Recommended reading

Backpacker Magazine
US based backpacking magazine that features in depth trip reports, gear reviews, contests, photos, and much more.
The National Outdoor Leadership School’s Wilderness Guide: The Classic Handbook, Revised and Updated by Mark Harvey
Everything you need to know guide about leaving no footprints, surviving on your own, what to do in emergencies, what to wear, and how to navigate. An all in one survival guide.
The Practical Nomad: How to Travel Around the World by Edward Hasbrouck.
Travel Guru Edward Hasbrouck teaches you how to travel around the world by explaining trip planning, location choices, and how to take the best independent adventure.
Solo Traveler: Tales and Tips for Great Trips by Lea Lane
Lane explains how traveling can best be experienced alone and offers tips and advice on how to make your solo trip better.
Travel Alone and Love It by Sharon B. Wingler
A basic A to Z primer on solo travel with, tips, advice, safety, trip planning, overcoming fears, and packing lists.
Traveling Solo, 5th: Advice and Ideas for More than 250 Great Vacations by Eleanor Berman
Berman breaks down the world of solo travel and outlines several hundred of the best trips to be enjoyed alone.
Vagabonding by Rolf Potts
Inspiring how-to book by a well known travel writer on why and how to travel long term around the world. Tips to save money, ideas on trip planning and paces to go, what to expect, and how to determine if long term travel is right for you.
Walden by Henry David Thoreau
A poet retreats into complete solitude in the New England wilderness. One of the most famous explorations of the self in American literature.
Wanderlust and Lipstick: The Essential Guide for Women Traveling Solo by Beth Whitman
Resources and advice for women who are planning a solo journey. The guide helps to cure a female’s anxieties and fears of solo travel.

Useful Websites

General

Solo Travel Network (http://www.cstn.org)
A bimonthly newsletter founded in 1990 aimed at solo travelers. Offers advice on alternative vacations, as well as solo travel tips and features. Membership fee applies.
Matador Travel Network (http://www.matadortravel.com)
Not only is Matador a social networking site where you can meet other travelers, but a resource for volunteering, a place to find travel jobs, writing assignments, contests, feature articles, and travel tips.
Vagabonding (http://www.vagabonding.net)
Author Rolf Potts’ website, an extension of his book Vagabonding, has practical advice for long term and solo travelers, interviews with travel writers, and frequent blogs by a slew of writers.
WWOOF (http://www.wwoof.org)
WWOOF, which stands for Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms, arranges light work and volunteering opportunities for members in exchange for light work. Great ways to explore an area, meet interesting people, and find a place to stay without opening your wallet.

Latin America

South American Explorer’s Club (http://www.saexplorers.org)
A great place to meet other solo travelers in Latin America. Loads of resources from clubhouses around the continent, trip reports, a magazine, book exchanges, and online databases and forums.