medical care if issues arise abroad. Key features include searching for pharmacies by name or area, viewing open hours and contact info, accessing driving/walking directions, and saving favourite locations for quick access.

DOCter

For travellers dealing with specific health conditions, the DOCter app connects patients to international doctors to continue care while away from home. Users complete an intake form about their medical history, upload relevant records, and quickly connect with an English-speaking doctor licensed in the visiting destination. Appointments can be conducted via text, phone call or video for diagnosis, prescriptions, specialist referrals and other care. DOCter provides continuity of treatment across over 35 countries so health incidents don’t disrupt travel plans. Having resources to support health and safety empowers more people to travel solo without worry. The apps above help travellers access medical care, prescriptions, data and more from nearly any global destination. No longer do pre-existing conditions or language barriers need to limit one’s freedom to explore independently and make lifelong travel memories.

Payment, Planning and Productivity

XE Currency

Knowing latest currency exchange rates is vital for solo travellers on a budget. XE Currency provides free, up-to-the-minute rates for virtually every world currency. Available on mobile and online, it lets you see live mid-market and retail rates. XE Currency also offers useful features like:

• Rate alerts and notifications
• Historical currency charts
• Customizable home screen dashboard

Travellers like XE for its reliability and ease of use for checking exchange rates. With offline accessibility, you can check rates even without an internet connection abroad. For currency needs on the go, XE Currency is a top choice.

TripIt

TripIt takes the stress out of travel planning by organizing and managing bookings in one place. Forward confirmation emails to TripIt and it’ll automatically create an organized day-to-day itinerary with maps and destination information. You can also share trip plans securely with family or friends. Users love TripIt for the “peace of mind” it brings when coordinating complex itineraries. With everything in one convenient dashboard along with timely alerts, you can travel with confidence knowing key details are covered.