Five Items Every Solo Traveler Should Pack For An Adventure

Believe it or not, some of the best vacations are solo getaways. Sure, we love to spend time at a Caribbean resort with our loved ones or closest friends, but sometimes there's nothing better than getting away from it all with the holy trinity of me, myself and I. Flying solo allows us to play by our own rules, experience the adventures we've always dreamed of and, sometimes, just sleep as long as we need to without being woken up by the neighbor's lawn guy who insists on showing up at 7 a.m.

But if we're going to be adventurous, we owe it to ourselves to pack the right gear. From selfies and photos of our food to zip line footage and video calls with the people we wish were here, make sure your bag is packed with the tech and toys you need to get the most of your solo journey.

In a perfect world, your solo adventure begins on a Friday right after the clock strikes 5 p.m. You'll head straight from work to the airport, with only the bag you packed that morning, and your only concern over the next few days will be whether or not you packed enough underwear.

So, you'll need a bag that goes from your office to the airport and right to a Costa Rican jungle or snorkeling boat off the coast of Aruba. The bonus of finding such a bag is that its versatility will make it a mainstay in your travel and work gear for years to come.

There's no doubt about it: action cameras are a serious investment. They typically cost a lot more than a standard digital camera, but there's a good reason for that—they do so many things that ordinary cameras can't. And they also take a booting and keep on shooting.

The best action cameras are able to record your most unbelievable vacations moments—zip lines, waterfall repelling, massive waterslides, deep sea fishing—and do it in a way that you're almost guaranteed sharp and smooth footage that will make your Facebook friends wish they were your travel buddies.

A tablet, on the other hand, doesn't have to break your bank. In fact, tablets are somehow getting better and cheaper, and so you can grab an affordable device to bring on your trip, so that you'll never run out of chances to share your adventures when your unwinding at poolside.

Of course, showing off aside, a great tablet allows you to read and stream your favorite shows, movies and music from the comfort of your hotel room or even at the beach. Just make sure you pick up a good case, too.

Stop us if you've heard this one before: germs are everywhere. Between the airplane and your hotel room, you'll already be up to your ears in cooties, but think long and hard about everything you'll do and touch on your trip, and what that means... for your phone.

That's right—your phone is already gross enough without taking it to another country. Fight back with a smartphone sanitizer that not only kills 99.9 percent of the germs you'll encounter, but also charges your device with or without a USB cable. That alone is worth the price tag.

In our minds, nothing can ever go wrong on vacation. In reality, there are a lot of things that can go wrong, especially if you're alone. The wrong turn on a mountain trail, an unexpected bump on a bike path, bad directions or something lost in translation—we'd be fools not to carry a backup plan, especially if it fits in the palm of your hand.

A GPS messaging device allows a friend or loved one to keep an ear open as to your whereabouts, should your adventure take you off-the-beaten path. Also, never underestimate the ability to make someone jealous of your tropical journey with a simple digital message.