Female solo travelling

FR_262

j.e.j. wrote: »

:rotfl::rotfl:

Or just take an inflatable man with you in your suitcase.

Does he have a 'thingy'?

Spirit_2

Southernman wrote: »

My main concern is telling my mum! She would worry. I'm 24 rather than 18 though.

Ps I get you about the don't be fooled by the username thing!

In a gap year my DD travelled alone to Aus and other places when she was 23. She stayed in hostels but booked organised 'trips' where she traveled with the same people for a few days, folk were more like minded, varied ages, which gave her companions for safety/photo taking/meals out/hiking/ camping out under the stars.

She has remained in facebook contact with guides and a couple of fellow travellers.

You might want to tell you mum....DD is quiet and shy:) She coped, great experience and my 'worries' were a small price to pay so I acted entirely out of character (for me) and kept my mouth firmly shut so as not to put further doubts in her mind.

Dysnomia

I backpacked around Asia for 6 months at the age of 23 completely on my own - even spent a week in North Korea. I met up with so many old and new friends on the way though that I was rarely alone. Didn't have a single problem apart from a mixup with an internal flight in China, but I got put up in a hotel for an extra day for that one so it was no biggie.


I honestly don't think it even occurred to me that I would have any issues. I've always been very confident though. Travelling on your own is great as you can decide exactly what you want to do with no one else setting the agenda. I'm planning a trip to South America in the next couple of years, most likely solo!


Dys.

duchy

I don't think the issue is usually the solo traveller themselves....it's their friends and family who wouldn't dream of doing it themselves who struggle with the concept.

zagfles

duchy wrote: »

I don't think the issue is usually the solo traveller themselves....it's their friends and family who wouldn't dream of doing it themselves who struggle with the concept.

Very true - most people I know think it's weird, selfish, lonely, dangerous etc. But they're mostly the sort who've never been abroad except on package holidays with a rep to hold their hand

Voyager2002

mountainofdebt wrote: »

I've got to admit I would find it more scary going with someone who I'd met this way than being on my own.

You can be anyone on the internet (do you believe for one minute if I told you I was a leggy, 20 something blonde with a masters?).

OK, but I have had good experiences like this. For a start, I presume that you would specify that you wanted to travel with another woman: not something that is easy to lie about! And then you could tell family that you would not be alone, but in practice do your own thing for much of the time and/or perhaps move on to different places when you felt like doing so.

j.e.j.

FR_262 wrote: »

Does he have a 'thingy'?

I'm not sure if he comes with a foot pump or if you need to buy that separately..

peachyprice

OP, when I was your age I spent the whole of summer inter-railing around Europe by myself. I met the most wonderful people, lost a few things on the way, but came home with a completely different outlook to life and memories to last a lifetime.

It was the most wonderful experience, I'd do it all again in a heartbeat and I can't wait for my children to go off for their own adventure.

The following year I spent a month in Italy, sadly the then boyfriend asked to come along too, and while it was still a lovely trip I'd have much rather been alone.

duchy

Voyager2002 wrote: »

OK, but I have had good experiences like this. For a start, I presume that you would specify that you wanted to travel with another woman: not something that is easy to lie about! And then you could tell family that you would not be alone, but in practice do your own thing for much of the time and/or perhaps move on to different places when you felt like doing so.

The OP is an adult not a teenager ....why would they feel the need to tell their family anything more than the fact they are travellinmg alone....not invent a defacto travelling companion and tell family they are travelling the whole time with a stranger..... That's just plain weird. Adults travel solo every day -they even allow women to travel alone on business nowdays -it's not something that needs elaborate lies told about !

Richard53

Hermia wrote: »

It is bizarre! I'd love to know what a psychologist would say about it. A Thai friend was telling me that there are con men in her home town who go up to tourists with a huge smile on their face and put on a humble act. Of course they are criminals, but the tourists completely fall for it and often make comments along the lines of "isn't it wonderful how happy they are when they are so poor and uneducated". She finds it baffling as she is sure they would be highly suspicious of a beaming stranger approaching them back home.

I don't think it's so bizarre, really. In the culture you grow up in, you learn all about how people communicate, all the tiny cues they give off when lying or pretending, all the signs that tell you something isn't quite right. If we do it well, we call it 'good with people' or 'streetwise', but it is pretty much specific to our culture. Outside that limited zone, these cues are lost and we are on our own. Think of the gestures that can mean OK in France, but an extreme insult in Sicily - if you're not from there, you haven't a clue. Even a smile or a wink can mean subtly different things in different cultures. And it gets worse the further you are from your home ground. I would have thought the Far East was just about the furthest from familiarity you could get. So when someone comes up to you smiling and acting humble, how do you take it? Is it genuine, or a scam to relieve you of all your possessions? You don't really know, and people probably try to think the best of other nations and assume it is genuine. Nothing worse than a Brit abroad, who is suspicious of the food, the drink, the hotel staff, the taxi driver, and even a smiling stranger! I wouldn't blame someone who got it wrong, probably for the best of reasons.

mountainofdebt wrote: »

(do you believe for one minute if I told you I was a leggy, 20 something blonde with a masters?).

I never thought you were anything else. Perhaps a PhD, I dunno. Was I wrong?