Are you planning a solo trip across America?
Right on!
Flying solo can be a liberating experience if you haven’t had the pleasure of traveling with yourself yet. Going alone has plenty of perks! No more waiting around for everyone, no arguments about where to eat and the freedom to go where groups can’t.
You can finally do things in your own time, at your own pace. But traveling solo has its drawbacks as well, the most prominent one being safety. There’s safety in numbers, and a solo traveler makes an easier target.
For a solo trip across the USA, personal safety should be your priority.
Your vacation won’t be any good if you don’t live to tell about it, right? Or at the very least, you won’t be able to post anything on Instagram because your phone is in another state!
A good strategy is to make yourself less of a target.
Lugging around your ginormous backpack is like waving a flag that you’re not from the area. If you have the budget for it, renting a used car is a great way to travel. You should be aware of bad manufactured cars as you don’t want your trip to get ruined because your car breaks down all the time! You should check your car’s vehicle history here to avoid a lemon car.
The best way to stay safe is to stay in a safe city.
Why take the risk in the first place?
You should be relaxing and having fun during your solo jaunt, not always looking over your shoulder and applying a death grip on your bag! That is no way to spend some quality time with yourself. Some major cities are safe enough, but others clearly aren’t.
If you’re headed to a top destination (like Las Vegas), you can always choose to stay at the next city. It’s safer and cheaper.
New York, NY
A trip to the US won’t be complete without experiencing the hustle and bustle of the Big Apple. With a population of 8,566,917, NY has a higher than average violent crime rate at 573.42 per 100K residents.
But we’re talking about a population of more than 8 million, plus an influx of thousands of tourists each day. For such a large city, New York has the 2nd lowest property crime rate at 1,462.35 and the lowest burglary rate at 141 per 100K residents.
Irvine, CA
If you’re doing Los Angeles, but don’t plan on staying there, Irvine is a beautiful city to call home. With a population of 266,663, Irvine has the lowest violent and property crime rates at 57 and 1,401 per 100K residents, respectively.
Burglaries are also low at 240 per 100K residents (4th place), and you have a 1 in 76 chance of being the victim of a property crime. There’s plenty to do and see in Irvine if you don’t want to deal with L.A traffic.
Henderson, NV
Want to go to Vegas and hit the casinos? Awesome! Just don’t lose it all in one place. Las Vegas is a jewel in the desert, but it can get expensive. If you’re flying solo, looking for a place to crash in nearby Henderson is the way to go.
With a population of 291,584, Henderson has the 4th lowest violent crime rate at 211.6 and the 5th lowest property crime rate at 1,881 (per 100K residents). Not a bad place to call home for a few weeks!
Where You Headed?
There you go! A significant tourist city (NY) and smaller towns near two of the more famous mega-cities in America. The choice is yours.
Stay safe, solo traveler!
Emily Andrews is the marketing communications specialist at RecordsFinder, an online public records search company. Communications specialist by day and community volunteer at night, she believes in compassion and defending the defenseless.
