This is going to be personal, or rather I should say a “collectively personal” story. Read the blog and find out why.
In this blog, I will share some reflections on being a female traveller. I’m sure that my reflections are relatable to other female travellers, especially the solo explorers who find their travelling journeys no less than some battlefield. Travelling teaches us a way of life, and how we can fight the everyday challenges that keep knocking back at us.
Women and girls learn about the rules of travel quite early in life. As they are growing up, young girls already witness, feel and experience what travelling outside their homes and their comfort zones really means. Travelling, especially solo travel can be a transformative experience for women, as it releases them from their everyday mundane lives. However, they are very well aware of the rules — written, unwritten, formal, informal, and some other imaginary rules related to travelling solo.
In our journeys to becoming a woman from a girl, we experience, or at least witness varied forms of stalking, harassment, eve-teasing, and catcalling, among other experiences which could be no different from hell.
Tourism is an excellent sector that empowers women and girls, especially those situated in remote places. It affects the lives and livelihood of women living in tourist destinations and empowers them. Thus, tourism contributes to the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal 5: “To achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.”
I will write this blog with selectively chosen words that portray my own experiences while travelling. I’m sure that this is not going to be an isolated story popping out from just anywhere. In fact, this is going to be, as I stated earlier, a collectively personal story — one that reflects similar experiences of countless women and girls.
The battle begins at home
So, here I go! I collect all my courage to tell my parents that I’m planning to travel to some ‘xyz’ place. A list of questions that most girls are already aware of comes up and even though we prepare for all the answers, the chances of stumbling before them are pretty high.
Of course, parents care about us and love us, and want us to be safe and out of trouble. However, if such is the case, maybe they should show some more love to their sons too so that they are also interrogated every now and then. The response of our parents depends on the society we grew up in and the one in which we currently live.
Luckily, most of us have parents who support us to create and live the life we want, and so I clear my first stage.
Travelling on the battlefield
After clearing the first stage, I enter the real world that inhabits people who are exceedingly different from me. But so what? I enjoy travelling and with a beam of a smile, I endeavour to make my journey memorable, enjoyable, and worth the experience.
There are a couple of things that I usually keep in mind when I travel solo.
1. I plan my arrival at my destinations in the daytime
This gives me enough time to figure out my accommodations and stress-free time to relax and get ready for my journeys ahead.
Interestingly, it may also give you enough sunshine and infuse you with Vitamin D. This helps you stay more attentive and energised to fight any potential threats like stalking, and eve-teasing, among other unacceptable behaviours that some men exhibit on the streets and elsewhere.
2. Keeping at least my parents, siblings or a close friend informed about my whereabouts
This is particularly helpful for your close acquaintances to reach out to you in case you are stuck somewhere but are unable to reach out to anyone owing to a poor mobile/internet connection. It could be possible that you may get stuck in some remote place. In such times, the stars above will not guide you home, but some stars on earth will. These stars are your parents, siblings, or close friends.
Interestingly, there are customised rules for different families that are intricately placed within the holy book of travel. So, if you think that some rules are getting on your nerves, it may give you a sense of relief that almost all people vow to this holy book of travel and the rules that fall within it.
In fact, there is actually nothing wrong with informing your closed ones about your travel plans. At least, for me, it works because it not just gives me peace of mind but also gifts some peace to my family, which in turn gives peace to me again.
The Journey Ahead
Women comprise two-thirds of all travellers. What we must really understand here is that solo travel may not necessarily be an isolated experience and that it may not really be entirely ‘solo’. Also, the capacity and freedom to travel solo may be influenced by the cultures we grew up in. It majorly also depends on the kind of society and communities that surround our travel journeys and destinations.
Technology also has an impact on the development of solo travel, and in a way, it empowers travellers, especially female solo travellers. Many new applications like maps, language translators, weather forecasts, etc., are making travelling more inclusive and much easier than ever before.
Some simple yet important measures that can make travelling solo more safe and enjoyable.
➤ Making use of the legal provisions that are guaranteed to women and girls by the Constitution of our countries
➤ Implementation of more robust models to ensure the safety of women and girls, so that they can travel without any fear
➤ Increasing the number of police patrolling vehicles on streets, especially where the streets are not well lit or may be isolated
➤ Making technology more inclusive and accessible
➤ Being more vocal and sharing our travel experiences, both positive and negative, in our families and communities
In our journeys to becoming a woman from a girl, we experience, or at least witness varied forms of stalking, harassment, eve-teasing, and catcalling, among other experiences which could be no different from hell. However, our journeys infuse us with a wealth of knowledge not just about the world around us, but about the world within ourselves too. Let us keep exploring both these worlds and keep journeying through new places.
Thank you for reading!
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