traveling alone as a woman of color #SoloFemaleExplorer
Date: April 25th, 2018
A question a lot of people ask, is about my experience as a solo female traveler and particularly as a woman of color.
Although the thought of traveling solo can be scary, particularly for women, it can be very liberating and presents the opportunity to become more familiar with yourself. Despite the pros of the journey, it does not diminish the real fear and concern we as women have when we think of traveling alone. Personally, I am also an only child. Therefore, I think of the consequences and impact on my parents, if anything were to happen.
My experience has been unique. I've been flying alone since I was a very young child. As an unaccompanied minor, I have vivid memories of becoming acquainted with flying alone and pushing past my comfort zone to make friends with other unaccompanied minors in the lounges. Therefore, once I had mastered flying alone, the only reasonable next step was to actually master exploring new cities and countries solo.
My first solo trip was exploring a neighboring state for a college visit, while the next major adventure was a post high school graduation Euro trip with my best friend. Our parents were skeptical about us traveling alone so young, but together they knew we could handle anything. They were right and until this day, that remains one of the most amazing trips I have ever taken. Fast forward to many solo trips later to Portugal, Germany, Austria, Poland, South Korea, Malaysia, etc and the question remains, how do you ensure your safety and prepare for solo travel as a woman?
Here is how I prepare:
1.) Starting with Smaller Trips: Before taking a major trip to a foreign country, start with solo trips to different neighborhoods in your city, surrounding boroughs, and then explore new cities/states. This gives you the chance to learn about what type of traveler you are or if you even like solo travel. Challenging yourself gradually vs throwing yourself right into the deep end provides you with the opportunity to learn and become comfortable with traveling solo as a woman, before the MAJOR trip.
2.) Research: Before going on both a smaller tester trip or large trip, always do your research. Research everything! Research the country and city, particularly the political situation, safety, culture, food, health, and activities to do. Also research the neighborhood you're staying in, the safety rating and its proximity in comparisons to everything you want to do. Most importantly read articles, blogs, and watch videos of previous female travelers that have visited that city or country.
3.) Plan Effectively: Once you've researched, you can prepare and plan ahead. Have a plan for things such as banking services (if you'll use a credit card or cash), for phone, Wifi/ internet access, transportation, and also translation services, if a different language is spoken in this country. One thing I like to do, is build my itinerary ahead of time. Then I know where I will be/need to be and can create a strategy. For example, on how to get around. This could be by public transportation, shared car service, etc. By also building my itinerary ahead of time, I can also share this with my family. This isn't to say that I don't wander off or explore. The amount of times I've gotten lost and wondered around for hours is astonishing, however I always have a map or method to reorient myself.
4.) Emergency Plan: By researching ahead and planning effectively this allows you to build an emergency plan. It's important to have an emergency contact and a way to reach this contact (this could be buying a local sim, wifi, roaming services). Be prepared with travel insurance and be aware of hospitals in the area. Furthermore, don't forget to contact and register with your local embassy and keep up to date with their alerts. Have a plan for the worst possible situations, which include losing or having your wallet stolen, etc. Unfortunately for us as women, this could also include assault. Therefore, it's important to have contact information for the health services and local authorities, and to be in contact with your embassy.
5.) BE AWARE: I cannot stress this enough, but as a solo female traveler, being aware is crucial. Be aware of your surroundings, your possessions, and the people you're interacting with. Keep an eye out for anything that seems extraordinary.
PROS:
My experience as a female solo traveler has been enjoyable. What I enjoy is the freedom! You have the freedom to create your itinerary and be selfish with everything YOU want to do. You get to learn more about yourself and how you handle challenging situations. Most importantly, you get to enjoy your own company while exploring a new city, and becoming familiar with a new culture.
Despite the positive aspects, I've also been in situations where I've been judged and attempted to be taken advantage of, based on my gender and skin color. Therefore, I understand why it can be challenging to want to embark on that first solo travel. Reach out, I would love to serve as a resource and help you plan/prepare for that very first trip :)
Although the thought of traveling solo can be scary, particularly for women, it can be very liberating and presents the opportunity to become more familiar with yourself. Despite the pros of the journey, it does not diminish the real fear and concern we as women have when we think of traveling alone. Personally, I am also an only child. Therefore, I think of the consequences and impact on my parents, if anything were to happen.
My experience has been unique. I've been flying alone since I was a very young child. As an unaccompanied minor, I have vivid memories of becoming acquainted with flying alone and pushing past my comfort zone to make friends with other unaccompanied minors in the lounges. Therefore, once I had mastered flying alone, the only reasonable next step was to actually master exploring new cities and countries solo.
My first solo trip was exploring a neighboring state for a college visit, while the next major adventure was a post high school graduation Euro trip with my best friend. Our parents were skeptical about us traveling alone so young, but together they knew we could handle anything. They were right and until this day, that remains one of the most amazing trips I have ever taken. Fast forward to many solo trips later to Portugal, Germany, Austria, Poland, South Korea, Malaysia, etc and the question remains, how do you ensure your safety and prepare for solo travel as a woman?
Here is how I prepare:
1.) Starting with Smaller Trips: Before taking a major trip to a foreign country, start with solo trips to different neighborhoods in your city, surrounding boroughs, and then explore new cities/states. This gives you the chance to learn about what type of traveler you are or if you even like solo travel. Challenging yourself gradually vs throwing yourself right into the deep end provides you with the opportunity to learn and become comfortable with traveling solo as a woman, before the MAJOR trip.
2.) Research: Before going on both a smaller tester trip or large trip, always do your research. Research everything! Research the country and city, particularly the political situation, safety, culture, food, health, and activities to do. Also research the neighborhood you're staying in, the safety rating and its proximity in comparisons to everything you want to do. Most importantly read articles, blogs, and watch videos of previous female travelers that have visited that city or country.
3.) Plan Effectively: Once you've researched, you can prepare and plan ahead. Have a plan for things such as banking services (if you'll use a credit card or cash), for phone, Wifi/ internet access, transportation, and also translation services, if a different language is spoken in this country. One thing I like to do, is build my itinerary ahead of time. Then I know where I will be/need to be and can create a strategy. For example, on how to get around. This could be by public transportation, shared car service, etc. By also building my itinerary ahead of time, I can also share this with my family. This isn't to say that I don't wander off or explore. The amount of times I've gotten lost and wondered around for hours is astonishing, however I always have a map or method to reorient myself.
4.) Emergency Plan: By researching ahead and planning effectively this allows you to build an emergency plan. It's important to have an emergency contact and a way to reach this contact (this could be buying a local sim, wifi, roaming services). Be prepared with travel insurance and be aware of hospitals in the area. Furthermore, don't forget to contact and register with your local embassy and keep up to date with their alerts. Have a plan for the worst possible situations, which include losing or having your wallet stolen, etc. Unfortunately for us as women, this could also include assault. Therefore, it's important to have contact information for the health services and local authorities, and to be in contact with your embassy.
5.) BE AWARE: I cannot stress this enough, but as a solo female traveler, being aware is crucial. Be aware of your surroundings, your possessions, and the people you're interacting with. Keep an eye out for anything that seems extraordinary.
PROS:
My experience as a female solo traveler has been enjoyable. What I enjoy is the freedom! You have the freedom to create your itinerary and be selfish with everything YOU want to do. You get to learn more about yourself and how you handle challenging situations. Most importantly, you get to enjoy your own company while exploring a new city, and becoming familiar with a new culture.
Despite the positive aspects, I've also been in situations where I've been judged and attempted to be taken advantage of, based on my gender and skin color. Therefore, I understand why it can be challenging to want to embark on that first solo travel. Reach out, I would love to serve as a resource and help you plan/prepare for that very first trip :)