When it comes to traveling alone as a female, the concept is often looked down upon, due to the common stigma that women must always have men with them in order to be safe. These beliefs exist almost everywhere, especially around traveling internationally to other countries.
What are some tips for solo female travel? Some of the best tips for solo female travel include being aware of your surroundings and using common sense, as well as trying to blend in with the locals while not bringing too much attention to yourself.
To feel more comfortable in a country that you are not familiar with, you can opt for planned group activities or guided tours that will place you in areas around lots of other people. Regardless of what you choose to do, everything should be planned out in advance, and you should always be prepared for the worst, no matter what.
In an effort to break the barriers of this common misconception, I decided to do some research in order to pull together some tips for solo female travel. Instead of living in fear of traveling to new places alone, single women should be able to explore the world and have the same experiences as everyone else.
If you are interested in taking a trip across the world to find yourself but you are unsure of how you can stay safe without the presence of a man, keep reading to find out some things that you can do in order to avoid as much conflict as possible.
How To Stay Safe As a Solo Female Traveler
In this day and age, women are becoming more independent than ever. This includes working for ourselves, making our own decisions, and even traveling all alone. Solo female travel is and should not be limited to only one corner of the world. In fact, international travel is something that every woman should be able to experience.
Since no one has been able to tell us not to do anything for decades, why should these misconceptions about solo travel hold us back from finding our true selves?
While it is true that more women are taking control and choosing to travel all by themselves around the world every day, there is still the unfortunate reality that women are just not as safe as men in general.
With so many ways that other people can potentially cause harm to women, it is important to be aware of this difference and react accordingly. This does not, in any way, mean that solo travel is not recommended, but you should always come prepared and be aware of all of the possibilities.
In this section, we will be going over in detail some helpful safety tips for how you can stay safe as a female traveler, from the time you step foot on the airplane to the day that you return home.
How To Stay Safe As a Solo Female Traveler:
• Blend in with your dress
• Drink responsibly
• Keep your hotel location confidential
• Try to sign up for group activities
• Book things in advance and have a set itinerary
• Avoid being too forward
• Bring safety equipment
• Talk to locals
• Transport safely
• Walk in or near groups
• Stay connected to home
• Make sure someone knows where you are
• Use common sense and be aware
The first thing that you can do in order to stay safe as a solo female traveler is to try to dress like a local as much as you can. Although women should not feel pressure to dress in a certain way, this will help you stay safe in certain countries where you might stand out if you are wearing a normal outfit.
In order to do this, you should research the customs of the country that you will be visiting, and try to plan your wardrobe accordingly. While you don’t have to look exactly like everyone else, you should at least try to stay under the radar so you do not become a target, as other countries are very culturally different from America.
Next, you should always drink responsibly while you are on your trip, no matter where you are. Instead of getting drunk at the bar every night and having to stumble back to your hotel in the dark, you can instead enjoy a few drinks with dinner and make sure that you are not stuck in the middle of a dangerous situation.
This is not to say that you shouldn’t drink at all, because who doesn’t want to drink when they go on a vacation? However, you should always keep in mind that you are a woman alone in a foreign place that you are not comfortable with, meaning that you could easily be harmed if you do not know what is going on.
In addition to keeping a low profile, you will want to make sure that you never tell anyone exactly where you are staying. If you are planning on meeting someone throughout your trip, give them the location of a nearby landmark or public area instead of leading them right to your hotel room. You can use a booking website to help you find the safest place to stay. But you may be wondering is using Booking.com safe? Find out everything you need to know in that article.
If anyone knows that you are alone and has bad intentions, they might come back and catch you off guard at another time during your travels.
To avoid feeling alone and uncomfortable in a place that you do not know, you can try to sign up for group activities and guided tours with the other people who will be traveling to the same place as you are.
These kinds of activities can be found in various places on the internet, from Trip Advisor to Airbnb. When you surround yourself with groups of likeminded people, even when you do not necessarily know each other, you will most likely feel much safer than if you are completely by yourself out in the open.
The group and solo activities that you choose to do during your vacation should be strategically mapped out and planned in advance. To avoid being lost in another place that you don’t know and wandering around all alone, you should have a set itinerary that will let you know exactly what you are doing through each interval of time.
No matter where you are, it is never a good thing to be lost, especially when you are walking around by yourself. So, if you have a plan for every day that you will be at your destination with the combination of the occasional group activity or guided tour, your vacation will be a much more streamlined process.
Due to the fact that most other countries in the world are not as advanced and socially aware as the United States, there will most likely be a very different dynamic between men and women in these other places than you might be used to at home.
America is so ahead of the rest of the world in the aspect of women empowerment and rights, meaning that you might be very surprised to learn other cultures that exist just a few thousand miles over.
Even though we enjoy a lot of social freedoms here, the country that you visit might not follow the same standards in one way or another. In order to stay safe and avoid putting a target on your back, you will want to remain under the radar by keeping it cool and not being too forward in certain situations.
If you are speaking too aggressively to the wrong people in the place that you are traveling to, you might become entangled in an altercation that you were not expecting at all when you got there. It is best to stay away from these kinds of issues altogether when you are alone and must be forced to defend yourself if something goes awry.
In the case that you do have to defend yourself in some way, you will want to make sure that you come prepared with the proper safety equipment. This safety equipment can include pepper spray to escape from attackers or something to wedge your hotel room door closed at night.
Although the point of this article is not to scare you away from traveling the world by yourself, it is increasingly important that you always stay prepared for the absolute worst situation.
While you are not very likely to get into a brawl with an attacker on a normal relaxing vacation in another country when you are following the proper tips and precautions, you wouldn’t want to be caught up in a situation like that with no way to protect yourself against someone who is much larger than you.
These tips are also not to make you feel like you must keep your head down throughout your entire trip and not talk to anyone. In fact, it is actually recommended that you become familiar with the locals in the area.
It will never hurt to be friendly and say hello to the people around you who look nice. You might even be able to ask them for some advice or for a guided tour of some kind. When it comes to finding the best spots around in the area for food, entertainment, and more, you will get the full scoop from the people who live there.
By talking to the locals throughout your travels, you might even be able to make some friends and feel just a little bit more comfortable being around the common areas that are near where you are staying.
However, you still don’t want to get too comfortable and start giving away where you are staying and going while you are by yourself to anyone, no matter how kind they are when you talk to them in passing.
Another one of the biggest things to keep in mind while you are traveling solo as a female is how you will be getting around. There are several options for transportation, depending on where you will be traveling. These options can range from rental cars to trains and even Lyft or Uber rides.
When you are driving your own rental car, you will want to follow all of the normal rules that you normally would at home, including always keeping the doors locked, never rolling down the windows, and parking near the entrances and exits, always remembering to stay aware of your surroundings.
If you will be traveling with a ride share app, if available in your country of choice, you should always make sure that the driver and car that pulls in to pick you up is matching what is showing on your phone screen. For additional safety, you can take a screenshot of the license plate information in case something goes wrong.
Public transportation is very popular in some countries, including buses, trains, and otters means of getting around the city. While this can be one of the cheaper options, you should always be aware of who is sitting around you as well as who is walking behind you.
As a general rule of thumb, you should try to do all of your traveling during the day time when the sun is still out. If you have a few activities planned out for a certain day, and you know that one of the venues is extremely far out from your hotel room, it would be a good idea to start there instead of ending in that location.
That way, you will be able to get all of the long traveling out of the way while the daylight is still present and it is generally safer, while the closer activities come last where you can end up around the corner from your sleeping quarters when you see that the sun has started to go down.
Many countries are home to walking cities as well, where most of the locals and visitors will travel on foot to get where they need to go throughout the day. While this option can save you money, it can also be the most dangerous if you are in the wrong place at the wrong time.
If you know that you will be traveling on foot throughout the majority of your journey, it never hurts to become familiar with the area and do some research to find safe routes in the neighborhood where you will be staying.
The same daylight rule applies for walking as well. You will never want to be stuck walking around in the dark in a foreign country, especially in an area that is not well-lit. Always make sure that you have a clear plan to get back to your hotel room, and try to do so before it gets dark outside.
If you ever find yourself in a situation where you must walk alone at night, when you are getting off of the train at the end of the day, for example, there is one trick that you can use to your advantage.
Walking with or very close to groups of people will help you blend in more to someone who is on the outside looking in, making you less of a target.
For instance, if you know that you have to walk for twenty more minutes down the same path but you see that the sun is setting, you can try to blend in with a nearby family, and walk from group to group when they part ways with you whenever possible.
A great tip for staying safe while traveling solo as a female is to stay connected to home. By bringing along your smart phone or mobile tablet, you will be able to text, call, and video chat close friends and family members.
It is very important that someone from home knows exactly where you are, just in case anything were to go wrong throughout your trip. When you check in with the people who care about you, they will be able to rest assured that you are safe and having a great time on your vacation.
An additional benefit to calling home while you are on your trip will be the comfortability that comes with talking to a familiar face. Since you will be alone while you sleep in your hotel room, you might want to have some human interaction before you doze off and get ready for your next day of solo adventuring.
The final safety tip to keep in mind might also be the most obvious one, but it is definitely worth mentioning. Throughout every place that you go on your vacation, you should use common sense and be aware of your surroundings.
When you are in a situation where there is any potential danger, you will want to be aware enough to notice the signs and find a way to get out before anything progresses further.
Essential Packing List For The Solo Female Traveler
Now that you have read through all of the helpful tips that I could come up with for traveling solo as a female, you might be wondering how you can stay extra safe and comfortable on your next vacation.
In this section, we will be going over the essential packing list for any solo female traveler. Take a look at the sample packing list down below to get some ideas of what you might need for your upcoming trip when it comes to staying safe during your travels.
Essential Packing List For The Solo Female Traveler:
• Layered clothing (remember to blend in with locals)
• Personal protection (ie pepper spray, taser gun)
• Room security (ie door stopper)
• Secured carry-on bag (ie backpack)
• Concealed belt bag (for important items)
When it comes to traveling as a single female, you will want to make sure that you pack your luggage strategically in order to be able to keep track of it throughout your travels. Since you will not have anyone with you, it will not be ideal to be swinging 5 bags around the airport and hotel with the potential to drop or lose something.
Instead, you should try to pack as lightly as possible so that you can handle all of your belongings without needing help from someone or looking like an easy target. The recommendation that I would give for packing your luggage for this trip would be to take one compacted suitcase and an easy carry on like a backpack =.
Aside from all of the essentials that you will need such as travel sized toiletries, you will need to bring enough layered clothing for all of the days on your trip. Remember that you should try your best to blend in with the locals while on vacation, which is something to keep in mind when planning and packing your luggage.
You should also come equipped with some personal protection items, such as pepper spray or even a taser gun. These items will help you to stay safe in the event that you have to deter someone away from you in a tricky situation.
However, in some countries throughout the world, these kinds of weapons are considered to be illegal, so you will need to be careful where you bring them. It is a good idea to do some research online to find out what the customs are of that country in order to avoid breaking any laws and possibly causing more problems.
In addition to having something on your person to protect yourself, you should be safe while you are sleeping as well. No matter where you are staying, it would be beneficial to bring some kind of door stopper to keep the door tightly sealed while you are off guard.
Door stoppers come in a variety of different shapes and sizes, but their main purpose is to make sure that no one can open or try to kick in the front door from the outside. The only possible way that someone could get into your room is if you physically remove the stopper and open the door for them.
Even though you will be traveling all by yourself as a woman in a brand new place, you will at least be able to get a peaceful night of sleep throughout your trip without worrying about someone breaking in to your room.
The carry on bag that was mentioned earlier can be carried around the town when you are going through your daily activities. It is important that this bag is carefully secured, and that you are always aware of who is around you at all times.
You would not want anyone to unzip your bag and steal any loose items or even take the whole thing from you when you are not paying attention.
Along with having a secured backpack that will keep all of your belongings safe throughout your travels, you should have another separate location for your most important items.
These items, including your passport, identification card, cell phone, extra money, and spare credit card, can be held in a separate belt bag. Some belt bags come in a concealed form that you can wear around your waist and tuck behind your clothes. Wondering how long does it to get a passport expedited? That article has the answers.
So, in the event that someone was trying to take some items from your backpack, they would not be able to get to or even locate your hidden belt bag with all of the important stuff in it.
While you are navigating in this brand new country, it is important not to flash your belongings around to avoid putting a big red target on your back for smugglers and scammers.
Keeping things like your wallet and cell phone to yourself will help you to blend in more with your surroundings, instead of waving them around everywhere you go.
Where Can I Travel Solo As a Female?
After you have read an entire guide on traveling safely as a female around the world, your mind is probably racing with ideas for your next international trip. In this section, we will briefly cover some of the safest places to travel alone as a female to point you into the right direction.
Safest Places To Travel Alone As a Female:
• Italy
• Australia
• Iceland
• Netherlands
• Guatemala
• Canada
• Thailand
Some of the safest places to travel solo as a woman include Italy, Australia, Iceland, Netherlands, Guatemala, Canada, and Thailand. Although you obviously don’t have to remain confined to this list only, these destinations are among the most beautiful in the world, with endless food and entertainment to experience. If you are looking to travel, but are on a budget, here are some vacations for under 200 per person.
Now the final question still stands: should you travel alone as a female, even though you know that you can?
The answer to this question is affirmative. There are so many places to see and explore in the world, and simply being a woman should not take that away from you. As long as you are careful to use your common sense and apply the tips that were outlined in this article, you will definitely be in for a very safe and unforgettable vacation.