Sunday, October 18

Episode 5: 'The Return of a Newly Born Travel Fanatic'

- Was it lonely to travel alone? Why/why not?

Not at all! The world is full of people, and traveling alone means you have to talk to them. It's a really positive experience. It's a few things to think about (especially if you're a girl) traveling alone though:

- Think about dressing according to the culture. In Hawaii I could walk around in bikinis, but in India I was covering my bum, shoulders and legs for instance.

- I never got drunk during this trip. Sure, when I was out with my Icelandic friends I could have been plastered if I wanted to, but apart from that it's not a good idea being a girl traveling alone and getting drunk. Doesn't look good in most countries I went to, and most of all - you need to be able to watch your back.

- When I'm out at night I don't make eye contact with men. I simply avoid to look them in the eye. This makes you almost invisible in a strange way. It's just unneccesary to get into interactions with weird people when you're alone.

- Of course avoid areas with little or no people at night. Take a cab instead or try to don't put yourself in such situations.

- Make a backup at a remote harddrive at home now an then. So if you loose your computer or external HD, you always have a copy of your pics at home (more packing/luggage tips coming up later).

- Just use common sense.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ive travelled all alone arond the world, but dont get into situations where I talk to a lot of people. Guess you dont have to. Sad, perhaps, its the kind of person you are.

Anonymous said...

Fantastic advice!

I will remember it when I go on some trips on my own- being a girl it can be rather scary travelling alone in a strange and alien place.

Dawn
x

Åsa Riton said...

Well, I don't always find it easy to talk to strangers - I just force myself to ask questions. Once you've started to show interest, people usually open up.

Another thing being a woman, it's always a good idea to talk to 'the female, not the male' first, if you meet a new couple. Otherwise you might end up being surrounded by jelaous girlfriends...

Anonymous said...

Good and useful to read!

Anonymous said...

Haha, I LOVE the zoologist approach to humans in yr advice Aasa! True though, very true...