i can't believe i'm allowing myself to
film right now when i'm in the middle of
a breakdown but you know what
[Music]
well hello friends welcome back to my
channel
i'm excited to be sitting down and
having a chat with you guys
about being a solo female traveler
as the title suggests but i will just
say that i think
some of these suggestions might be
helpful for anyone
who is uh thinking of being a solo
traveler going on that
sort of trip or just travel in general a
lot of these tips probably will
still be applicable as the first
question of the video i feel like it's
only fair to begin with the most
common question that i get
which is is it safe now this is a bit of
a complicated question to
accurately answer because it depends on
so many different factors
and i can only really speak on my own
personal experience but i will say that
number one it depends on where you are
going obviously some places
are uh safer than others but i
genuinely do believe that if you're okay
with you know
walking the streets of canada and
america at night
you're probably going to be fine in
other places in the world of course i
will state the obvious
that in certain countries there may be a
much
higher danger to a woman who is
walking alone than if she was you know
with somebody else that is unfortunately
the reality of the situation but the
other thing to keep in mind
is that the majority of the countries
that people
travel to as a tourist maybe even some
of the
lesser-known ones like the ones that i
travel to like
armenia kazakhstan north macedonia
you know those kinds of countries that
maybe you don't hear anything about
but i can tell you with absolute
certainty
that it is no more of a threat to go
there than to walk any street in north
america
probably even safer in those countries
to be
honest so that was a very long-winded
answer but let's move to the next
question
which is how long do you travel for so
that really depends i mean i've only
been doing uh youtube
full-time uh and traveling full-time
for about two years now it was basically
in the summer of 2019
that i left for the russia trip before
that i had
my regular waitressing job in toronto i
was in the film industry
so when i was doing that i think
my trips were two months max
but now that i am doing youtube
full-time uh
i am just technically on the road all
the time so my trips don't
really end i just go back to canada you
know to visit my parents for like a
month or two
and then get back on the road and the
third question
is how do you plan your trips well
during covid it has basically been
what is open what are the requirements
to get in
uh is everything open that's usually the
first question
uh that i ask myself but i would say
that the most
common websites that i use are just
expedia sky scanner for booking tickets
um booking.com airbnb for my
accommodation
really nothing that crazy just do a lot
of research about
all the places that i'm staying at i
watch other people's youtube videos to
kind of get an idea of what it's like
fourth question is do you get approached
by men a lot and how do you ward off
unwanted attention so it's kind of funny
where i think
a lot of people actually think that i
get approached
a lot and i guess a lot means different
things to different people
but i wouldn't say i actually get
approached that
often i don't know maybe a few times a
week or something like that
but thankfully at least in the last
couple of years
it has been much more respectful like
the people that
talk to me on the street or come up to
me or something like that
usually they're totally nice about it
and aren't
creepy and if i'm not interested usually
i'll just say
you know i have somewhere to go nice
chatting with you
and you know if they ask me for my
number or they ask me to go out like
i have gotten brave and i've actually
just said no
you know for a while i used to make
excuses of like oh i have a boyfriend
and
sometimes i still do that to be honest
but usually i have gotten better i just
say no sorry like i'm not
i'm not interested but you know have
yourself a great day
because i think we should normalize
women just
honestly saying no like if i don't want
to go out with you i hope you can be mad
enough to be like okay great
have a great day and you know keep your
ego intact and
move along uh in albania i remember
there was one guy that like kept
walking with me and like wouldn't leave
me alone
and to him i literally said
you uh like really loud and just like
stared at him before like just turning
around and walking the other direction
and thankfully he didn't follow me but
uh that is one tip that i will give to
ladies
to not be afraid that if somebody you
know
isn't leaving you alone and isn't taking
a hint
like don't be afraid to make a scene
because usually it's when you make a
scene
that the dynamic changes and uh you know
other people will begin to look or he'll
actually get intimidated because
you're actually now stepping into his
territory of being domineering and
creepy
so ladies definitely uh you know don't
be scared
to bring out the crazy and on that note
uh
question number five does it get lonely
and would you ever want to travel with a
partner
so first and foremost i will say that i
enjoy
solo travel like i enjoy to be by myself
as much as people might assume otherwise
i am an introvert
i need a lot of time to be by myself to
just
feel good and feel normal and i could
only really travel with somebody
who not only understands that and
respects that
but that i genuinely like enough
to be around them because i have a very
low
tolerance of being around people
for a long period of time that i don't
genuinely
love but having said that yes of course
if i met somebody that i was head over
heels
uh in love with that we really aligned
on so many different levels
had a similar you know sort of lifestyle
and
goals and like similar things and values
i think it would be amazing to travel
with and you know share experiences with
i'm not completely anti-social
and question number six is your youtube
income
enough to fund your travels yes
i am so incredibly grateful that it is
and that's literally thanks to you guys
i would not be able to do this full-time
if it wasn't for you
watching my channel for supporting my
channel
and just for all the incredible
opportunities that i've gotten to have
especially um in the last couple of
years and just to be clear it isn't just
the youtube
adsense uh where i make my money from
with youtube it is
also other streams of income that i have
that are
connected to the channel like my patreon
for example
huge shout out to everybody who supports
me on
patreon i'm so grateful for you guys and
then i also have
my affiliate marketing sort of income i
wouldn't say that i get a whole bunch
from that but every bit helps you know
all the links that i have in my
description
are all affiliate links i have that
stated there
um really helps my channel and then i
also have my live streaming which i
started to do this past year
and it has gone really well i'm really
glad that you guys
enjoy when i do lives and then lastly of
course we have sponsorships
as this video is sponsored and i am
incredibly grateful
to be able to work with brands i
genuinely
love and use myself and i hope that
you know the brands that i do recommend
you guys find value
out of as well so in saying that i would
really like to thank
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moving on with things
question number seven what are the
advantages of being a solo female
traveler
everybody always wants to talk about the
negatives and the scary parts of being a
solo female traveler
but i think there are actually a lot of
positives
as well like let's be completely honest
it is far less likely that you are going
to be targeted
by police or immigration or
any kind of authority figure that wants
to give you a hassle
for possibly doing something wrong like
that's just how it is we ladies you know
can get away with crimes and probably
nobody
will know it people rarely assume you
know
females doing these kinds of things and
that's not to say that you should go out
there and do all these things obviously
and then another advantage that i think
is worth mentioning
that local people are usually
more likely you know to help you as well
if you're a guy i think there is a
little bit more hesitancy
for whatever reason it probably depends
on how you look as well
unfortunately it's just the biases you
know that society
tends to have question number eight
uh would you ever get a normal job
and settle down in one place probably
not
if i'm being completely honest um i
really
don't think that's in the cards for me i
mean it depends what you call settling
down
uh i don't see myself living full-time
in one place
barely traveling having a nine-to-five
sort of job like
unless i have some crazy personality
change which i doubt i will
but if let's say you know i did get
married and uh
have kids and stuff like that uh
obviously i would be marrying somebody
who wants a similar lifestyle and i
would hope that
we could have these different home bases
you know all around the world
and have education for kids that maybe
is a bit atypical but
uh you know that's just what i believe
and i don't really believe in the
standard
form of education nowadays and i don't
want to be bound to just
one place i do want to continue to be a
world citizen
it'll probably just be at not so quick
of a pace
that i have going on now all right last
question and this one's a biggie uh
because i do have quite a bit of tips
but i'll try and get through them
quickly
what are the safety precautions you take
when traveling alone
first thing that i highly recommend
everybody do
is i have a group chat with my three
closest people in my life where i
basically keep them updated
with all my main moves of like i'm going
to this city
by train at this time this is the
apartment that i'm staying at
this is the contact details of you know
the person who owns the place
second thing that i think is incredibly
important
is do not cheap out on your
accommodation
get a place that is in a central safe
location
that has very good ratings if you want
to save money
stay at a hostel it is so much better to
stay
in a well-rated centrally located hostel
than it is to have your own place
but be out in the middle of nowhere
in an area that you don't yet know that
there's not a lot of public transit to
just to save a few dollars like it's
much better to stay
even in a hostel than something like
that
third thing is more health than safety
per se
but i always have a first aid kit with
me
that i bring from home with like all of
the essentials
that i need in an emergency or if i'm in
pain
uh that maybe i wouldn't be able to get
uh
in the country that i'm currently in
fourth thing
kind of on the same sort of plane is i
would highly recommend
getting emergency travel insurance
that covers you when you're on your trip
i have you know the two companies that i
use
i'm an affiliate i have links in the
description it's hey mondo
and safety wing and safety wings the one
that i would really recommend if you're
younger
are on a budget it's the most
inexpensive but good
insurance that i have found whereas hey
mondo
i would really recommend if you're older
let's say
if you want higher coverage and also hey
mondo is probably the better choice
if you're using the travel insurance to
help you get a visa
or enter a country that's the insurance
that i used
to enter thailand and didn't have any
issues
and last but not least my fifth tip
for safety and as i said this is for
everybody
not just the ladies i think it really
helps
as much as you can to kind of blend
into whichever country you're traveling
to like obviously some countries like me
in
thailand i'm gonna stick out like a sore
thumb as a tourist
obviously but if you are traveling
somewhere
that you could possibly you know blend
in
do yourself the extra favor of not
dressing too
outrageously don't be flashing you know
your apple
watch or you know a louis vuitton bag or
something like that
like that's why a lot of times you will
just see me traveling in the most
like basic sort of clothes you know just
like
a white linen shirt a black jacket
i don't really wear you know anything
too fancy
ever my bags are not super super
expensive
so that's just something that i keep in
mind and i do think it actually helps
because people just pay less attention
to you then you know if you're not
um trying to stand out too much then
you're just
going along you know with the crowd
people leave you alone
people don't ask questions it's all good
and lastly before i close things off
here i did just want to give a shout out
to three fellow solo female travelers
that i think
are just amazing that are doing
incredible work
so uh just to give them a quick shout
out eva zubek
shifa adriana my very good friend and
also itchybootz who is just a complete
badass
so i will have their channels linked in
the description
i would highly recommend you guys give
them a follow and check out their work
because they are
absolutely absolutely amazing so thank
you guys so much for tuning in
i really do appreciate it and once again
a very big thank you to skillshare
for sponsoring today's video i am going
to have that link
in the description for the one month
long free trial because that is only on
for the summer months so if you guys
want to take advantage of that
do it now and as always hope you guys
are having a great day
sending you so much love and keep being
your own kind of beautiful
bye guys
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