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Solo woman traveler at the airport with her luggage

Solo Travel for Women: How I Travel for Free

Author: Jamie Milam

Date: February 17, 2025

**Disclosure** This post may contain affiliate links and they are at no additional cost to you, though I may earn a small commission. Don't worry, I only recommend products or services that I have tried or believe would be of great value to you! All opinions expressed are those of my own!

New sights, new cultures, new experiences, new foods—there's a lot to love about travel. There's all that awesome external stuff, but it's also the internal experience of doing something new and challenging yourself... especially as a solo female traveler!

Now that I've sent my son off to college and am an empty-nester, I have a lot more flexibility with my time when it comes to travel. I don't have to plan around school breaks—which tend to be higher tourist seasons anyways—so I can focus on going where I want, when I want.

I visited Italy in 2022 after my divorce. It was my first time traveling to Europe. It was also my first solo trip—just me, myself, and the amazing beauty of the country. I truly felt like it was the start of my solo travel era and, since then, I've done solo trips around the US, to Nicaragua, and most recently to Barcelona, Spain.

And I'm just getting started. Traveling is a huge part of my life now, and my goal is to find ways to do so in an affordable way. I want to work smarter, not harder (give me all the solo travel hacks!) and I bet you're the same.

So, here's how I've been able to travel for free as a solo female traveler! I'm spilling the details on the exact strategy I've been using and how you can do the same. Ready? I know you are, so let's dive in.

How I Travel for Free: 3 Solo Travel Hacks for Female Travelers

Alright, alright, I'll confess—my solo travel has not been completely free. To be transparent, my actual annual costs are $315 - $95 for my annual credit card fee plus the $220 annual membership with HomeExchange and then any taxes and fees the airlines have.

Solo female traveler walking with a suitcase and text that says "As a divorcee and now an empty-nester, traveling solo is a way that I'm able to reconnect with myself. It builds confidence. It feels empowering. It expands my mind. I believe that the more budget friendly travel tips we have as women, the more we're likely to make time for it and be able to do more of it."

But, besides that, I'm talking free travel—free flights and free accommodations! Then, there are some other ways to keep your costs low while you're in your destination.

So, here are the top solo travel hacks for women to travel for free or low-cost.

1. Converting Your Credit Card Points to Flights

Like me, you've probably heard from everyone from The Points Guy to your mom talking about using a credit card that earns points or miles. I'd heard it all before, but didn't actually get my first major credit card until I was 33.

That first card was a Discover Miles card, and every time I wanted to use my points for travel, there were blackout dates or I would actually lose points in the transfer. It didn't make sense, so I finally decided to convert it to a cash back rewards card instead.

Luckily, I stumbled on a fantastic free webinar, took some time to learn, and found the ideal card for me based on their recommendations. My Chase Sapphire Visa has been a complete game changer. The card offers many perks and benefits that help you rack up the points, mostly from their partnerships with other vendors.

Some recent examples include:

Lyft: Chase offered 3X the points with Lyft on top of the 2x you already get on travel, so I switched all my rideshares to the app.
Nike and Adidas: Chase offered an additional eight points for every dollar spent on Nike or Adidas through their portal, so there's an incentive to spend their rather than Nike's direct website.
Hotels and airlines: At the time of writing, Chase is partnered with 11 airlines and 3 hotel chains, on which they offer a 1:1 point transfer. There are no blackout dates or point loss, and some airlines also offer bonus points when you transfer to them. You may need to be more flexible with your airline choice, but for me, that flexibility is worth it!

Besides these partnerships and discount offers (that are always changing, so you have to stay up to date!), Chase doesn't have any foreign transaction fees on the purchases outside of the US. This means you can pay in local currency without paying vendor transaction fees—you just pay the price. This helps save money while abroad.

To make the most points you can on your credit card, here are my three golden rules:

Put everything on your credit card. All your expenses and payments should be on the card so you collect points for things you already need to buy. You're spending the money anyway, why not earn points on it?
Pay everything off in full, every month, no exceptions. This is Good Credit Card Management 101—pay it off in full and don't carry a balance. This is important to maintain your credit score and ensure you don't take on expensive credit card debt.
Plan how you'll spend, using the incentives and partnerships available through your card. Book with the partner hotels, shop via the app (i.e., with the Nike offering), and pay attention to promotions and deals. Train yourself to think about this offers portal before buying gifts, household purchases and even subscriptions. It does take some time and planning to do, but it's the best way to get more points.

If you want to dive deeper into all-things credit card points and free travel, check out my free detailed guide on how to maximize your travel strategy. I break everything down into the exact steps you can take to travel for free and live your best solo travel era!

2. Be Strategic With Your Lodging

The next big thing to consider for low-cost travel is your accommodation. This can be a huge expense for your trip but if you're willing to think outside the box, there are ways to cut costs.

You're likely reading this because the "solo travel" part caught your attention, which means you have more flexibility as an independent traveler. And, if I had to guess, you don't plan on spending most of your time in your room anyways, right? So, why pay a ton for a room you're not going to even spend a lot of time in?

So, let's talk strategy. There are a few ways to decrease your accommodation costs:

Rent a room on a platform like Airbnb rather than a whole place for yourself.
Use your credit card points to book a hotel. Like I said, my Chase card does have some partnerships with hotels, but I find the points offerings not as good as they could be. But those points become more valuable when you transfer them to partners like Hyatt.
Try HomeExchange, a house-swapping platform (yes, just like The Holiday movie with Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet!).

Image of a solo woman at the airport with her luggage, and the text "Solo Travel for Women: How I travel for Free"

The third option is my favorite way to stay somewhere for free. HomeExchange lets you stay in other people's homes, but it's not limited to a specific time. You also have the ability to swap for different time periods or just use the platform's GuestPoints if they have no desire in visiting your location. They'll receive your GuestPoints to be able to book another location for themselves. And same vice-versa if they reach out to request to stay at your place. Honestly, it's like booking through Airbnb without the cost.

I was able to earn my first 550 points simply by doing little milestones like completing my profile, describing my home, verifying my identity. I earned another 318 points by hosting someone for two nights. So I accumulated 868 points without purchasing the $220 annual membership (for access to see reviews and earn an additional 500 bonus GuestPoints). This 800 points is plenty to book your first stay if you choose wisely; I even saw several individual rooms available in Barcelona for as little as 65 GuestPoints per night.

The best part? You don't have to be a homeowner to use this platform. As long as your rental lease agreement doesn't restrict such use. I currently have my Charlotte Uptown Airbnb listed on the platform, but am highly considering putting up a room in my empty-nesting house to be available for HomeExchange only, given that you have to approve any reservation manually.

If you're interested in this free travel strategy as a solo woman traveler, check out my free comprehensive guide for more details, including screenshots of the actual platform in use!

Photo of The Vatican, Italy comparing crowdsJanuary '22 vs May '24

The Vatican, Italy in January '22 vs May '24.

3. Choose Your Travel Time Wisely

My last key strategy in finding affordable travel opportunities is to pick the right time of year to go. I often choose to travel in the off-season for hot tourist destinations (like my recent solo trip to Barcelona in January). Not only does this grant me the benefits of lower costs, but their are far fewer crowds. Trust me on that! Some locations will still be busy, and some may actually be closed, but the overall take is it's less crowded, which makes it more enjoyable for me personally.

For example, I visited Italy in January 2022 and was able to secure an amazing Airbnb with a view overlooking the Trajan Market for a fraction of its cost in June. My hotel in Positano? Huge savings. It cost me $177 for a one-night stay in January, but would have been $538 in June! And the same goes for flights—way cheaper in the off-season. You may find that flights or lodging is cheap enough that you don't even want to use your points, but if you do, off-season dates often cost less in points/miles too!

When thinking about traveling off-season, do your research about local events, school calendars, and holidays as well as popular times for Americans to travel. It may not be a major holiday in the US, but a local holiday could still mean higher prices in your destination. Example would be Italy's Jubilee in 2025—a year-long event y'all.

7 Solo Travel Hacks for Affordable Vacations

Those first three strategies are the three big ways to save money and find free travel as a solo female traveler, but there are lots of other things you can do too to make it more affordable and budget friendly. Here are seven tips to make the most of trip as a solo female traveler!

Know the exchange rate before you go: It's helpful to know how to calculate the actual cost in USD versus the local currency. Either take $200 USD and convert it to local currency or be sure to take a debit card that doesn't have foreign transaction fees. My USAA debit card even reimburses me for any ATM fees so that's a benefit for me because then I can get the local currency out from their ATM. Pssst—bonus trick that I literally only learned last year if you have an iPhone is that your calculator app will actually do the conversion rate for you!
Determine your priorities: Spend some time considering what you want to save on and what to splurge on. Because I'd saved so much on flight and accommodations, I knew I'd be willing to splurge more on food tours, or day trips out of the city, or even visiting more museums than normal. When you know these priorities in advance, you can make good financial decisions.
Don't over-plan: While I love a good plan and researching things to do, not every moment of your trip has to be jam-packed with expensive activities and sightseeing. Instead, incorporate downtime to hang out, relax, and enjoy the environment in a cafe or wandering down the street. Sometimes the best times is just finding a patio seat with a glass of wine and watching the street performers, or sitting at a bar where you can strike up a conversation with other so you can actually immerse yourself locally.
Stay somewhere you can cook: Choose your accommodations with a kitchen so you can save some money and cook at "home." It's so fun finding fresh ingredients at a local grocery store or market—you might find something new that you love! Ask where the locals shop and have fun with it.
Take the train: If you're traveling in Europe, choose a city that has a train station. This makes it much easier for you to hop on a train to take a day trip to another city. I just took a roundtrip train ride from Barcelona to Sitges for nearly €11 and opted to just take the last train back rather than booking a hotel to maximize my day there. What a great way to see more of the country without breaking the bank! And, if you've mapped out your priorities, you may decide that you want to stay overnight elsewhere since you saved so much initially.
Check out free museums and galleries: Many cities have free or discounted entrance into their museums and galleries on specific days. Make sure you check the opening hours and when they're offering deals. When traveling on the off-season, there may be shorter hours so take note!
Use discount passes: A lot of big cities offer discounted bundles on the main tourist attractions. These can bring huge savings, especially if you're in the city for 3+ days and want to see 4+ attractions on their list. Some cities also offer metro cards that give you a cheaper rate than buying an individual tickets. Hop-on-hop-off buses also often provide a discount booklet with coupons you can use around the city—they're also a way to save on transport since it's wrapped up in your ticket costs! In Barcelona, there are a couple of companies with different routes, one of which is further out and gives you an affordable way to explore the city without paying a taxi for each stop.

Traveling for free and low-cost is possible if you take some time to understand the different strategies available to you and strategically implement them.

As a divorcee and now an empty-nester, traveling solo is a way that I'm able to reconnect with myself. It builds confidence. It feels empowering. It expands my mind. I believe that the more budget-friendly travel tips we have as women, the more we're likely to make time for it and be able to do more of it. I'm confident so many of us have a dream to travel more, but have this fear or limiting belief that we just can't afford it and it's my hope that an article like this will inspire you to embrace tips like these to make that dream happen.

I'm loving my solo travel era and I want you to as well! If you're like me, and are Determined AF to travel, and you want to make this year the year you finally take that trip you've always wanted, then grab my full detailed guide that breaks down my strategy for using a credit card and HomeExchange for free travel.

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To entering your solo travel era,

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About Me

I'm Jamie Milam, a determined AF woman who's embraced life after divorce by finding peace through self-awareness, intentional decision-making, and thrilling new travel adventures.

As a Realtor® in Charlotte, NC (and your connection to top agents nationwide), I’m passionate about guiding you through your homeownership and design goals—while also helping you create space for the things you love. My mission is to empower you to create a life of alignment too - at home, abroad, and within.

Whether it’s through real estate tips, home design inspiration, or solo travel experiences for divorced, independent women, I hope this space encourages you to discover deeper self-awareness and build a life that aligns with your passions and needs.

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Jamie Milam is a Realtor® in the Charlotte, NC area, licensed in both NC & SC, and has the ability to refer you to a number of agent partners across the nation, regardless of where you may live. She is an enthusiast for the power of awareness and believes it can be used in all facets of life to support aligned living.