Free Book Friday: The Essential Guide for Women Traveling Solo
20. Nov, 2009 
44 Comments
That being said, this is the perfect book for a lot of people. If you know someone who has never traveled, doesn’t know how to book a flight or what to pack, (i.e. someone who doesn’t go far even for one week vacations) or is nervous about doing all of that alone (your best girlfriend post-big break up) this is an extremely well written and well-informed book.
Single Ladies, Give Your Mom This Book
While I was reading this, I kept thinking of how useful it could have been as an explanation to certain women in my life before I took my trip. “Are you nervous about traveling alone?” Nope, here, read this. It would have been great. “What about safety?” Read Chapter 13. Even after traveling so much, Beth has found a way to break it down for the beginner– never condescending, but rather like a good friend over coffee. Personally, I’ve lost the knack for answering the “But you’ll be murdered!” response with more than deep breathing and murmuring something like, “Yeah, probably.”
Want a Free Copy?
Leave a comment below and tell me why you’d like to travel solo (or why you’d like to leave this book tucked under a certain someone’s pillow). I’ll choose the winner on next week’s Free Book Friday.
Announcing Last Week’s Winner of Imagine – A Vagabond Story
Derek who wrote about his best drunk story, “We tell these guys to leave politely and they respond with fists. We suddenly have a five on five brawl going down. We’re in the middle of battling these guys and trying to push them all out the door when this really big girl starts yelling at us to stop.
My friend looks over and says, “Get out of here you fat b*tch.”
One of the random dudes we were fighting stops for a second and says, “That’s not cool man, she’s pregnant.”
That was the end of the fight. Everyone dispersed.” Ah, I love a happy ending.
Travelling solo has always appealed to me as I love the idea of independent adventure! Being solo allows a woman to immerse herself into another culture and learn how to get around. It also gives her a chance to embrace new friendships rather than sticking to her travel partners. And…I’d like to tuck this book under my hubby’s pillow because maybe he would finally understand!!
Sometimes a girl just needs to know that she can take care of herself.
RT @mariajessica: @cheskadescalzo Someone said Jacob (shirtless) and Dakota Fanning was the movie’s saving grace. 
Jessica´s last blog ..mariajessica: @cheskadescalzo *Were
I’ve traveled a lot with one or more friends and also w/groups, but have never been comfortable traveling alone. If I even have one other person with me, I’ve had marvelous times breaking barriers – like the time a friend and I stopped for coffee in Hurghada, Egypt and were the only women there and ended up playing backgammon with the guys and smoking hookahs. I’d love to have some insight into how to feel that comfortable on my own.
I would love this book as I want to travel but have no single friends that I can travel with. Seeing as I live along and none of my married friends want me to tag along on their vacations (third wheel much?) I do all my traveling alone. However, I haven’t been able to travel along because of all the things I hear that happen to female travelers that are all by themselves. Obviously you can see how much this book truely appeals to me. Maybe then I could work up the courage to just leave all the happy couples behind and live and be happy being single!
I would like to travel solo because travel is also in journey into your conscious and subconscious mind, a path to new roads, thoughts, dreams and discoveries.
“Why on earth would you want to travel solo? You really should be travelling with a friend!” My tourism lecturer said this to me when we had to plan a dream holiday for class and mine was for me and only me. I didn’t understand what the big deal was I’ve always travelled solo and loved every minute of it. This is something a lot of women find hard to understand including my friends and my family.
I first started travelling solo at age 19 not because I wanted to travel alone but because I had no other option. I wanted to travel so I just had to take the plunge I couldn’t wait around forever for one of my friends to decide that they would stop needlessly spending there money and come travelling with me. Since then I haven’t looked back!!!
Travelling as a solo female is so liberating!!! It puts you in a situation where you have to go out of your comfort zone and explore new things, there’s no one to hold you back except you. That feeling of pushing through your fears and insecurities is so satisfying and it makes travelling so much more memorable. Travelling solo also makes it so much easier to meet new people and make new friends, you may start solo but you are never solo for long, making new friends all along the journey.
I can’t imagine not having travelled solo, it has played such a huge role in shaping the person I am today!!!
Sasha´s last blog ..Packing
I desperately want to experience a new culture this summer (2010). To truly experience though means living, working, and emersing myself in another country which I would love to do on my own. Some potential destinations in consideration: Italy, Cambodia, and South Africa-yes, Italy is definiatly the odd country out in my selection but I am obsessed with it. Never been and want to go oh so bad! For a single, white, 21 year old female, this desire is way too much for my parents to take however. I ran the idea of studying abroad in South Africa by them a couple years ago. Despite being part of a structured program, always with in a group, and having a good head on my shoulders, they immediately thought of worst case senarios of being in a dramatically different culture than they are used to. For what it’s worth, I did end up going, with my parent’s faith derived blessing, and I had the time of my life. However, I did wish i had a little more independence from the group.
Anyway, I think any guidance on traveling solo would be much relief to my parents and I could always use some direction with traveling solo as a woman. Thanks and Happy traveling!
First of all, sorry about my english. I’m Brazilian.
Since my first travel alone, my heart don’t stop asking more and more journeys around the world. But my mind is always questioning the things that could happen. I wanna travel more, without fear of anything. Among many things, I especially dont want to fear people assuming that i’m stupid and trying to deceive me.
And, above all, I want all women could travel without fear. I wanna everybody travelling. Knowing another cultures, people, places is the best thing we could do.
As a solo traveler, I have been and continue to be empowered by my travels. I’m keen to invite others along for the “ride”… a sweet serendipity seems to attach itself to each adventure… I’m now living in Cambodia… and I hope to see many of my “solo-ist” friends join me here! It would be fun to share this book with many!
Suzanne´s last blog ..A Mystical Image for Service
Travelling alone gives me full control. The enjoyment is as much as travelling with my buddies.
I could decide just about the whole thing and that brings certain comfort to me. I could stand in awe for hours in one awesome spot without having to worry someone’s waiting for me. I could freely meet and greet a bunch of new people and learn a lot of new things. Then at the end of the day, I could breath in the fun, let my mind wander and plan for tomorrow and sleep with smile on my face.
I’ve loved traveling for years but always did it with my boyfriend. We recently broke up and I’m doing the ‘getting back on the bike’ thing. I’ve planned a trip to Australia alone and could really do with a little helping hand! In the back of my mind I know that everything is a personal experience. The things that we see, hear, smell when we are traveling evoke something different for all of us.
I’m really excited about my next trip and about those which I’m sure will follow. Hoping that it will be the mind opening, liberating experience that everyone talks about.
I would love to have a copy of this book. I am a recently turned 40 woman who has suddenly discovered I don’t like my humdrum life. I want and crave travel and adventure. I feel like I need to do something for me at this point in my life to prove to myself that I can. Up until now my life has been all about others. My dream is to travel alone to Guatemala for a month…maybe with the book…I could cross that dream off my bucket list
I am a 72 year old photographer. Got started in photography a few years ago. I take as many trips as I can afford and for me it’s essential to travel alone. I just realized however that I’m quite “macho” – don’t really think about safety issues, etc. Perhaps reading your book would be a good start and I’d love to have it. Thanks for considering me.
Why? Because traveling solo is a blast. It is hard enough to get time alone to think, but then adding the stimulus of seeing a new place = time alone to proactively process it all. That is a rare experience for me, and I so appreciate it.
I am on a journey of self-discovery. I have finally opened my mind and decided that I want to travel and move outside of the United States. I traveled alone to Brazil for work and that was probably the single most exciting thing that I’ve ever done in my life. Even though, I didn’t speak a lick of Portuguese and my Spanish was equally as awful, I made my way through the country seeing sights that I’ve only dreamed about. It was amazing and I did it alone and I wasn’t afraid.
Things started coming together and I knew this is something that I wanted to do more of. Traveling with friends has its perks but going somewhere by yourself is like mind altering experience – something that you can only experience alone.
Cynthia Wright´s last blog ..Glee Cast – I’ll Stand By You (HQ)
I absolutely LOVE traveling alone. I got the itch very early on and haven’t looked back since. If I had a dollar for every time I responded to “but you’re going to get murdered!” I’d have enough money to pay for every trip I ever wanted to take.
My mother, on the other hand, while never fearing for my death, has become a homebody. Just as this post suggests, she’d be the perfect candidate. She’s independent and smart enough to go on her own, she just doesn’t have the confidence of experience to tell her it’ll be okay. She needs to know what to expect, and to hear it from someone other than me.
LesleyG´s last blog ..So many photos… I don’t even know why I take pictures anymore
I would love a copy of this book because I am planning to take a year away from life to be a nomad and experience the world. I’m planning an around the world trip, inspired by the book Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel, in hopes to find something new within myself before I settle down and return to school. I have no problem traveling by myself, as I feel this is an experience that would have a completely different meaning if it was solo versus if it was shared, but I know my parents would freak out with the idea of me traveling solo. I’m ready to take the plunge, and am looking for other resources to help me get there and make it happen. 2011 shall be there year I disappear!
I love traveling alone. No one complains when I am taking too many pictures. It’s easier to meet people. And I have the time alone to reflect on what I’ve been seeing and experiencing.
probably my best solo story, and I have many, happened in Valle de’Aosta Italy. walking barefoot up and out of the village Fenis, into the mountains, I was moved to stick out my thumb as a white jeep with an older gentleman driving passed. He immediately stopped to picked me up, and thus began our long drive up a road that from my passenger side had a drop off not unlike many in the Italian Alps— straight down to a bottomless valley, with not much stopping us from slipping over except the driiver’s very careful navigation. He kept checking by means of two way radio with someone below, I assumed a safety check, because the conversation was brief and always nearly the same words. His language was not Italian and not French. Not that I know either, but in any case it took me some time to establish that he worked for a printing press, and to tell him that I was from the US. Only when I wrote out USA did he get it, saying “oh! usah usah!” Herald was his name, and the little collection of rustic chalets in a meadow under the glacier where we arrived after some half hour or so was the destination. He invited me for coffee, which we shared, and he did some checking around the little home while I walked through the meadow enjoying the sun and glacier views. No one else seemed to be home, and I never quite got what the village was, who lived there, where everybody was, who Herald was, what language he was speaking… the afternoon has always been a mystery; the picture that I took of Herald at his cabin showed the place but not the person, so I could only assume that he was some kind of angel.
I’m alway envious of you, solo lady travelers. I’ve always wanted to have the courage to do so. I’m single and would like to travel anytime I want to, but afraid to do it alone. I’ve done it before, 2-3x and just a short trip of a few days. I found it difficult. Sure I met some nice people but I’ve also gotten harrassed. In Bali, the hotel restaurant manager called my room after 10 pm asking what I was doing, if I wanted to go somewhere. At the beach (Bali) while jogging, young men were cat calling. At a ski lift in Pennsylvania, a guy put his arm around my shoulders and offered to go home with him. I wasn’t wearing provocative clothes. I was friendly, conversing with them and they felt comfortable enough to make these advances, which I found too agressive and offensive. Those make me even more afraid to travel alone. I’d like to see what the book suggest.
I travel alone as often as with friends. Both are great, but traveling by myself has always provided me with amazing experiences. But yes, none of my friends/family like traveling alone and they simply don’t understand why I love it. I’ve met some amazing people while on my own – when you’re with other people, you’re just not as open to meeting others. Plus, I’m quite independent and I like to have time on my own – I get to think… a lot! Beats anything else I’ve tried – meditation, yoga, you name it. Over the years, I’ve developed a few techniques to cope with security issues and such, but I’d really like to learn other tips – I still have many solo travels ahead – particularly in those countries I haven’t dared to go yet. No limits!
This book sounds like something I’ve been waiting for a long time! Being single (divorced) for 30 years, and nearly 60 years old, I’ve started spreading out my wings and doing some solo travel. But what a different situation for a single woman traveling alone! There are so many things to worry about—-what do I pack, should I not worry about a heavy, bulky bag (DEFINITELY YES!!), can I pack my pepper spray, what if the hotel doesn’t live up to it’s reputation as being safe? So many more questions that need answered before you even get out the door….but I won’t let that stop me, and with books out there like this I can live up to that!
This doesn’t really have to do with this post, but just generally about your site.
I’m 21 and have been struggling with the idea about whether I should travel for a year, work and pay my loans, or move back to Argentina, place of my study abroad where I played in a reggae band and had adventure.
I’ve often thought of the life you describe, but there didn’t seem to be anyone else doing it. Lost of people thought that a year abroad was a good idea, but they called it escapism, in so many words. I want a permanent escape.
That you’re doing what you do gives me courage. Hopefully, in about 6 months, I too will be on the road again.
Nathan´s last blog ..The End?
I am preparing for a big transition in my life. This “phase 2″, if I want to be true to my self…my passions, will include traveling.
I am not averse to traveling with other folks, but it is unlikely that I will find someone who will want to join me. I will be away from home for 9 months to start. Some of my trips will include volunteer work in refugee camps, some will take me to peaceful surf havens. None will include 5 star accommodations.
Here’s to being brave,
Jessica
I’ve started doing more solo travel this year … more than I’ve ever done before in my life. But I would love to feel 100% confident when I hit the road on my own. Advice about safety? I could use it. How to handle loneliness? Can’t say as I know. Not sure how to deal with feeling lost on my own? Yep, that’s me. I’m pretty sure this book will help me handle all of those things I’m currently a little uncertain about.
JoAnna´s last blog ..Reading: It’s Our Turn to Eat: The Story of a Kenyan Whistleblower
I would love the book because I love to travel but don’t have a lot of experience with it. I’ve sometimes gone with hiking groups, and I’ve started venturing out alone. Would love to have some tips! Also interested in some international excursions…..
Anne´s last blog ..Food, Inc. – You Can Change The World One Bite At A Time
I really think everyone needs to travel alone at least once. While I enjoy travelling with other people travelling alone is a completely different experience. Personally I have no issues travelling alone, but I love the idea of giving this book to my Mom who can not understand it and constantly gives me safety lectures.
I am politely declining consideration for the book (I already reviewed it!) but I just wanted to say that I love the Mom idea! One of my favorite aspects was the encouragement of women in EVERY situation – married, older, disabled – to set aside any excuse and listen to their hearts. Hit the road, Moms!
NYer in NZ´s last blog ..Talking About Twilight, No Teams Required
I spent 20 years in the Air Force and I found myself traveling solo a lot. But, I never dreamed I’d ride a motorcycle solo; at least not any long distances. Until, the time came when my husband was working out of town and if I wanted to see him, I had to travel. Sure, I could take the car, but why take 4 wheels can one can take 2? So, I decided it was time to travel solo on my motorcycle. “It’s not safe”, “you’ll be killed”, “what if you get stuck on the side of the road alone?” “what if you crash, go over a hill and no one ever finds you?” were all favorites said to me by my friends. In any case, I rode my Harley from Shreveport, LA to Columbus, MS – a day trip that took me about 8 hours. I enjoyed it so much that I frequently travel solo now. The benefits were that I could stop and pee, eat, drink, sight see, etc. any time I wanted. I could turn around and go back to get a picture that I missed, or I could stop to see the largest ball of twine in the world. I could go fast. I could go slow. I could ride 30 miles and stop or 100 miles and stop. It was great to be in control. And, what I thought I would miss most – conversation with companions at stops – I didn’t miss at all. Whenever a chick on a Harley stops, there’s plenty of people to talk to. Everyone wants to talk about the bike, and why in the hell a woman is out riding alone. I met some great people and had some great conversations on my solo trips.
Mary Baker ´s last blog ..It’s OK to say Merry Christmas
I’ve traveled to Italy, France, Turkey, Malta, Greece, Slovenia and Switzerland by myself and moved to Italy for two years alone. Just packed up two suitcases and two cats and got on a plane at 38 years old. Now I’m married and living in France with my husband and I must admit that I REALLY miss those days of traveling alone because it was such an adventure and you were totally free to go as the wind blew. I met so many more people when I traveled alone too. I highly recommend it but you have to be really comfortable with yourself and like your own company for it to work. And take common sense precautions. Cynthia in the French Alps
Cynthia in the French Alps´s last blog ..Vienne, France: Roman Ruins in France
I travel solo for many of the same reasons most people choose to do so. Recently though, I began to reflect on how my solo travel impacted my family and what it says about the values I have concerning relationships and parenting.
I am the mother of four children, and I have been married for almost 30 years now. As my children with the exception of my last son, a teenager, have moved into adulthood, I have recognized how my solo travel has made a mark on them. One of my daughters is living in Spain and another son is currently traveling solo in Thailand. My other grown daughter has taken solo trips to China, Japan and Australia, has studied in Spain and London and worked in Hong Kong.
They have all seen a strong and independent role model for both their mother and father. I venture out alone quite often with the full support of my husband and this arrangement is normal to our children. I was recently at a sporting event for our son and I came to realize that many families just do not understand how we work this. The woman asked me why I routinely abandoned my children and how exactly they handled meal time in my absence. I was quite taken aback at the whole thing, but my husband sitting right next to me smiled and responded, “well, there is a terrific Chinese carryout right down the street”.
I am in the beginning stages of planning my first solo trip abroad…beginning stages because I keep getting hit by waves of anxiety every time I try to start planning! I bought the plane ticket (non-refundable, mind you) on an adventurous whim and now feel a bit trapped by this big solo adventure I kind of *have* to take. I know there are so many things to be gained by spending time in a city I haven’t spent any time in before, and wonderful people to meet along the way. Between now and the time I leave I’m hoping to gain a bit more confidence so that I don’t miss out on any of these experiences, and it sounds like this book may just be a good place to start. Pending my successful travel I hope to have many lessons to share after the trip as well!
Last summer I was planning a trip back to Europe when I got an ovarian cyst the size of my head (no word of a lie)! So, dismally, I had to postpone my long, long, long awaited trip to have surgery instead. It nearly broke my heart. Not only that, but I hadn’t bought travel insurance yet (ah, procrastination), so all I got back from it was a 500 dollar voucher from United. It was such a disappointment because, partly, of how much work I put into convincing my extremely overprotective mother into letting me go. She had every excuse in the book, believe me. I wrote letters. I wrote emails. I had dinner with her and hashed it out. I talked to her over the phone. I talked to her in person. Everyone said to go and not to worry about things, but she insisted that I ask everyone for their opinion. It was like a last-ditch-attempt to have ANY excuse to make me stay. And I mean everyone from my doctor to my soon-to-be sister’s mother-in-law. Then my brother announces that he’s going to Thailand with a friend after his semester in school ends, and she doesn’t even bulk! I think that this book would really help to dispell some of her fears of me travelling solo as a single woman. And after she’s done with it, she can loan it to my sister. If there is one person on this planet who needs to read it more than my mother, it’s my sister! And, besides that, I could probably learn a thing or two myself . . . .
I have traveled alone because I needed to listen to myself. Deeply.
Adriana´s last blog ..the village life of Ergates, Cyprus
Lovely post! I first tried traveling solo in 2006, and I was hooked since! It’s great to travel and experience things with friends, but there’s something special about exploring a new place on your own. No need to bend over backwards to accommodate everyone’s requests and preference, and I always get my pick of where to eat or where to go.
I’ve been trying to convince friends to try the same, but they’re not as excited about it as I am. The first step is always the hardest and admittedly, I wasn’t totally happy during my first venture on my own. But there’s just something about it that traveled solo a couple more and it became second nature.
nina´s last blog ..Germany and China at the World Pyro Olympics 2009
I want to travel solo because I believe travel is a catalyst for change for me. While I adore the hubby’s company, there’s nothing better and more introspective than grabbing your packs and heading out the door alone to experience, examine and enjoy.
Carolina´s last blog ..7 Ways to De-Stress
Traveling solo is something that I’ve never done for more than 3 days. I’ve traveled a lot with others….but never seriously by myself. However, I am currently studying abroad in Montevideo, Uruguay for the year, and coming up in the next month, I plan on setting out on my first solo travel.I have the idea, I am in South America, but I keep asking myself endless questions: What should I pack? Should I go out at night? Should I stick to cities and not go to places like national parks, which involve being alone in big, open spaces? I want to do everything and travel anyway, but I would love to read this book to help along that process.
Who I REALLY want to read it is my Mother, for Christmas. She supported every move for me to move to South America for the year, but as soon as I mention I’m going to Buenos Aires for a small 3 day trip, she flips out. No matter how well equipped I am in…speaking Spanish, hostel reservations, copies of extra documents, etc…it is the idea of going some place in a foreign country alone that I can’t explain nor take away the fear. To me, it is the same sort of awe that people have when they say they have traveled a lot, plus the motherly duties.
I would love to tuck this under her pillow on Christmas morning, because not only would she have my assurance that I will be OK, but she will have something that she can use a resource and to educate herself about what it is like…and maybe it will inspire her to go solo, too.
So for two generations of women, I ask of thee…
I’d love to win the The Essential Guide for Women Traveling Solo because I’m new to the travel scene. I’ve only been abroad once and need to face my fears of traveling alone. I’ve got a long list of destinations to visit and am slowly trying to accept the fact that I should just drop everything and travel because that will make me happier than being a “caged up urban-dwelling travel geek.” This book would inspire me to go out and see the world in a way I couldn’t have imagined.
Two years ago my brave cousin came to visit me in the US, which was her start of solo journey. We instantly connected and I showed her a hiking trail 5 min from my home, which lead to a cave. I have come to the cave many times before but have never gone fully into it. MY cousin took the lead. With hesitancy, anxiousness, and curiosity, I followed her. She was confident, tall, inspiring while I questioned, doubted and wanted to be safe. But as soon as she reached the top of the cave, she yells that she sees light!! She gave me assurance that there is light upon the depth of the cave. She took the first step to help me get there as well. Anyway, we came back and she wanted to do travel solo around the world, first to Mexico before starting graduate school. So she journeyed down to Mexico alone. I wished her best of luck and safety. She had a great time, felt free and independent. Naturally met people. But unfortunately, she has not made it back. Artistic and friendly, she trusted the wrong people, so to this day, we don’t know if she is captured or murdered.
http://www.amw.com/fugitives/case.cfm?id=48334
This incident has scared my family and definately put a blind wall of fear amongst us girls to travel solo. However, being born to parents of two cultures, not fitting into one or the other, I am a citizen of the world and is in my blood, perhaps my destiny to explore and provide other travelers something of value in exchange. I have traveled as a group for safety purposes, but to set out free and fly like my cousin did, I am willing to risk to take after her footsteps, as she has shown me courage that there is always light on top.
I just started planning for my first RTW and I’ll need this book for my mother. And Grandmother. And probably for my older sister too who inherited the worry gene. Thank goodness, it hasn’t stopped me yet. But I’ll need to read and share this book to help them feel better about this ‘crazy scheme’ I’ve cooked up. Thanks! Loving your blog
Lindsey´s last blog ..Not Me
I’d love this book for myself because I haven’t had the chance to travel solo since 1996. After marriage, 1 daughter and another on the way (due March), I find it hard to have time out on my own. I would love to travel solo once again. That would give me time to reflect and immerse myself on a place, without the hurry-ups involved when travelling with young kids!
Jen Laceda´s last blog ..Lubitel 166+ Camera Giveaway!!!
Bonjour Christine!
I’m a grad student in journalism from Paris, I’m a travel ADDICT, I have lived in the US, UK, China, for several years, and basically traveling (solo or not) will be the story of my life for the future… I’m going to travel solo through the US next month, and I am always looking for advice, tips, because as women we have to take, sometimes, extra care and pay more attention than men in this whole wide world
also, I’m preparing to go back to China start doing freelance work, which will mean a lot of traveling in this big country..
In short, I need this book! ahah
merci
here is the link to my other blog (food blog focusing on Paris, France):
http://www.tasteofparis.wordpress.com)
twitter: @Leeloo147
Helene ´s last blog .."To hell and back": le marathon de New York 2009
This week’s winner? Brandi! Thanks Everyone!
to me, traveling is a way to explore within and without. I’ve found that when im away from my comfort zone, I learn new things about myself, i grow immensely just touching new rocks and seeing new faces, having beautiful new conversations. meeting new people and experiencing new things are so important for growth. its difficult for me to express what it feels like for me to be moving all the time. but i do know that when im not traveling, i want to be traveling. anyway, i havent been on a lengthy journey completely alone before, ive always had someone around that i knew. I am planning on taking a pilgrimage in august and i would really like some advice on the topic because i feel like it would help ease the tension a bit to hear other womens stories. thank you for your consideration!!
rachel