This being the age of women’s liberation, women have left no stone unturned to explore the joys that travel offers- even if it means traveling alone. Lone women travelers report an extraordinary sense of freedom and independence. But there are challenges to be faced the major being safety. Here are a few tips for solo women travelers to make lone traveling less daunting than it may appear to be.
•    Leave information with family/friends: Leave the following information with your family or friends so that they where to locate you, if the need arises-Your detailed itinerary, with names, addresses and telephone numbers of every place you will be staying, photocopies of your passport identification page, and your flight and ticket information.
•    Hotel safety: Choose a hotel where security is good and public transportation is readily available. Once in your room, check to make sure that all doors and windows have working locks, that the mirrors are genuine and not one-way mirrors, that there are no web cams, surveillance cameras in the room. When filling out guest registration forms, you may use your first initial instead of your name, and skip the “Mrs/Miss/Mr” check box. Also make sure that the hotel manager does not say your room number loudly, so as to prevent anyone in the vicinity from knowing where to find you later. While going out if you have to leave your keys at the front desk, hand it over to the clerk instead of just keeping it on the desk.
•    Arrival during day time: Arrive in new cities during the day as some areas around bus and train stations can be deserted, and small towns tend to shut down early. Doing this will enable you to locate your hotel easily and settle down before it gets dark.
•    Proper dress code: The best is to do your homework on appropriate dressing in the country/place that you intend going. To avoid attracting unwanted attention, dress as conservatively and inconspicuously as the women you see around you. For eg:  in certain Middle East countries, wearing of a burkha is compulsory; in India, wearing clothes that are fully covered are required in areas of worship.
•    Do in Rome as the Romans do: Every country has its own culture and views of what is appropriate behavior for women. So it is important to have an understanding of these. For example, in Laos it is illegal to invite a Lao citizen of the opposite sex to your hotel room and in India some places of worship cannot be visited by women.
•    Don’t Carry Valuables: Carry only as much cash, credits cards as required.  Even costume jewelry could be risky as thieves are not likely to know it’s not the real thing until after they steal it.
•    Safety and Security—If you think you are being followed, step into a supermarket or store and ask for help without feeling embarrassed. Stay alert, use common sense, and be aware of your surroundings.
•    Be Confident– Look, act and move as though you’ve been here before. If people ask how long you’ve been here, say you’ve been in the country for 2-6 months but are exploring this area for the first time.  This will prevent you from looking like an easy target and may help you avoid potential danger.
•    Ask for Directions—Keep a map handy but also before stepping out, ask the concierge or other hotel staff for directions to the places you plan to visit each day. By doing this you can avoid unsafe areas and will look less confused. If at all you need to ask for directions, ask a family, women with children or the cops.

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 29th, 2009 at 12:11 am and is filed under Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.