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Thanks to the Hybrid work arrangements that help women plan solo trips without affecting their job progress. The chance to travel alone allows women to boost their confidence and refine their character. However, women may face difficult situations and safety threats during their solo female travel. Being a solo female traveler, they must know how to tackle these issues and fulfill their journey.
With the tips below, women traveling alone can have fun without risking their own safety.
Take self-defense classes
Every woman must learn self-defense techniques to look after themselves. If they face any attack while traveling alone, with proper fighting skills, they can handle any critical situation. But learning such skills would take time. It is not a crash course that you can grab one week earlier before traveling solo. But there are a few self-defense tips you can find in this Ms Career Girl article.
Keep your expensive things at home
When you are traveling solo as a woman, you must keep all your expensive bags, fancy jewelry, your wedding ring, or gold watches at home. Do not carry any item that is expensive and not essential for your journey. If you still need some of those things, use costume jewelry or buy local, cheap jewelry for the trip. It will help you to blend in with the locals and does not draw attention.
Keep your phone safe
Solo female travelers may visit some places where cell phone theft is high. For that reason, keeping cell phones safe should be the first priority. Do not use your phone in public transportation. If needed, use pay phone booths for making calls. If you need to use your cell phone for checking maps, step into a café or shop and use it inside. Carry more than one charger with you, and always keep your phone fully charged.
Keep important phone numbers backed up
Pick your most important phone numbers, such as your father, spouse, close friend, or office colleague. Note those numbers on a piece of paper and make three copies of it. Keep one in your bag, one in your hotel closet, and another in the suitcase you are carrying during solo travel. Doing this will let you contact your loved ones in emergencies, if your phone is stolen or lost on solo trips.
Get a local SIM card
If you are traveling internationally, it is good to get a local SIM card. Your existing SIM card might cost a huge amount of money for roaming charges during your solo trip. Apart from that, you may also face network fluctuations. With a local SIM card, you wonât get such issues.
Use taxis and rideshare apps carefully
Use ride sharing apps, like Uber or any other, to call a taxi when you travel solo. Using apps will give you details about the standard fare, the driverâs ratings, and you can also track your new destination.Â
You must check the license plate on the car and match it with your appâs given number. You may also take authorized taxis from the airport or ask your hotel to hire a taxi on your first solo trip. This will give you an experience on how to get safe transportation, like other solo female travelers do.
Keep your cash, cards, and documents safe
As a solo traveler, Keep a small amount of cash, passport copies, and credit cards in multiple places while traveling alone as a woman. Prepare at least three sets and keep one set in the hotel safe, one set in your suitcase, and one in your handbag. If you lose your handbag, you may use the other set without having any issue. It is also suggested that you should pack light while traveling as much as possible.
While traveling alone, you may need to contact your Embassy for emergencies, such as alternative accommodations or medical support. For that reason, you must keep your documents safe so that you can provide them to the authorities when needed.
File a police complaint if you lose your phone, credit cards, or IDs. Scammers may use these to hack into your accounts. This way many travelers become victims of Identity theft, and might receive huge credit card bills, or debt collection calls for fake accounts. The victims often have no other options but to consult a financial advisor, or opt for legal debt relief services, to get out of such a mess.
Join female solo travelers social groups
Traveling solo can be possible if you can join a group. During your solo trip, you donât have to be totally alone. Browse through your social groups on Facebook or Instagram. There are many solo female travel groups and communities with many travel-savvy women members.
Join these groups and engage with other women traveling solo. You may share your solo travel plans with those groups and get suggestions from women who have already been there. Apart from that, you may get company from more women who are going towards the same destinations. Traveling alone will be more exciting if you go with them on a group tour.
Contact a popular travel agency
Popular travel agencies have experience in providing safe tour services to their customers. They know which places are secured for solo female travelers. Unreliable tour agencies canât provide such a service. So, book a travel agency after checking its reviews. Solo female travelers may check domains like âTripAdvisorâ and learn suggestions from other solo travelers.
Use a proper travel insurance
Women should protect themselves and their wallets with travel insurance. It will not also save them from financial losses during travel, but also take care of their health related issues.Â
Depending on the coverage your travel insurance may provide multiple possible coverages:
- Injury or sickness
- Lost luggage
- Last-minute cancellations
- Coverage beyond your credit card
Blend in as much as possible being a solo traveler
Solo tourists often experience scam practices or get robbed while traveling. One way to prevent this is to blend into a new community while traveling alone. It makes so many travelers less-targeted by the con artists or thieves.
Female travelers may dress like local people, speak local language, join in local events and blend with them. It also helps travelers adapt to the local culture. It also helps travelers find cheap options for shelter, food, and transportation.
Keep some food within your backpack
Donât travel empty-handed. Stack up some energy bars, chips, cookies, apples, and extra bottles to carry drinking water. If you visit an unknown place and canât find a place to eat, buy fresh fruits, especially bananas. During long journeys, avoid taking soda, and carry fruit juice or plain water.
Be alert when you meet someone special
While traveling alone, if you meet someone unknown and plan for a drink, inform a friend or family member and share your real-time location. If that is not possible, share your live location with your roommate and details about your new friends you are going to meet.Â
Set up your meeting in a public place. It will help you leave the place if youâre not having a good time. When youâre there, avoid leaving your drink unattended.
Keep your eyes peeled while walking
During a walking tour, keep your back straight and your head held high. Keep your eyes open and walk confidently. Talk to people while maintaining eye-to-eye contact. If you reach any isolated place, call someone and talk. Muggers may avoid you if they notice you are on a call. But use wireless headphones while talking. If you hold your phone directly while calling, any snatcher may take it from you.Â
Set a personal safety alarm such as âEmergency SOSâ on your phone and carry pepper spray in your pocket.
Look confident
Confident solo female travelers are less likely to be scammed. People will think you know where you are and what youâre doing if you look like you do. This makes you less likely to be a target.
In Conclusion:
Women traveling alone has become commonplace. Although it can be a bit scary to embark on your first trip alone, go ahead and take the leap. You are capable of more than you know. The discoveries youâll make about yourself and the world around you are far more meaningful than the anxiety thatâs holding you back.
This guest post was authored by Lyle Solomon
Lyle Solomon has extensive legal experience, in-depth knowledge, and experience in consumer finance and writing. He has been a member of the California State Bar since 2003. He graduated from the University of the Pacificâs McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento, California, in 1998 and currently works for the Oak View Law Group in California as a principal attorney.