BBC Travel just wrote a piece entitled “Should Women Avoid Traveling Alone?”and my reaction looks a little something like vomiting into a bucket.
Really BBC? Why is it there are hundreds of pieces asking whether or not women should travel solo, and not nearly enough encouraging them to strike out alone?
Because women everywhere totally can AND DO travel safely everyday, here’s a little reminder of why it’s important to start worrying less about what could go wrong, and worry more about where you’re going next and when.
Traveling Solo Shows You Your Own Strength: Doubting yourself all the time? Yeah, that goes away after you hike the Inca Trail and completely kick its ass. You rock, lady!
Traveling Solo Shows You Who You Are: After a few months of long bus rides, soul-searching, and new destinations, you’ll know yourself a million times more than when you arrived.
Traveling Solo Pushes You: Yeah, sometimes traveling solo is rough. Sometimes you get into situations you don’t know how you’ll get out of, and then a stranger comes along and gives you a hand. Travel pushes you to do more, explore more, know more. And that’s a good thing.
There’s No Limit to Your Schedule: Feeling exhausted from the day before and want to sleep? Do it! Want to push yourself and watch the sunrise? Do it! Traveling alone gives you total control of your schedule.
You Aren’t Dressing to Impress: Not traveling with anyone? Cool, then you’re free to wear whatevs you want without ever thinking twice.
Traveling Solo Helps You Make New Friends: Without the safety blanket of friends and family by your side, you’re more open to experiencing new things with new people. And that’s what traveling is all about!
What inspires you to travel solo and how many times have you gone on a solo trip?
3 Comments
I’ve just spent the last few hours on your wonderful website, you’ve well and truly stoked my wanderlust! I’m still a uni student (so still pretty young and not flush with cash) but I really want to try the solo travel thing- I was wondering if you had any recommendations of not too expensive places for a newbie to start out? Thank you for writing such an awesome blog!
Hey Sarah, I’m happy you want to go solo! There’s tons of places on a budget but Asia, Central and South America tend to be much more low-cost and the exchange rates will give you the most money to spend. Hostels are fun and very low budget wherever you go, you can read this for ideas – http://bit.ly/1nyyneS . Wherever you go, you will enjoy it we can assure you that!
I love solo travel! When I started traveling solo, I got the biggest confidence boost from it. It was kind of addicting. Travel taught me I’m stronger than I thought and that I can handle a lot more than I thought. Even if it turns out that solo travel isn’t your favorite way to travel, I truly believe everyone should try it at least once or twice.