I have been traveling full time since 2019 and I make these articles every week to inspire you and
encourage you to start creating a life that you want instead of just falling
into one.
This week I have extended my trip and I have been getting a
lot of messages asking about how I'm traveling by myself.
I wanted to address the single female travelers and give
you some advice that I've learned from traveling for the past two years.
So tip number one is downloading Google Maps. Google Maps,
or Maps.me, which I haven't used, essentially it's a way for you to get maps
offline because even if you don't have service, your phone still knows where
you are.
In Cuba, we could pin the house, and that way when we want
to the beach, we'd know exactly how to get back. It's also really nice when you're in a taxi, you can put in
your home and you know that the taxies bringing you to your home and not to
another place.
The other thing is you can put your earbuds in. So here in
Greece I walk to the community centers that I volunteer in, and so I'll be just
walking down the road, listening to my audiobook or my podcast, and I have maps
on, and it'll tell me, take your left, so then I know to take a left, and I
don't have to be that,
Then you become a target, this girl has no idea where she
is, so if you act like you know where you're going, fake it until you make it
and get there, if you're not sure, then act like you know where you're going until
you could hop into a cafe or somewhere that you can look at your phone. So
building on that.
tip number two is, don't make yourself a target. There are
so many things that you do that you might not realize, so having your phone out
like this, snatch, it's gone, it's gone.
Take that picture and then put it back. Your camera is also
another big thing. In Nicaragua, a photographer taught me to put duct tape
over, mine says Sony, so I put duct tape over Sony, and on the strap a little
bit, just to make it looks a little more worn, it's not like, oh my gosh, this
brand new, awesome camera, it kind of looks like it's been in your backpack for
a while.
Also, jewelry, a lot of my friends are getting engaged,
because it's that time, when we used to go to Mexico my mom would always buy a
fake wedding ring, so if anybody wants to rob you, it's a no-brainer, please
take this target ring, get it away from me.
The next thing is your purse, You want a purse that can go
across the body, you don't want to have your purse on your shoulder, you want
it to go all the way across, across your body like this.
Keep it in front, not back on your hip. The other thing that's
super handy, which I didn't even realize when I bought this purse, it can also
be a clutch, or you could put your hand through it and just hang on to it as
you're strolling through the market.
Because what's happening is people are taking scissors,
cutting this, and then they take your purse, and it's gone.
Your backpack is another thing, So, let me grab that
Depending on where you were I would not recommend wearing an outfit like this,
but since it's what I'm wearing, I'm going to show you. Wearing your backpack
like this, on somewhere like the metro, not ideal, because you can't see what's
going on back here.
Whenever I get on the metro, I throw it in the front like
this and just chill with it.
And that looks goofy and whatever, but you're going to make
sure that you don't lose all your stuff.
See all these really handy compartments that make accessing
your stuff really easy.
You can see there's another pocket in here, put things in
there so that it's easy for you to find but not easy for people to take.
And when you walk around, walk around with a purpose, don't
walk around with your phone
Walk with a purpose, like you know exactly where you're
going, you've done this a thousand times before.
Tip number three is where to put important things. Passport
in Spain, my best friend Laura lost her passport, take pictures of the
passport, either have it on your phone, or I print out either have it on your
phone, or I print out hard copies, so if I do lose my passport it makes the
process of getting a new one really easy.
When we want to Cuba, they don't take your credit cards,
and we weren't sure about the ATMs, so we had a lot of money.
Some in my purse, in my makeup bag, in my electronics. If
somebody stole my purse, I wasn't completely out of money.
Tip number four, a lot of people, women specifically, when
they travel, are really nervous about where to stay. I would hand down
recommend a hostel. And people are freaked out about hostels because of that
stupid movie. A lot for times, for women, they have women-only dorms or co-ed
dorms, so you can decide.
And people think that it's dangerous, being with all those
people, but I feel like it's more eyes and more people that can help you.
If some guy's trying to approach you in the hostel, getting
too close, you can say something and there's a lot of other people in the room
that will help you.
So when you go and you meet people, a lot of times you'll
go out.
tip number five is don't drink too much. Don't go out and
be like, alright, we're going to get hammered, I'm in Amsterdam, I'm going to
try all the drugs that I've never tried before This is not the place.
You want to have fun, and you want to socialize, drinking
beer is better than drinking cocktails because you can see them open the bottle
and you know that nothing is getting inside of it, people don't know you,
people are not making sure that you make it home okay, you need to make sure
that you are on your game, and that I think is where a lot of people get in
trouble.
Tip number six is pack light. You are traveling by
yourself, you want to be independent, you don't want to need someone else to
have to carry your bags. I pack with this thing. This is my bag, and I love
these backpacking backpacks, it has this really nice hip strap, but you can see
it's not even on my shoulder, so it's all on my hips, and this keeps it so it
doesn't hurt your back too much, but you want to make sure that when this is
on, everything is really tight, so this is nice and tight onto, it should just
be like an extension of your body. And then you could have this on the front.
I love this
combination. And I try and pack with this inside because inevitably, sometimes
you end up with more than you go with, souvenirs and different things.
Again, you do not want to be the damsel in distress who's
on the airplane and can't get her bag down because it's too heavy, you want to
be super independent, get your stuff.
For not knowing what to pack, you pack enough for one week.
And then, you meet lots of friends so that you can wear the same outfit two
nights in a row with two different groups of people.
I really love this outfit, and I went out with a different
group last night than I'm going out with tonight, I'm wearing the same outfit.
It's really that simple. I do that while I'm traveling, I do that at home.
Number seven, I am a backpacker, I am very frugal, I'm very
cheap, and one thing that I do pay for is safety.
When we were in Thailand we had a late-night flight that
came into Bangkok, but Bangkok's not really that safe of a place, especially at
night, so we paid the extra money to ensure safety.
We asked the hotel to send a taxi for us, and I think that
you should never skimp on that.
Even here in Greece, when I go out at night, the walk to
the metro, all the time, it's like a 20 minute walk, but at 11 o'clock at
night, I wasn't so sure, and I wasn't willing to risk it for five dollars, so I
definitely called a cab and had them bring me.
The last thing, there is a Facebook page called Girls Love Traveling, it's
growing at a crazy rate, but it's a really good way to find out information
about your place, you can either ask a question or you can just search; I'm
going to wait for this plane to go over.
Or you can just search like I have a, do I have a
layover?
Yeah, I have a like a 12-hour layover in Denmark on my way
home, I can go in there and type Denmark and see what other people have talked
about. It's a really great way to plan your trips. Do not be afraid to travel
solo as a female, just be smart about it.
if you know somebody whose going to be traveling solo and
you think these tips could help, please share it with them.
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