Women travellers enjoy all the same sources of enjoyment as men: delicious new cuisines, thrilling nightlife, soul-enriching nature and awe-inspiring cultural sights. However, unlike their male counterparts, women often face a set of challenges and obstacles on the road to enjoyment – especially if they’re travelling solo.
These challenges shouldn’t be enough to keep you at home. There’s a wide world of pleasure out there, with appreciable spiritual and emotional value. Travel can be frightening, yes. But it can also be freeing and fulfilling, provided you arrive educated, prepared and open-minded.
In this post, let’s discuss how solo women travellers can stay safe, travel unburdened and extract maximum well-being from their next excursion abroad. Let’s get travelling!
Staying Safe Involves Education and Advocation
You can’t discuss solo travel as a woman without a nod toward safety. Of course, this shouldn’t be the case; as many present cultural conversations make clear, the onus should not be on women (often the victims in these scenarios) to amend their behaviours.
But the reality is that, when travelling, you face several new social and religious realities that you can neither change nor securely rebel against. As a mindful traveller, you have to understand where you fit within a cultural context.
Before you embark on your adventure, research the culture you are visiting: respectful practices, conventional clothing and social norms. No one’s saying you need to abdicate your role as an empowered woman; however, for safety’s sake, it’s wise to understand the context in which you’re a visitor. This way, you can advocate for your desires and needs in a mutually respectful way.
This government resource contains several valuable tips for staying safe as a woman traveller. Consider giving it a skim before you fly.
Travelling Free Involves Packing Light and Planning Smart
With safety out of the way, let’s turn our attention toward having the best trip possible. One of the points outlined in the resource above involves packing light. Packing light isn’t just for safety; it can also ensure that you have a freeing, unfettered and energetic trip.
The impulse to over-pack is understandable, but overpacking slows you down in just about every regard. A bulky suitcase makes it hard to catch trains, run for taxis, scale city steps and amble along country trails. Moreover, packing several creature comforts can prevent you from forming a meaningful connection with your surroundings.
If you’re travelling somewhere warm, all you really need are a few antibacterial women's merino t shirts, a couple of pairs of pants/skirts, underwear, toiletries and essential items. Everything else just serves to weigh you down.
An Enriching Trip Involves an Open Mind
How do you craft a fulfilling trip? Well, you can start by letting go.
Too often, travellers (men and women) want their destination to conform to their tastes and sensibilities – instead of the other way around. One of your superpowers as a woman is the ability to practice empathy and open-mindedness in the face of new ideas and practices; use that power to your advantage. Sample the local cuisine with gusto and curiosity. Tour religious sites with humility and respect. Strike up a conversation with locals to learn more about their lived experiences. And try to be comfortable in your moments of solitude (even if you aren’t used to spending time alone!).
Depending on where you are, travelling as a woman carries inherent risks. But it also boasts rich rewards. For a safe, freeing and fulfilling trip, consider the points above.
