I just had the pleasure to chat with Ed Pizza (I love calling him Pizza:) on his famous podcast Mile to Go about safety tips for women traveling alone. Pizza also has a blog Pizza In Motion. Below is the recap of the key points I mentioned.
More and more women are traveling alone for business or leisure. With the rise of Airbnb and Uber/Lyft, there are more options to get a deeper experience from the trip. It also requires us to have more judgment to keep us safe. Here are the tips for women traveling alone.
1. In-flight
- Avoid taking sleeping pills if you’ll head to the hotel alone or drive after landing
- Ask the crew to help if the neighbor is making you uncomfortable, they can find you a new seat
2. Hotel
- Use physical lock: chain securing guard on top of the room lock
- Some countries, such as Japan have women-only floors in some hotels
3. Transportation
While waiting for the car
- Avoid taking a taxi at late night
- When waiting for Uber/Lyft at night, pay attention to surroundings instead of staring at your screen
- Don’t wait in a dark, deserted area
- When using shared rides, find a bright, busy area and use the app option to have the driver come to you
While in the car
- Pretend to call a friend or colleague who is waiting for you at the destination. So the driver thinks someone will find out immediately if you don’t show up
- Pretend to face-time with a friend, and make the driver think his face is in the camera. So the driver thinks someone already has the driver record if you don’t show up
- Use the app option to share your trip with families.
4. Social
- Don’t leave your drink
- Don’t’ get drunk
- Don’t disclose too much trip information. If asked whether you’re traveling alone, just say you are traveling with a friend or colleague who is staying in the same hotel. So people know someone will find out very quickly if something happened to you.
Hey, I’m Tess, an entrepreneur, and owner of Delicate Revolt, where I share 1. Lessons learned by an entrepreneur; 2. How to achieve energy, efficiency, and style on business travels. Welcome to the Revolt!
