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Rosalie Atkins offers her tips for kids travelling alone

Rosalie Atkins, 11, was the subject of controversy when her mother Anne Atkins wrote in MailOnline about her adventurous five children and how she has no problem with them travelling alone. 

Rosalie, who flew to Lyon solo when she was nine, is a frequent train traveller making the 200-mile, three-and-a-half hour journey from home Bedford to Durham Chorister School, where she boards. 

Usually she's dropped at Sandy and changes only at Peterborough, but at the weekend she made the entire journey on her own - changing at Sheffield and Leicester - for the first time. 

Rosalie wasn't worried one bit, and here she offers her 10 top tips for other kids making a journey on their lonesome.

1 Allow time

When planning a journey, allow plenty of time for everything. For instance, if you book in advance, the tickets are much cheaper. Also it helps you to make sure you will be able to get to the station: make sure you allow plenty of time for this. You may think you have enough time, but there might be roadworks or an accident, which could make you miss your train. My mother told me we needed to allow forty minutes for a twenty minute drive to the station I need for school. I thought she was being silly until the day when there was a long diversion, and we arrived to see my train pulling out.

Rosalie Atkins gets set for a solo train journey - the 11-year-old travels 200 miles from her family's home in Bedford to Durham Chorister School regularly and has also travelled overseas by herself

2 Plan carefully

Make sure you know precisely when your train will get in and what platform it will come in on, especially if you are doing a change. My older brother looks all this up on the internet for me before my journey. He even prints off a map of the station, showing my platform change and how far it is from one platform to the other, if I haven't done that change before.

3 Check everything

It is very useful to have a pack list when you are going on a journey, so that you know you have everything. When you leave your house make sure you check you have everything with you that you will need, and when you leave the platform or the train make sure you keep your belongings with you at all times. (It is often a good idea if you need to go to the loo, to ask someone to watch your belongings for you.) If you got on the train with three things – for instance: book, bag, coat – make sure you get off with three things too.

Rosalie arrives back at her home station at Bedford (left) after another solo train journey

4 Take Entertainment

If you are taking a long train journey and you don't take entertainment you will become extremely bored. It's a good idea always to take a book when you are going on a journey even if you don't think you will want to read it. If you don't have any entertainment, don't be afraid to socialise with others around you. It can be useful to have a pack of cards. You can normally judge if the person next to you will be a sensible and friendly person to engage in a conversation. Most people are.

5 Take a telephone

And make sure you charge it up first and have credit on it! If it is one of your first journeys alone, it is always a good idea to stay in contact with someone, so that in the unlikely event of something going wrong, there is someone you can tell. Even if you don't have a phone, the train managers are guaranteed to have one you can borrow. Always make sure you bring someone's telephone number.

Rosalie, now 11, travelled to Lyon by herself when she was nine. She advises young travellers to plan carefully

6 Don't Panic

If something does go wrong (which it rarely does, but you might miss a connection for instance) the last thing you should do is panic. Stay calm and look for an information desk or phone someone at home who can tell you what to do.

Anne Atkins (right) has no problems with her children, including Rosalie (left), travelling alone

7 Recognise uniforms

If you need to tell someone something or if you have any questions about your journey, always look for someone who is working with the company that is running your train. Try to check, before you set off, what the uniform looks like, so they are easier to identify during the journey.

8 Be Confident and Assertive

If you do see someone in uniform, or just someone to talk to, never refrain from going and asking for help. It is always better to be safe than sorry, so even if you are almost sure you are on the right platform, if you have any doubts, never be worried to ask a member of staff.

9 Be Sensible

Its very unusual that something will go wrong, and even if it does, there is almost always an easy solution. Taking a journey on your own is all about common sense. For instance, it's obviously safer to get into a carriage with lots of different people in it. And if the train is running late for your connection, you ask the train manager to advise you what to do next. You can always ring your parents. If you are sensible and careful, and your journey has been properly planned, it is extremely unlikely that anything can go wrong.

10 Relax and Enjoy Your Journey

Try not to get worried or stressed about your journey. It can often be very relaxing travelling alone (especially as your parents aren't there to embarrass you). I've met lots of interesting people travelling alone, and I've learnt a lot from it. Enjoy your journey.