Well, flying solo sounds super fun in theory when you're
planning a vacation,
but many women especially feel apprehensive over safety concerns.
One travel expert and author says it can be done.
Beth Santos joins us now with some tips for women
to travel alone.
And Beth, you and I were diving into this during
the commercial break and already getting into it.
I mean, I'm saying like,
I I don't even feel comfortable.
And I don't know if other women out there with
me on this.
I don't even feel comfortable going and dining by myself,
let alone traveling. And you know what?
Honestly, eating alone I think is one of the hardest
things.
Once you can do that,
it gives you a little bit more freedom to say,
OK, I can be by myself.
And it's a lot of women are just like,
I don't want to be in a restaurant by myself.
But if you can do that,
you can do anything. And you're saying,
you know, this isn't necessarily like,
I'm going to plan a trip to Europe by myself.
This might be a couple days before a business meeting.
It can be. Yeah. I think when we talk solo
travel,
a lot of people think Eat,
pray, Love. They think like,
I'm going to be away for six months by myself.
No one's going to talk to me.
But it can be a couple days before a business
trip.
It could be studying abroad,
not knowing anyone. It could be sometimes even small group
travel because you don't know the other people that are
traveling with you.
So really it's taking that initiative,
having time with yourself, doing what you want to do
and following that freedom.
What advantages have you seen to traveling by yourself?
What do you get out of it?
Oh God. You know, I think sometimes we're so locked
into the context of who we are,
where we are. You know,
your family, your local relationships,
your friends, your home life.
Being able to step out of that for a minute
really lets you connect with yourself.
And I think that's what a lot of women notice
is it's it's kind of the ultimate me time.
It's being able to just do what you want to
do.
I think it increases confidence.
It makes you feel a little bit more connected to
yourself,
and that's something that everyone should do,
regardless of if you're solo or not.
I think a lot of people who are married or
have kids should be traveling alone as well.
And you're saying that it's not.
You don't have to be by yourself the whole time.
There are ways to connect with other people while you
were on those trips.
There are there are always.
There are all sorts of things.
I mean, our wonderful community has meetups all around the
world that women can use to connect with each other
and go out for dinner or find a friend to
get coffee with. You could stay at a hostel.
A lot of hostels do free walking tours where you
can have,
you know, somebody showing you around.
A food tour a class can be great.
I've seen people who sign up for photography classes and
then they're alone most of the time,
but for a couple hours a day they have something
that they can tune into and people to talk to
Cody.
So let's talk about safety,
because I think that's at the top of the,
This is why I'm not going to do this list.
How safe is it for women to travel and and
what can you look into ahead of time to kind
of give you everything you need for that?
You know, safety is a very nuanced question and I
don't think we honestly give it enough attention or time
in the way it should.
I think a lot of women immediately think it's not
safe.
And in fact, 40% of our own wonderful community,
when they voiced the interest in traveling alone,
somebody, whether it's family or friends,
said no, you're not going to be safe.
But really it depends on so much.
I mean, here in Chicago,
this is a big city.
I think we're used to a lot of things that
day-to-day.
You just have to be aware of having a sense
of your surroundings,
knowing where you are, you know,
keeping an eye on what your hotel address is,
that sort of thing that we just can use when
we're traveling.
And so I don't think it's so cut and dry.
I think it's very nuanced.
But it depends on where you're traveling.
It depends on and how women are accepted in those
countries or communities,
the local cultural norms, the local expectations.
Are you in a city?
Are you in the countryside?
Are you in an English speaking country?
Are you not? I mean all of those things.
What time of year is it?
Even will affect that. So,
Beth, last question. Where can people pick up the book?
Anywhere books are sold. We're at Amazon,
Barnes and Noble bookshop, Get it online.
I'd love for you all to read it.
It's I think a great book.
All right. Thanks so much,
Beth, for stopping by traveling all the way to the
Fox 32 Studios.