E-Paper
Solo trip? Here’s what the Reels don’t tell you, even about safe places
Dirty toilets, hidden cameras, creepy stares: For women tourists, even safe spaces conceal threats. Here’s what you should know if you’re a woman tourist
It’s an Insta subgenre that refuses to die: One woman driving solo – moisturised, unbothered – through a forest; another woman – selfie stick aloft – strolling solo as the crowds rush past in the Big City. On Reels, women who vacation alone have #Empowered slogans, they put their Travel Essentials affiliate link in their bio. They cite Reese Witherspoon from Wild as an inspiration. They think Julia Roberts in Eat, Pray, Love is cringe.
Of course they have their guard up at all times. Of course they have to deal with creepy men all through. But surely there’s more to the solo-woman travel phenomenon than the Reels show? In 2025, even a safe journey is harder than the montages let on. Here are some of the challenges that solo women travellers didn’t expect.
Quick checks
One thing few women account for before they embark on a solo trip: Covered, clean women’s toilets are few and far between in India. Gargi (who uses her first name), 30, a singer and customer-success manager, has visited 28 states solo since 2015. She learnt quickly that Indian travel isn’t designed with a woman’s bladder in mind. So, she rations her water intake when she’s on the road. “A couple of sips 10 to 15 minutes before I leave. Then, couple of sips every few hours to stay hydrated.”
Reliable sanitation is a unicorn, even at public toilets. Menstrual hygiene adds to the complication. “I once got a UTI from an unclean bathroom, so now I carry my own wipes, a sanitising spray and disposable seat covers,” says Gargi. On treks, she holds on to used menstrual products in a sealed pouch until she can dispose them. It’s the kind of planning that men, and those scrolling solo-girl Reels, often don’t consider.
Ad and film producer Akansha Khanna, 42, has travelled solo six times over the last six years. “People make fun of girl math, but a woman’s solo travel budget is no laughing matter,” she says. When she books hotels, she checks for things that few groups, tour guides or booking sites list: “How far my room is from the main road, whether people are around after dark, whether I can walk back if I have to,” she says. She also checks every room she stays in for hidden cameras, a process that takes at least 20 minutes out of her trip time. “And I don’t step out in the evenings. At all.”
Reels leave out the fact that women pay a higher surcharge for safety. A centrally located hotel with double-lock doors, a daytime journey, a more reliable bus service, dining options that are not seedy highway bars – they can raise a trip’s budget by as much as 20 %.
Mostly me
Around the world, there are separate rules for women, so Gargi has also learnt to read the room early, no matter how tired she is. In July, she was in Banyuwangi, a village in Indonesia, all prepped to trek to Mount Ijen, when she noticed the stares. Men, women, older folk – their eyes followed her everywhere she went. Turns out, they were just not used to a young woman exposing her legs. It’s only when Gargi changed out of her shorts and into full-length pants that the vibe changed.
At 44, Shenaz Treasury has travelled solo across India, filming local stories and meeting people off the tourist track. She’s always on the alert, she says. She doesn’t doze off in cabs. She doesn’t stay out late. She doesn’t drink if she’s alone. And she picks five-star hotels. “The only places I’ve felt fully safe are Singapore and Thailand,” she says.
But safe doesn’t always mean no mishaps. In Portugal, Treasury lost her wallet before she had booked a hotel for the night, and spent the evening on the steps of a church in a town square cancelling her cards and figuring out what to do next. She knew no one, she didn’t speak Portuguese, her phone kept glitching as she tried to get through to the bank. There were tears of frustration. “I really wished I had someone with me at the time – a partner, a friend, anyone who could share the load,” she recalls. It’s only when she’d sorted out the mess that she got her confidence back, twofold.
Distance learning
Even after a woman has found her bearings on a trip and isn’t on edge every step of the way, she faces an unexpected challenge mid-itinerary: Loneliness. “It creeps in at dinner time, usually,” Treasury says. There aren’t that many solo women out there, so company is hard to come by. “In Cartagena, Spain, people were warm, they’d ask me to join them. But Sweden was unfriendly and those were the times I felt the most lonely.”
Travel content creator Prakriti Varshney, 30, has been travelling solo since she was 19. “I’ve lived in the mountains for eight years, and they’ve prepared me for every climb,” she says. She has learnt to share tents with men, hitchhike, and spot the scams and petty thefts that target women travelling alone. Displaying confidence at all times takes up energy, but it’s worth it, she says. “Stand tall, speak with authority and never let your fear show. A lot can happen out there. This is what keeps you safe.”
And at some point in their journey, solo women realise that they can’t track everything. Khanna was in New York City in October 2023, and had finished two cocktails at a bar when she realised that it was 11.30pm and New Jersey, her stop for the night, was two hours away. It was too late to book a hotel. Cab fares were $850 and up. “No way I was paying ₹72,000. So, I sucked it up, prayed to all the cosmic beings and took the damn subway.” She survived.
From HT Brunch, August 02, 2025
Follow us on www.instagram.com/htbrunch
