In a world where cautionary tales and raised eyebrows often accompany the notion of traveling solo as a woman, it’s time to flip the script and embrace our inner fearless wanderer. Traveling solo as a woman isn’t just about ticking off bucket list destinations—it’s an experience that’ll ignite a personal transformation, boost your confidence, and make you feel like the superhero version of yourself. It’s all about throwing caution to the wind, unlocking your true potential, and discovering that you’re capable of anything you set your mind to.

I can’t believe it’s been 10 years since I traveled through Africa with my friend Stephen, then continued on solo to Egypt, Greece, Italy, Croatia, Switzerland, Netherlands, France, and England where I met up with my boyfriend (now husband) and ended the grand adventure in Ireland after visiting Scotland.

I think you need to know a little something about myself before reading any further. When I was in grade 3 (whatever age that is), I started getting what we called “Home Sick”. I wasn’t able to stay the night anywhere without one of my parents. As you can imagine, it was quite a hindrance to my social life. This continued until University. And you see, anxiety wasn’t really a thing back then. But looking back now, I was riddled with anxiety.

My last year of my under graduate degree, I decided that a Science Degree with a major in Biology wasn’t going to get me a job so I knew that I had to do more schooling. I applied to a healthcare program in Toronto, a 19 hour drive away from home. I was accepted and in 2010 moved to Toronto to complete my 3 year program.

As I walked the streets of downtown Toronto, I would be creating scenarios in my head, such as: if that person attacks me, this is what I’ll do, if someone pulls a weapon in a crowd, this is what I’ll do, if there’s a fire in my dorm, this is what I’ll do. It went on and on and on, daily. BUT even though the anxiety was always there, I learned to live with it.

One of my best friends in my program had been to Africa a few times. He had amazing photos from his time there in his apartment and it was that moment, after going through his photos, that I knew I had to figure out a way to get to Africa.

I called my parents, told them that after I wrote my licensing exam in May, I was going to take a few months while I waited for my exam results and travel through Africa and Europe. My dad is my sounding board with almost everything. I still run decisions by him to see what his thoughts are. To my surprise, his response was, “I think that would be a great idea!”. My mom however, was a little less supportive. When I told her over the phone, she just laughed. She remembered all those times picking me up at friends houses because I was “home sick”, so I can see why she reacted in the way that she did. All it really did though was piss me off and made me determined to prove her wrong.

Fast forward until May 2013 when I set off to meet Stephen at the Toronto airport.

So now, onto the good stuff. How was it traveling solo as a woman? Well, like I said, Stephen was with me throughout Africa and I don’t think I would have been able to navigate it alone. At that time, we were traveling using the guidance of The Lonely Planet books. You couldn’t just search your phone and book your stay. You had to find out through asking locals what bus went to the next destination. When did it leave? When it filled up to beyond capacity. With each multi-hour drive, I would dehydrate myself because the bus only stopped when it needed to and I didn’t want to risk having to pee.

There were times when we would arrive at a bus station and have nowhere to stay. The options were sitting on the ground and waiting several hours until the next bus, or trust a complete stranger to get you to the nearest guest house. We were often taken advantage of in the sense that they would make us pay more for a ride or tell us they would give us a drive, to later find out we easily could have walked the 400m up the road.

We mostly stayed at hostels and would only be able to check in by arriving at the location in hopes of vacancy. All in all, everywhere we traveled in Africa was safe in the daytime. It was stressed in the travel books and by hostel workers to avoid going out at dark. That was hard sometimes when the sun set at 6pm but we listened to ensure our safety.

My real solo traveling experience was when Stephen and I parted ways in Nairobi, Kenya. I flew to Cairo, Egypt to see the pyramids and he flew back home to Ontario. My stay in Egypt was an interesting one and I took a few risks I shouldn’t have. To read more about that, click here. Once I made it to Europe, I felt safe the entire time. Mind you, I took most of the same precautions I had in Africa to ensure my safety.

Most places that I arrived to, I made friends almost immediately. There were a lot of other solo travellers or other people looking to make friends on their journey as well so it was easy to join others. A few times, I was able to meet back up with people because later on in our travels we would cross paths again. Some of these people I still talk to 10 years later!! I guess that’s the power of social media.

Traveling in Europe was a lot easier. I was able to book my accommodations using internet cafes and look up the bus and train schedule online. You could also book your seat on a lot of the buses and trains which made things a lot less stressful. The hardest place to navigate was Croatia because not very many locals spoke English. But, you become resourceful and you find your way!

I’m sorry this post went way longer than I ever intended but I wanted to highlight that not only should you travel regardless if you have someone to go with or not, but don’t let something like anxiety hold you back from living your dreams. This was something I put in my head that I was going to do and I overcame the thoughts and fears that were flooding my mind at all times. I hope that this inspires you to book that flight or hop in the car and start your own journey! If you have any questions about my trip, please don’t hesitate to reach out!

Keep Snappin’,

Nicole