I asked, you answered. A few weeks ago I wrote about solo female travelers and their ‘dream destination’. I had over 100 comments/entries and the project overall had over 1000 women fill out the survey about solo travel. What we found out that women are complicated and feisty (duh!).
Why Women Travel Solo
According to the HostelBookers.com survey, solo female travelers notes freedom, a sense of adventure, and learning about yourself were chosen as the top reasons for females traveling solo.
Check out this great graphic of the survey results:
Women Who Read Ottsworld
My favorite part about this contest is finding out that solo women who read Ottsworld dream big! Sure – in the comments left on my blog post there were a lot of desires to go to New Zealand, Europe, and South Africa – but there were many much more obscure places that were chosen.
Ushuaia, Kenya, Tanzania, Bulgaria, Iceland, Uganda, Bora Bora and Bali were on the list that seems a bit more off the beaten path and exotic. Then there were people who were looking for solo adventures in big cities such as Singapore or Hong Kong. And of course a few who wanted to do some nature focused solo travels to embrace Mother Nature in off the grid places like Machu Picchu or Alaska.
One of my favorite comments from a reader was,
“Who needs therapy when you can travel on your own? I happened to have the opportunity to visit Salalah a month ago. Those were the three best days of my life. Perhaps it was the fortune of finding an escape of sorts when it felt felt like the walls were closing in. Reconnecting with myself did wonders. I’ve taken an oath to treat myself to a new experience on my own At least once a year”
Thanks to everyone who entered the #WeGoSolo and HostelBookers Dream Solo Destination Contest the winner has been contacted!
Thanks To My Other Solo Travel Partners
A HUGE thanks go out to #WeGoSolo, HostelBookers.com for holding the survey and contest as well as my fellow solo travel partners:
Mariellen Ward of BreatheDreamGo.com
Amanda of Dangerous-Business.com
Shivya of The-Shooting-Star.com
#WeGoSolo is an online movement to support and encourage female solo travellers to travel safely, wisely and well. The weekly #WeGoSolo tweetchat is on Wednesday at 11 am EST. The Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/WeGoSolo. A website is coming soon.
HostelBookers is a great site for travellers on a tight budget with 22,000 properties worldwide. Hostels are a great option for solo travellers and they have everything from female friendly accommodation which I covered in the last post to cool design hostels for the modern day flashpacker.
By Linda July 9, 2013 - 11:03 am
I’m 66 now, and I’ve traveled solo, on and off, since I was in my 20s. Despite that, sometimes there are still challenges (which, of course, is half the fun), and certainly it helps enormously to build self confidence. That said, I am really surprised and puzzled that so few women claim to travel to learn about other cultures. I would have thought that was over 50% of the point of it.
By Sherry July 9, 2013 - 11:51 am
Linda – I think the survey was really geared to trying to figure out why women travel solo – not simply why they travel. I agree with you – I travel to learn about cultures – however that’s not why I travel solo necessarily.
By J J Kosmac July 9, 2013 - 11:44 am
I agree with Linda. For me it’s all about discovering new cultures. Learning how people eat, drink, and experience their life thru music, sports, recreation and family interaction…seeing tourists sites is fine if done sparingly and intertwined with experiencing a sense of place from interacting with the people and animals and how they live!
By Bron July 10, 2013 - 5:44 am
totally agree
for me it is about going to eat and drink and go to cooking classes in different countries
By Susan July 9, 2013 - 6:22 pm
Love the dream of traveling alone but how do I get my husband to stay home? (Not that I don’t love traveling with him!).
By Sherry July 11, 2013 - 1:16 pm
Maybe tell him you are going on a shopping trip! 🙂
By Jade - Former Solo Female Traveler July 9, 2013 - 6:52 pm
Great graphic. I wish more ladies acted at home the way they (at least claim) to act while traveling. There’s no reason to wait until you hit the road to put on a brave face. Be proud and confident all the time ladies.
By Sherry July 11, 2013 - 1:16 pm
Totally agree! Thanks for reminding us that we don’t need to be on the road to be confident!
By Rob July 9, 2013 - 7:18 pm
While the survey was focused on women, the majority of the responses are also applicable to men. Or me, anyway 🙂
You’d be hard pressed to convince me to travel to India or China, although the middle east and Africa are both on my list of “new” places. Well, South Africa and possibly Namibia. 🙂
By Colleen July 10, 2013 - 1:46 am
Really enjoyed the results! I traveled solo in China for a couple months and loved it. Safe and very respectful toward solo female travelers. S. Korea was another unexpectedly easy country to go solo in.
By Bron July 10, 2013 - 5:40 am
great post. I am going to put a link on my blog. hope you don’t mind.
By Sherry July 11, 2013 - 1:15 pm
Sure – please share!
By Britany July 10, 2013 - 11:38 am
It’s so great to see how many women aren’t afraid to hit the road on their own. I’m sure the results of this survey will inspire many more!
By Ankita July 16, 2013 - 5:41 am
It is interesting to see that India is both in top 5 where women want to travel and where wome do not want to travel solo
By Megan July 16, 2013 - 5:35 pm
Hey girls! I just wanted to mention that I spent 2 weeks in china alone recently, and i’m 20! Granted I stayed at hotels, but I think China was the most welcoming place i’ve ever been.
By GRE in Pimpri July 20, 2013 - 7:54 am
It’s Very Shameful For Us That Indian Girls Don’t Want to travel.We Peoples are Responsible For That Some how.
By Christoffer Moen July 28, 2013 - 4:19 am
Wonderful infographic! Quite interesting to see India figure on both top places to go and not to go solo 🙂
By Lauren@GreenGlobalTravel July 31, 2013 - 12:20 pm
A great accomplishment for women travelers. Traveling does not only enrich one’s culture, it gives them a sense of independence. Thanks for sharing.
By Jootika Srivastav August 2, 2013 - 1:16 pm
However girl are traveling alone its good. But now the scenario totally changed, whenever any planning tour comes to our mind, If its girls matter we should think of the situation and location . Its very important.
By Soumya Mohanty August 2, 2013 - 1:20 pm
I have been there before.but my journey was superb. Its safest for all the girls who travel alone. I love and spent 3 nights in Jaypur India.
By Deepak Rout August 2, 2013 - 1:25 pm
alone traveling its Good but some situation, we definitely need a guys who help us. so we need atleast a partner either boy or girl ,It doesn’t matter , but solo travel for girls its very tough journey.
By Victor Tribunsky December 30, 2013 - 5:08 am
My wife doesn’t like solo travels, me too. We travel and write our posts together.
By Zoe @ Tales from over the Horizon June 30, 2014 - 10:19 am
Really interesting data. I admit I’m a bit bewildered by women not wanting to travel solo in China. I’ve lived here for a year and a half and traveled solo frequently. Nothing scary here folks.