Female Solo Travel

Whether your travel style is to spontaneously wander or to meticulously plan your daily itinerary, traveling solo is the perfect opportunity to do everything exactly as you please! When you travel solo, you can have more time for reflection, ample opportunities to make new friends, and the satisfaction of knowing that you forged your path yourself.

More and more, women are making their travel dreams come true, and many of them are doing it solo. In this culture, women are frequently warned about the perils of being their gender, especially when it comes to wandering far from home. While it’s true that there are specific concerns for female travelers, the risks that are out there haven’t stopped a countless number of them from hitting the road!

Feeling motivated to plan a solo trip, or have one in the works? Read on for travel tips and inspiration!

Staying Safe

Some research about safety precautions is a wise thing to do before any travel experience. Keeping some general tips in mind, as well as remaining alert and using common sense can keep travelers safe whether traveling solo or in groups. That said, here are a couple good tips geared especially for the solo female traveler: maintain contact with friends and family back home, whether by telephone, email, letter, or by keeping a travel blog. Keep somebody posted on where you are, especially if you will be on your own for a day or more. Many travelers leave a note with their hotel front desk on their travel plans when they are touring on their own, which can be a reassuring precaution.

For a more comprehensive discussion of travel safety tips, visit the following links, and those listed throughout this article.

Resources:

A Woman’s Guide to Safe and Successful Travel
Travel Advisories
Safety Issues
Health Issues from the CDC
Safety Tips for Women Traveling Solo

Dress Codes

For women, understanding about the cultures of the destinations you are visiting can enhance your sense of safety and well-being, as well as add depth to your experience. For example, certain cultures have etiquette regarding eye contact between women and men, while others have local standards about dress and body exposure. Specific body parts have different significance in various parts of the world, from upper arms, to legs, to the top of women’s heads.

Keep in mind that dress codes on the street may also be different within religious sites of your travel destination. Do the necessary research ahead of time to find out these rules; simple tips like carrying a scarf to put over your head and shoulders for religious sites is often recommended. Aside from being prepared, take your cues from the behavior of local women, be confident, keep your head on your shoulders, and most of all— enjoy yourself!

Resources:

What Should I Wear, Where?
Frommer’s Solo Travel Discussion Board
Journeywoman, an Online Travel Magazine for Women

And, for inspiration:

She Travels Solo
Travel Solo But Not Alone

Stories from Realtravelers

Solo female travel can take many forms. From walking and cycling completely alone across a vast country (as we featured this Wednesday), to joining an organization for volunteer work, as many of our Realtravelers have done, to long-distance road trips, to localized tourism, to safaris, meditation retreats, cruises, camping, and more.

Realtraveler Fretless, pictured above, embarked on an adventure traveling Spain by foot, walking the 500-mile Camino Santiago. With all of her first-hand knowledge, she wrote Top 10 Off the Beaten Path Destinations in Spain, a list filled with travel tips and colorful stories about her journey.

Ciccia, a Realtraveler from England, traveled around Central and South America solo and archived her experiences in her travel blog. She also compiled a list of Top 10 Tips for this region which included the following tip:

“Some of my most amazing experiences have been simply speaking to normal people on the bus, in isolated villages or shady plazas. One fantastic ability that people on this continent have is to communicate. Whether it is by waving their hands around in a frantic and passionate discussion or poetically describing the city and its history, people will tell you their deepest secrets regardless of whether you know them or not. But how can you participate in these friendly exchanges if you don’t speak the language?! If you want to really discover something amazing, try to get past language barriers and embrace a way of thinking and a culture that is so far removed from what you know. I had a few lessons at the Academia Latinoamericana de Espanol in Sucre, Bolivia. I would recommend this school for its professionalism, its price ($5 to $10 depending on group size) and the variety of other cultural activities they have such as salsa and cookery.”

For more inspiring stories, check out these blogs from Realtravelers:

kkeels - a chef working abroad in Africa
little haxby - traveled by herself on a road trip across the US, then volunteered in Africa
Janet - has had her share of adventures
Christina - studied abroad in the United Kingdom
Karen Watkins - travel writer and extensive traveler
rachel- flying solo - her title speaks for itself!

More Resources for Trip Planning:

Around the World Travel
Multi-Country Travel Deals
Package Travel Deals
China: A 2-Week Itinerary
Beautiful Bali– A 6 Night/ 7 Day Itinerary
Zambia: 9 Nights/ 10 Day Itinerary
Enchanting Spain: A 6 Night/ 7 Day Itinerary
More Itineraries from travel expert Michelle Finkelstein

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