Solo Female Travel - Empowering Stories and Tips From Adventurous Women

Whatever your reasons for travelling solo, there are few better ways to recharge than going it alone. For solo travellers, 46 per cent of those surveyed by Condor Ferries said personal transformation and self-discovery was their primary motivation.

With the right safety hacks in place, there’s no reason why the life of a solo female traveller has to stop short at being an exciting, heady and essential experience. The best expert advice comes from those who’ve undergone life-defining journeys of their own.

Table of Contents

Identify Your Travel Type

Developing your own individual criteria for travelling alone is a fundamental facet of planning your solo trip. In particular, it is imperative that you define your travel style, which influences how much you appreciate or dislike each place and activity.

A huge number of women travelling alone, whether as backpackers looking for a unique cultural immersion or solo travellers in mid life looking for some wellbeing self-care experiences, are there for spa trips, yoga vacations and wellness workshops – as spaces of personal growth and cultural immersion, and sometimes both.

Women generally choose to travel to destinations that are considered safe and gender-equal, comfortably taking their concerns into account. Tourlane, based in Munich, recently went as far as to produce a list of the safest cities in the world for women (where Ljubljana in Slovenia took top spot, with a perfect score in the ‘justice’ category).

Plan Your Accommodation Wisely

You can be certain that many will respond positively to your travel, offering gear and guidance and even more trips, and that many, if not most, will be jealous of your good fortune. But you can be equally certain that there will be others who will respond negatively: worried for your safety and security; resentful of how their planned lives will become derailed by your departure; alarmed by your apparent reversal of the order of their own families. It helps to mitigate these responses by planning diligently.

Research as much as possible about where you are going even before you go. Read as many opinion/first-hand blogs as possible, particularly those where people have talked about scams. Ask as many questions as possible in forums and Facebook travel groups. Check the weather and natural disasters. Check crime statistics. Check cultural do’s and don’ts, especially about dress. Check cons and scams.

Figure out ways to secure your money when you’re travelling solo. Some travellers hide cash in their bras or secret compartments in their trousers; others prefer an empty tube of lip balm or box of tampons (which supposedly robbers — mostly men — are less inclined to check). And then there are all manner of travel products that make trips safer and more secure.

Be Mindful of Your Surroundings

Travelling alone is both exciting and horrific and with safety helmet, gloves etc you can atleast make your journey more comfortable and more secured.Here are some few easy tips that can surely make travelling alone more comfortable.

However, you can see that one of the biggest dangers of travelling alone is becoming prey to pickpockets or fraudsters, so you should always remain very vigilant, especially in large and teeming metropolises that make it easier for such activity.

In case of an emergency on your smartphone, if you like, you can set yourself up an ‘ICE’ contact they will have access to your health records without your pass code.Make sure you don’t carry too much with you – this could attract attention from pickpockets.

Take Precautions to Avoid Unsafe Situations

Wherever you end up travelling, issues relating to voluntourism, eg heteronormativity, or sexual tourism, make it vital to be mindful and safe. This involves wearing the right clothes, knowing where and how to go, and being safe in all of these regards:

So a good strategy is to trust your instincts; they call it your gut for a reason! If something doesn’t seem right to you, leave.

Study up on your destination before you go – stories/personal accounts on blogs/travel forums and groups (eg facebook Travel groups) or in real-time via social media, looking at historic natural disasters/crimes/dangerous acts; keep up-to-date on the current political climate/unrest, etc. If you ever feel like strangers are threatening you, set an ‘In Case of Emergency’ contact to the#1 spot on your phone.

Take Advantage of Social Media

Modern single woman travellers have a plethora of opportunities to connect with those like-minded individuals, to ask for suggestions and tips in getting ready to travel solo female. Social media and travel blogs provide ample opportunity to do this; given that women are more likely than men to travel in groups, their unique experiences (and solutions are also more likely to be represented in blogs, groups and forums that amass inspiration for and safety while travelling, specifically for women.

Travelling alone is indeed a big challenge, an intimidating, often frightening endeavor, filled with unknowns and stifling dowdy conventions of society. However, when prepared appropriately, and conducted with an open mindset, travelling as an unaccompanied [by a man] woman can feel liberating and satisfying.

So, keeping in touch with people close to you, using authentic ride-sharing apps and carrying personal alarm including alarm door stopper and slash-proof bags is the first step towards safe travel. Travel safely. Walk with confidence and travel smart. Travelling in daylight is another security tip you may want to consider. Sharing your travel journel into social media also helps family and friends.