ive been to a lot of places around the world, but always for short periods of time with other people and now after my friends have dropped out im facing the prospect of going alone and im scared!! im planning on going to australia for 6 months and would love some advise on where to start, how to meet people to travel with, and how to feel about going alone... should i be scared? thank you very much for any bits of advise!!

Hi Sophie,

Sorry to hear that the friends have dropped out, friends have a habit of doing things like that. I travel a lot on my own and actually enjoy the freedom of it but 6 months is a long old time. I meet plenty of girls who have travelled alone or rather started out that way but made friends as they went on. If you're staying in backpacker type places you will meet travelling companions as you go and inevitably team up with them for various legs of your journey. Generally everyone is going to visit the most popular/interesting places so there are always people wanting to do the same things as you at the same time. No I don't think you should be scared, nervous yes as that's just a natural reaction to anything different but if you're sensible and are careful like you are when you go anywhere new you will be fine.

I met a girl in NZ two years ago that was travelling around the world on her own. She was about 6 months in to a 12 month trip and was having a fantastic time. We ended up spending a couple of nice days in each others company and I'm sure that's what her whole holiday was like.

Chances are you'll be starting off in Sydney. There are some great back packer places near the station. Book a few nights, get out and see the city and just see what happens.

Have a fantastic time :)

Hi Sophie,

My friends have just got back from travelling to Australia, they were only their for a few months and said that after all the countries they have travelled to- their has been quite a few- that Australia was by far the friendliest and cleanest. They started off in Sydney and worked their way up the coast than travelled through the midddle of Australia and over to West Coast. They thought that Queensland was by far the nicest state and the Whitsundays and Fraser Island were by far the greatest destinations. They were raving about a chain of backpackers by the name of Beaches Backpackers that they stayed in at both of these places. Enjoy your travels

Don't worry! I went by myself as a 19 year old female (admittedly quite a while ago) and it was the best thing I could have done. Lots of people that start off travelling together end up splitting up. When you go by yourself you don't have to make any compromises. By staying in Backpacker hostels you meet loads of other travellers, lots will be by themselves and will be looking for people to talk to about their experience. It just happens - you travel for a few weeks with a group, then go separate ways, then meet another person/group. If you don't like a particular hostel or don't meet anybody, move on. Hope you have the time of your life...I am sure you will.