The idea of travelling alone can seem terrifying. Jetting off to into the unknown, without your bestie or other half for support, is never going to be easy. But, from bloggers to activists, these women prove that solo travel can be a life-changing experience.
Kate McCulley
“My ultimate goal is to show women that independent and solo travel can be safe, easy, and a lot of fun”.
Kate, author of the Adventurous Kate blog, left Boston for a six-month trip to South East Asia, and didn’t return home for five years. This woman has had her share of crazy experiences, from being shipwrecked in Indonesia to enjoying an eventful night with a Thai Mafia don. By sharing her experiences through journalism and public speaking, Kate has managed to continue travelling, visiting 67 countries and 6 continents.
Gloria Steinem
“When people ask me why I still have hope and energy after all these years, I always say: Because I travel. Taking to the road—by which I mean letting the road take you—changed who I thought I was. The road is messy in the way that real life is messy. It leads us out of denial and into reality, out of theory and into practice, out of caution and into action, out of statistics and into stories—in short, out of our heads and into our hearts.”
One of the veterans of the first wave of feminism, today’s women’s movement owes a lot to Gloria. She was at the forefront of 1960s feminism and hasn’t stopped since, being present at the recent marches in Washington. Her book, My Life on the Road, narrates how a life of travelling shaped her views and allowed her to share them with others.
Cheryl Strayed
“I knew that if I allowed fear to overtake me, my journey was doomed. Fear, to a great extent, is born of a story we tell ourselves, and so I chose to tell myself a different story from the one women are told. I decided I was safe. I was strong. I was brave. Nothing could vanquish me.”
You might have seen Reese Witherspoon’s moving portrayal of Strayed’s life in the movie Into the Wild. After the death of her mother and some questionable life decisions, Cherly takes to travel as a way to heal and start over. You thought D of E was hard? Cherly solo trekked 1,100 miles on the Pacific Crest Trail, and her best selling book narrating her experience has insipired many others to follow suit.
Kiersten Rich
“The world is a magical, challenging, fascinating place. Don’t be intimidated by it! Travel is all about breaking out of your comfort zone, and growing beyond your own self-set boundaries.”
This lady is the stuff of Instagram legend. Born in California, Kiertsen quit her job in corporate finance to travel the world. She’s vistited 54 countries and is showing no signs of slowing down. While it might seem that her lifestyle is a result of privilege, she actually began travelling – like most people – on a shoestring budget. Blogging and instagramming as she went allowed her to make travel her business. She’s a definite advocate of solo travelling, constantly sharing tips from the safest destinations to taking fab selfies without a cameraman.