Updated: 8/6/20 | August 6th, 2020
Kristin Addis from Be My travel Muse writes our regular column on solo female travel. It’s an essential topic I can’t adequately cover, so I brought in an expert to share her guidance for other women travelers to help cover the topics essential and particular to them! This week, Kristin covers why there will always be reasons not to travel and how there will never be a ideal time to go!
Life is short — we have limited time to do the things that we really want to do. It’s also a voyage — or a sack of coins that are yours alone to spend. (Those are my metaphors for life, anyway.) and it’s expected to be fun.
For a lot of people, that implies not waiting until retirement to travel but rather getting out there and exploring now.
If you want to travel now, but you’re frightened to go it alone, you’ll be able to find excuses everywhere if you look for them. You’ll find ways to say you can’t do it best now: you’re not ready; your job, friends, or fears are holding you back; you have too numerous obligations.
These excuses imply you’ll never get on the road.
Because at every stage of your life, you’ll be able to find a reason why it can’t work for you. It will never be the best time to travel — especially as a woman.
The truth is, the ideal time to travel will likely never come. You just need to make the most of the time you have and take the plunge.
To help you find the courage to take that first step, here are 6 questions you’ve likely heard — and answers you can use to support your desire to travel the world as a solo female traveler.
1. Aren’t you going to work out down?
A common question I get from people back home issues when I’m going to “settle down.” Don’t I want a relationship and a family of my own? My question back to them is: Why is traveling and having a family mutually exclusive in this day and age?
Families travel all the time — some even full-time. These days, it’s entirely possible.
Of course, I have had to make choices and there are sister lives that I didn’t live because I chose to travel. I won’t know what could have been with the handsome Frenchie, because I didn’t choose to stop being a travel writer and relocation in with him. It might have been nice, and, naturally, I can’t ever be sure that I made the best call, but I do know that sitting on the beach in Tanzania, writing this to you, is one of the happiest moments of my life.
I have these moments all the time because adventuring is what gives me life.
I used to think that if I wanted a relationship I’d have to give up this life of traveling. but because something in me always whispered, “Go” — and I always left.
It hurt me to my core, but I had to. because Mr. best will only have one thing to say to me, and that’s “May I join you?”
2. Shouldn’t women stay home and follow social norms?
We women don’t have it easy. We are expected to be smart, collected, beautiful, graceful, strong, and slightly independent, but still docile enough to be loved and cared for by a partner. We are expected to chase opportunities — but only the ones handed down to us by the status quo.
What I always find interesting, though, is that the women in history who are heralded are the ones who did the opposite of all of that.
Think of Harriet Tubman, Joan of Arc, Susan B. Anthony, Rosa Parks, Amelia Earhart, and an unlimited list of other women who are pretty much widely loved and respected for doing the exact opposite of what society expected of them. We praise them for their bravery, and for having the kind of foresight and ability to question the system that made them into heroes later.
Now, traveling the world won’t make you a hero to the world, but what about to yourself?
3. Won’t you stand apart as a target for criminals abroad?
In the week before I started traveling on my own, an short article came out about two girls who died in Vietnam, supposedly due to poisoned alcohol.
Everyone was sending this short article to me, telling me to “be careful” — ignoring that a deadly film theater shooting had just taken place in Colorado, much closer to home than Vietnam.
I went anyway, and I’ve stayed safe through over eight years of solo traveling. Sure, there are travel scams to be aware of. but the world isn’t as scary as it’s so typically portrayed.
Traveling safely isn’t rocket science. Do what you do at home to stay safe, follow a few essential safety tips, and choose places that are terrific for solo female travelers.
Start there, get your feet wet, and branch out as you acquire experience and confidence.
4. how will you afford it?
I used to think that I needed to retire before I could travel full-time, and even then, I’d need to be pretty rich. For my week’s worth of paid time off, I was easily spending $2,000 USD in Mexico or Hawaii, trying to do it all and come back with photos of me having a blast on the beach with an expensive cocktail inmin hånd.
Hvad jeg ikke var klar over dengang, var, at mine penge ville have været værd to eller tre gange så meget, hvis jeg havde forvillet mig lidt længere væk hjemmefra. Sydøstasien, Indien og store dele af Mellemamerika kan være snavs billig, især hvis du er parat til at gøre det på en shoestring.
At bo på vandrerhjem, spise og rejse som lokale og bevæge sig meget langsommere er alle fantastiske måder at spare penge på og omdanne den uge med PTO til en sabbatsdag i stedet.
Selv hvis du tjener mindsteløn, har problemer Steder i denne verden har du evnen til at få det til at ske økonomisk.
Skift din tankegang, og resten følger.
5. Vil din familie ikke freak ud?
Den hårdeste del af rejsesolo er typisk pushback fra vores forældre. Vi spekulerer på, hvordan vi kan få dem til at se det fra vores synspunkt og støtte os.
Det meget mere væsentlige problem er, hvad du vil fortryde senere. Vil du ønske, at du skulle være hjemme for at behage dine forældre, som – fordi de uden tvivl elsker dig – vil have dig til at leve et glædeligt og opfyldt liv?
Selv hvis de ikke nødvendigvis forstår eller støtter alt, hvad vi gør, ønsker vores forældre det bedste for os. Det er det, at have et barn er-at forstå, at du skaber et menneske, der vil have sin egen hjerne, og til sidst være en voksen, der er selvforsynende.
Det er dit liv, ikke deres. At lade andre mennesker tage monumentale beslutninger for dig er en fantastisk måde at gå ned ad stien til beklagelse.
6. Hvorfor venter du ikke på, at nogen slutter sig til dig?
Jeg forstår ikke at ville rejse alene. Jeg ville heller ikke gøre det, før jeg valgte, at jeg virkelig bare skulle rejse verden rundt, og det måtte ske inden jeg vendte 65.
Jeg vidste, at mine venner ikke kunne gøre det med mig – de havde job, de ikke ønskede at forlade. Det gjorde næsten alle andre, jeg kunne tænke på.
Nogle gange vil drømmen om at rejse være din alene, og det indebærer, at du skal gøre det selv, hvis du overhovedet vil gøre det.
Jeg var temmelig bekymret for at være ensom, men da folk spurgte om det et par uger ind på min rejse, lo jeg, at jeg nogensinde havde haft den frygt. Jeg mødte konstant andre mennesker. Det betyder ikke noget, om du er genert; Nogen vil sandsynligvis starte en samtale med dig, især hvis du bliver på et socialt hostel.
Når du kommer derude, kan du se, hvad jeg mener. Det handler om bare at tage det første skridt.
***
Ethvert problem synes at være uovervindelig i starten, men der er måder at omgå de hindringer, der forhindrer dig i at rejse. Det væsentlige er at kigge efter tjenesterne og nedbryde dem i håndterbare stykker i stedet for at prøve at tackle det hele på én gang.
Spar op, bryd nyheden til dine forældre, gør din research, så du (og de) vil være mindre bekymrede, og lad alle andres mening blive hos dem.
Det er din taske med mønter og dit liv. Kom derude og brug det, hvordan du vil!
Kristin Addis er en solo kvindelig rejseekspert, der inspirerer kvinder til at rejse verden på en autentisk og eventyrlig måde. En tidligere investeringsbankmand, der solgte alle sine værdigenstande og forlod Californien i 2012, har Kristin solo rejst verden rundt i over otte år og dækker hvert kontinent (undtagen Antarktis, men det er på hendes liste). Der er praktisk talt intet, hun ikke vil prøve og praktisk talt ingen steder, hun ikke vil udforske. Du kan finde meget mere af hendes mønstre på Be My Travel Muse eller på Instagram og Facebook.
Book din rejse: logistiske forslag og tricks
Book din flyvning
Find en billig flyvning ved hjælp af Skyscanner. Det er min foretrukne søgemaskine, fordi den søger på websteder og flyselskaber over hele kloden, så du ved altid, at der ikke er nogen sten, der ikke er vendt.
Book din indkvartering
Du kan booke dit hostel med HostelWorld. Hvis du vil bo et andet sted end et vandrerhjem, skal du bruge Booking.com, da de konsekvent returnerer de mest overkommelige priser for gæstehuse og hoteller.
Glem ikke rejseforsikring
Rejseforsikring vil beskytte dig mod sygdom, skade, tyveri og aflysninger. Det er omfattende beskyttelse, hvis noget går galt. Jeg tager aldrig på en tur uden den, da jeg har været nødt til at bruge den adskillige gange i fortiden. Mine yndlingsfirmaer, der tilbyder den bedste service og værdi, er:
Safetywing (bedst for alle)
Forsikre min rejse (for dem over 70)
Medjet (for yderligere evakueringsdækning)
Klar til at booke din rejse?
Tjek min ressourceside for de bedste virksomheder, der skal bruges, når du rejser. Jeg viser alle dem, jeg bruger, når jeg rejser. De er de bedste i klassen, og du kan ikke gå galt ved at bruge dem på din rejse.