If you’ve been thinking about traveling solo but don’t know where to start, this is your list. These are a few of the places where I felt safe, comfortable, and able to fully enjoy the experience. The list includes U.S. cities and international destinations.

In the summer of 2017, I took my first solo trip to New Orleans and realized my own freedom. Travel began as a personal goal and quickly became a deeper exploration of autonomy, fearlessness, and what it means to live on my own terms. That trip marked the first time I understood freedom not as escape, but as a way of being and a manifestation of who I already was .

There are many reasons a black woman might have interest in traveling solo, and I'd like to offer 10 of them here that might encourage you to book your first trip or to keep going if you've already started. Black women should travel solo because it encourages cultural appreciation, spontaneity, self discovery, confidence, and more.

The number one question I’ve gotten is “how do you do it on your own?” and that was the primary reason for starting this blog. Doing it on my own the last several years, I’ve picked up a few tips and tricks that might make the idea of traveling solo a little less scary for a woman that may want to venture out on her own.

One of the questions I get asked all the time is how I choose destinations to visit. There’s a long and short answer to that question. The short version is that I pick a destination from my list, book a flight, and go. The long answer is that I do quite a bit of research including the things I’m outlining in this post to make sure that a destination is enjoyable, safe, and within my budget.