Hello! If you’re reading this, you’re either already travelling or you’re planning on doing so soon. While this article will focus on backpacking/travelling solo in Australia, there are things in here that will help you wherever you travel to and for however long you travel for.
Hostel Life
Embrace it
This is why you came travelling right? You want to get to know people and make new friends. You want to have new experiences and do something different. Okay, not all hostel experiences are going to be fun or clean but embrace it! When you find little gems and meet incredible people, it’s worth it. You can laugh about terrible experiences later on and realise you actually have a funny memory (you’ll probably remember these experiences more than the good ones).
Introduce yourself to your roommates
Simple as that. Introduce yourself. What’s your name? Even if your new roomie doesn’t speak the same language, just saying “Hey! I’m Amy” is so much nicer than ignoring them. Ask them where they’re from. I found it so interesting hearing where others were from and it always led to more questions such as have you done a lot of travel previously or where have you been travelling. Once you get chatting, likely chances are they have been places you want to go to or you’ve just found your new travel buddy. Endless conversations and new friends from just a few simple questions, it really is that simple.
Hang out in the common areas
Don’t stick to your room. Not only is it going to save you money by cooking in hostel kitchens, but you’ll also meet other people in the same situation. Most hostels have an area with café style layout with table and chairs or sofas, go hang out there. You will meet new people and you may even here about social stuff the hostel is doing (which leads me to my next point).
Take part in any hostel socials/activities
Most hostels will run some kind of social activity to encourage people to socialise/get to know other like-minded travellers. From quiz nights, to bar crawls, to walking tours, to beach days. Go along to these. As we’ve already said, simply introduce yourself to a few people and ask where others are from and you’re good to go.
Making Friends
As we’ve already talked about, introduce yourself to your roomies at your hostel, join group social activities the hostel does and socialise in the common areas of the hostel. Here are a few other tips on making friends…
Group tours
Do a group tour. I wasn’t worried about making friends when I went to Australia but doing a group tour (Welcome to Sydney with Welcome to Travel) was the best. Before I’d even got to Australia, the group had been chatting on a WhatsApp group chat. One of the guys was on the same flight as me and when we arrived in Sydney, we met a couple of other people on our tour (I was sharing a room with Chloe). Honestly, joining a group tour was the best! We did loads of activities together, we hiked mountains together and then some of us travelled together (and crossed over with others from the group up the coast). I even lived with Alex from my tour when we moved to Bondi.
There are also other perks to joining a group tour like getting help with setting up your bank account, mobile phone and finding work (we’ll talk more about this later). I cannot recommend doing a group tour enough.
Social media
There are a whole range of groups on social media to help you get settled and make friends. Join them. There are ones that are a mix of everything, others are female only. You’ll find out about social events, meet ups, make friends, find job postings. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to but it may help to make friends.
If you are in Australia and you’re a female traveller, I recommend Sydney Working Holiday Girls (also groups in Perth and Brisbane) which was set up by Bonnie from Welcome to Travel. They regularly have meet ups and events. I went on a Halloween Boat Party and met a couple of girls for beach days and quiz nights after that.
Homesickness
Homesickness can be really tricky. For some people it’s always at the back of their mind, for others it’s crippling. For some, they don’t give home a second thought. Here are a few tips to keep you going…
Contact home often, don’t avoid them
You’re probably thinking that this would be counterintuitive if you are feeling homesick but I promise you, keeping regular contact with your family and friends is the best. I think this is what helped me not feel homesick. I have a group chat with my mum and sister – we would chat on there several times a week with a video call once a week or so. I would also message and video call with my dad regularly. Social media and blogging was really good. Beyond my immediately family, everyone could see I was happy and healthy (and they could get jealous of all the cool stuff I was doing). Avoiding talking to your family and friends, will only make feelings of homesickness worse.
Keep yourself busy
Keep yourself occupied with all the cool activities you can do in the new country you are visiting. When I first got to Australia, I had a tour week, a week in the mountains and then travelled up the east coast for 2 months. By keeping yourself busy, you don’t have time to think about home really. There were times when I was travelling when I didn’t speak to my family properly for 2 or 3 of weeks. Remember the reason you came travelling, you want to see and experience new things. Go do that!
Be social
As we’ve already discussed, go on group outings at your hostel or join a group tour. Introduce yourself to people. There’s also many backpacker/travel groups on social media. What’s the point in travelling if you aren’t willing to be social, meet new people and do cool stuff. Without putting yourself out there and getting outside your comfort zone, you will get homesick and it won’t help you in the long run.
Remember, it is totally normal and okay to feel homesick. Just remind yourself of the incredible journey you are on and all the cool things you get to experience while you are on the adventure of a lifetime.
Running out of money
There’s a fine balance, particularly on a working holiday visa, between travelling and working. Here’s some tips on how to get the best of both worlds…
Save before setting off on your adventure
If you are going travelling anywhere in the world, the sensible thing to do is save before you go off on your adventure. You want to save enough for good activities - for me diving is my most expensive hobby and activity and I know I’ll need at least £200 per dive day. You’ll also want to save enough for a good couple of months of living expenses (food, accommodation, etc).
If you are travelling to Australia (and other countries) on a working holiday visa, you may be required to prove you have a certain amount in your bank account to support yourself. For Australia, you must have $5000 (£2500) in your account. You’ll want to save at least double this (if you can), to give you the best chances of surviving looking for work.
Find work
If you are on a working holiday visa, part of the way you will support yourself is by finding work to fund living and travelling.
Social media can be really helpful for finding work. People often post job adverts on groups and/or their companies page. It is also worth asking hostels if they have any work (housekeeping, front desk etc – this may include accommodation) or job boards (where others post jobs). I found Seek, Indeed and Backpackers Job Board extremely helpful.
Sometimes, it’s who you know. Alex (my housemate) got a job with Welcome to Travel by asking our tour guide, Tommy, if they had any jobs going. Alex became a tour guide and was awesome!
Struggling to find work
Be proactive
If you want to find work, you must be proactive. I made myself look at job advert after job advert, with the goal of applying for at least 20 a week. If you are using something like Seek or Backpacker Job Board, they store your resume and contact information on your profile, making applications simple with just a few clicks of a button. I was applying for all sorts – farm work, nannying, sales, travel agent, admin, COVID swabbing – literally everything and anything. You really must put in the effort if you want to find something.
Please don’t get too disheartened if you don’t hear back from jobs, just think about how many backpackers and locals must apply. It took me a month (post-travel and covid isolation) to find the perfect job for me. Just keep going, the right job will come along.
Group tours may help you find work
Some tour companies may have an employment database or contacts that can help you find work. Utilise these assets, you never know what may come from it.
I hope this article has been helpful to you whether you are preparing to travel or are already travelling. Travelling solo is tough but it is so rewarding. When things get hard, you have to remind yourself that you are on an incredible adventure, doing awesome stuff and meeting like-minded people.
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