Past university, with a stable job and single, why wouldn’t a woman try and travel on her own? While traveling with college friends or friends from work is a compelling idea, many would find that it isn’t easy to nail down a travel date with friends – their schedules and priorities being different from yours, the cost doesn’t work for them, or the destination isn’t in their bucket list. What do you do? Go on solo travel.
Adventure Travel News shares these stats that “came out loud and clear this spring” in its post She’s Looking for Adventure, She’s Going Alone and She’ll Tell You All About It: Introducing the Solo Female Traveler by Jennifer Pemberton.
- 63% of over 100,000 bookings made by Intrepid Travel last year were made by women.
- 54% of travelers considered affluent by a MMGY Global study are women.
- 65% of clients booking adventure trips on TourRadar.com are women.
- 66% of US women polled by Booking.com have vacationed without her partner.
- 53% increase in demand is what Small Luxury Hotels noticed for single female bookings between 2011 and 2012.
Clearly, these only mean one thing: “We’ve entered the era of the female traveler.”
Should you travel solo, if you’re a woman?
The question is best answered by Ashley Ross’ Why Every Woman Should Travel Alone posted in Time – Living Section. Ross writes…
“Traveling solo doesn’t always mean you’ll be lonely … It’s 2015. Women have made strides in politics, in business, in tech, in culture. But even those friends I considered forward-thinking questioned my decision to travel by myself.
As a single 26-year-old living in New York, I was sick of seeing my friends with significant others post photos of incredible journeys…”
Ross is a champion at being independent, but traveling alone for the first time, gave her a different feeling because her friends’ reactions weren’t encouraging at all.
Kristin Newman, a TV writer and author, said “I think people are afraid of looking like a loser… It’s the same how people don’t want to eat dinner alone. I think people are afraid of being lonely, of being scared, of looking like they didn’t have anybody.”
The worry, however, soon dissipated as she met locals and fellow travelers along the way. Jennifer Hoddevik of Travel Yogi says, “… about 80 percent of the people who sign up for their trips are going solo and 85 percent of them are women.” These statistics are proving that more and more women are finally pursuing their independence to a new level.
If you want to go out for nightlife, it may still be risky to be a solo female. The trick is to join day tours where you can meet a buddy who may also be interested in experiencing a night of fun in a local entertainment spot.
Is it safe, especially for a woman traveler?
It really depends on where you’ll go and your habits. There are a lot of women who travel the world on their own and they seem to be enjoying it for many reasons.
Adventurous Kate, a frequent female solo traveler shares her Top 10 Travel Safety Tips for Women. She has this to say about the possibility for a woman to travel safely around the world, “… Absolutely. Even if you steer clear of resorts. Even if you go to developing countries. Even if you don’t speak the local language. Even if you’re traveling alone.”
Kate writes, “One of the biggest drawbacks to vacationing by yourself is safety. Sure anything can happen to anyone … Being in a new place or foreign country without support — or a few buddies — can be extremely risky …”
Here are Kate’s tips:
- Research Your Destination Thoroughly Before Your Trip
- Keep Your Valuables On You While in Transit
- Only Take What You Need and Leave the Rest Locked Up
- Don’t Trust People Too Quickly
- Watch Your Drinking
- Blend in as Much as You Can
- Spend Extra Money on Staying Safe
- Prepare for the Worst with Documents and Secret Cash
- Get Travel Insurance
- Check in Regularly
She also suggested sharing your itinerary with a trusted friend or relative, as well as other pertinent information about your travel – your flight numbers, your accommodation, general schedule of where you’ll be, and information about your credit cards, travel insurance, credit cards, and bank accounts. Stay in the loop through social media or Skype.
Is it a financial win or setback?
Aside from safety, women travelers have another area of interest – the financial advantage or disadvantage of solo travel. Tanvier Peart offers an opinion in this post Is it financially wise or safe that matter to travel alone? In Madame Noire.com.
“Depending on how you look at things, traveling alone can either be a financial win or a setback. Planning your accommodations might be easier this way as you only need to worry about one person. At the same time, you may very well miss out on group discounts and the chance to use certain flash sales deals as many require more than one traveler.”
With these, would you consider going on a solo travel? Do you think it’s prudent to travel solo?
