The truth is if I had a fully-grown daughter and she decided to travel the world by herself, I’d obviously have my objections, but there are ladies whose wanderlust is just too strong for them to let the world’s fears stop them from exploring. I’d perhaps be justified in discouraging this daughter I’d have from travelling alone, but as a traveller myself I understand that many times you’re resigned to travelling all by yourself as plans between yourself and even just one other travel buddy have a hard time aligning.
Well, in my specific case I’m always lucky to be able to share the travelling experience with either my brother or my best friend, but I’m good friends as well with enough fellow travellers to know that group travel plans almost never come together and inevitably fizzle out to the point that the originator of the travel plans doesn’t even have one other friend to go away with.
I really must commend female solo travellers though because yes, there are a lot of dangers awaiting them, but they do well to avoid such dangers by empowering themselves with all the information which is freely available to all of us. There’s no substitute for personal experience however, so in the spirit of sharing our collective experience as travellers to help out any traveller who is contemplating that next trip, but is plagued with doubts, here’s a couple of pointers I learned from speaking with one of my female solo traveller friends.
Go anyway
Yes, it’s ideal to travel with a group, but as mentioned chances are you’ll eventually be the only one left in your travel group and so my dear friend says just do in any case. As a female solo traveller however you perhaps can’t take the overly casual approach that I do to travelling and so a little more planning is required. As a guy I could probably get away with walking 500 metres after dark to reach my hostel in Sao Paulo for instance, but if we’re realistic about it it’s probably not a good idea for a female to do the same, so you’d definitely have to organise aspects of your trip such as transport and make sure you’re safe in that way.
Otherwise don’t cancel your trip — you’ll always be bothered by questions of just why you decided not to go.
Round up other travellers
Again the hostel comes to mind as a great option for accommodation for female solo travellers, even if you book yourself a private room at the hostel or if you decide to sleep in the all-female dormitory.
A hostel is a perfect place to meet other travellers with whom you can immediately form a bond and explore the destination. Also, these days, a quick internet search with phrases like “hostel Tel Aviv” or similar ones can land you on pages of beautiful hostels that are worth the stay and enjoyment.
My friend says she’s had to break out of her cocoon of shyness and the moment she walks into a hostel after checking in, she tries to find the biggest group of people who are gathered for whatever reason and then before even introducing herself, asks “So, what are we doing tonight or tomorrow?”