Travelling alone is a lot of fun! You can sleep as late as you want, do whatever you like, and make all of your own decisions without needing to compromise with a travel companion. Solo travel is excitingly challenging. You will learn so much about yourself, and you will surely meet a lot of amazing people. It can be some of the best memories you will ever make, but bad things can happen too, so you have to remember to be careful!Here are six tips for staying safe as a solo female traveler:
- Always tell your family where you are. Email your family members your flights, buses, hotels, and overall itinerary. Update them regularly via email, Facebook, texting, or however you typically communicate with them. Ensure that someone always knows (but not strangers!) where you are and where you are going.
- Know where you are walking. Maps.me is a great app that allows you to navigate where you are while offline. Before you go wandering in a new place, though, always be sure to find out ahead of time if there are neighborhoods that you should stay away from. You can find out this information from the reception at your accommodation.
- Keep your belongings safe. Use a safe or a locker in your accommodation. Always carry a lock with you in your luggage so that if there are no safes or lockers, you can lock up your bag. When you are out, keep your valuables under your clothes, or at least be sure to have a cross-body purse with a metal strap so that no one can cut it off easily.
- Watch your drink. This is important no matter where you are in the world, but you are more likely to be a target when you are alone at a bar in another country. Keep your drink close to you. If a stranger offers to buy you one and you feel comfortable with the idea, make sure that you are present when they buy it, and keep an eye on it the whole time.
- Do not travel late at night. If you are traveling alone, do not book your flight so that you land in a new city in the middle of the night. This is not safe, because when you arrive, you will not know where you are, where to go, and you are more likely to be a target for someone looking to take advantage of a naive traveler.
- Be a smart judge of character. You will be meeting many new people, and that is one of the best parts of traveling, but you need to be smart about who you befriend. Do not be too trusting, and do not go alone with someone you just met to anywhere that isn’t public.
If you follow these six simple tips, you are more likely to feel comfortable wherever you are and have a safe, exciting adventure. Be careful out there, and happy travels!
Image Credits: Moyan Brenn Via Flickr.com under the Creative Commons Legal Code
