People often ask me: “Aren’t you afraid of travelling alone as a woman?”
My answer: no, not anymore!
I always tell everybody who I meet: the world is a much better place than we are led to believe by the television and the news. There are much more wonderful and kind people out there than bad and dangerous people. Almost all the countries which the news sell to be extremely dangerous, are actually full of loving and welcoming people. And I am only saying “Almost all the countries” because I haven’t been to all of them, but to all the ones I have been, 58, I have always met wonderful people.
We all have our stereotypes. I used to have mines before I started travelling. But now, through my travels, I keep breaking them all the time. And that is a great thing to do! Living with truth and not with lies! Living in the light and not in the darkness! Listening and believing in people who have actually experienced things, countries and their people, cultures and reality, that is the way of knowing the truth.
Some of the country which I have been to, and have travelled by hitchhiking, are to be consider dangerous in general, but mostly for woman. For example: Morocco, Albania, Serbia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Jordan, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, etc. I travelled by hitchhiking and camped in the wild, and I have met really friendly and lovely people in all of them. Everybody is always ready to help and to make you feel comfortable and welcome to their countries. They offer you a meal, food, souvenirs, clothes, and uncountable times I was invited by a family to spend the night in their homes.
It is a shame that we live in a word that, just by the fact that you are a woman, you have to live in fear, and that is for any kind of life, anywhere in the world, not only for Solo Travellers. I still keep my sense of awareness activated. But after travelling for six years alone, through 58 countries, and only encountered wonderful and kind people, I cannot be afraid anymore.
There are some specifics about me though, about my behaviour and my posture, which I would like to share with you. As you all know, we do live in a Patriarchal Society, meaning that being a woman is no easy thing. What do I mean by that? I will tell you…
I wear only large and comfortable clothes. Big t-shirts, large trousers or bermudas, big hoodies and not really colourful, “stylish” fancy clothes. That is because I rather to be comfortable and also because all my clothes are donated by other people, so I cannot choose much. But even if I could, I rather to be practical: What do I really need? What lasts longer? Which kind of clothes can I use in more than one season? And this kind of things… Beauty, in my opinion, is only a matter of perception: each one has its own. Plus, I have my head shaved. And I when I am travelling, I carry my 70 Litres backpack, plus a 30 Litres one in front of my body. Basically, I look like a pregnant turtle (in fact, my backpack is green), with no “attractive” skin (clothes).
I don’t believe that this is the only reason why I have been safe travelling through all the countries, no. I do believe in goodness and that the majority of people are good! Sometimes I was wearing a gym shorts, due to the intense hot weather of some countries, and still, here I am. But you do have to maintain a posture which tells that you are not someone to be taken advantage of it, or someone who is looking for “romance” or anything else than just a lift. If you want to visit a country, to explore it, to talk with the locals and discover their culture, make sure that this is the message you are delivering by your posture and manners. One thing is to be nice, another is to flirt. And it is very easy to distinguish between one thing and another.
But why then it is so easy for men to be misled about women’s behaviour? I believe that, most of them, don’t even know what they are doing. They act by impulse, only doing what they were told since they were born, or simply copying everything they have seen others doing it.
In a few occasions, drivers made me inappropriate requests. I have always kept my good manners and I answered them in a straight forward way, direct and sharp, but never rude. You must always be polite and respectful, even to people who do not follow those principles. To every one of these men I told the same thing: I am not a promiscuous woman, I don’t get engaged in any sexual activities with strangers, and I am pretty offended by their requests and insinuations. Do you know their reaction? They all few ashamed and regretful for their attitude, and always begged for my forgiveness. They said they had no intention of offending and disrespecting me.
Another thing is behaviour guided by gender. Almost the entire population of the Planet it was brainwashed to believe that men and women have some specific behaviour and attitude. And that is for everything! I am talking about way of dressing, waking, talking, preferences, etc. But all of this is, of course, bullshit! You can do whatever you want, as either a man or a woman. If you like pink, you like pink! That does not mean you are a woman! If you like shaving your hair, shave your hair! That does not mean you are a man. If you don’t want to shave your legs and armpits, don’t do it! That doesn’t make you less woman or less beautiful. If you want to have long hair and to use polish nail, do it! That doesn’t make you less man.
Just because you are a woman, you don’t need to wear tight clothes and show more skin! You are beautiful for how you are, not for what you wear. You don’t have to behave in a more so called “feminine” way. That is absurd! There is no such a thing! Human beings / society invented that! As much as human beings invented some of the most stupid and ridiculous things / lies in the world!
But because of its long history and very few precedents, almost everybody believes on that crap. And, unfortunately, together with all this “feminine” thing it comes the idea that, we are weak and fragile, so men believe that they can take advantage of us. That’s why there are so many cases of rape in our world. The false idea of superiority and power of the men, which was implanted in our brains since always! We were all brainwashed to believe on that.
When you decide to explore the world by yourself as a woman, you must have in your heart love, happiness, strength and courage. You must to believe in a higher good, to be optimistic and to have a positive attitude, a positive thinking. I believe in the law of attraction: if you are always thinking in a positive way, you will attract positive things. If you are a good person, who wishes only good things to others, that is what you will attract to yourself. You have to know, deep in your heart that there is goodness in the world, that people are truly good and lovely, that people all over the world are ready to help, to take care and look after others.
That’s all I have to tell you by now!
I wish you a safe journey, lovely travels, many smiles and lots of love!
Go explore! Go, girl!
