100 years ago it was exceptionally unusual for a woman to travel solo.
The female adventurer was vanishingly rare and those determined to break the mould – even dressing as men to get away with it – were often viewed with suspicion or even punished for their wanderlust.
Many were celebrated, of course, even if it wasn’t until some years later. Jeanne Baret. Isabella Bird. Amelia Earhart. Mary Kingsley. Lady Hester Stanhope. Nelly Bly – the list of inspiring female travellers and adventurers is endless.
Many went where no man had ever gone before. And, of course, survived to tell the most inspirational tales.
Now, well into the second decade of the second millennium, we have had something of a travel revolution.
In 2018, travel, adventure and experience are integral to our lives. Our globe has shrunk to the smallest it has been since the advent of air travel thanks to the internet, with its mesmerising photography and wealth of information showing us what is out there to be discovered.
Thanks to these colourful and captivating tales of adventure, it has never been more tempting to embark on our own trips – and why not even experience them on our own?
More than half of solo travellers are women and more than half of those plan active holidays – bucket list travel and adventure where you can really experience a place, meet fascinating people along the way and contribute to local communities.
In fact, at Exodus Travels we have seen an increase in the number of women booking solo adventures as well as joining groups of like-minded people to explore the world together.
That means thousands of women are out there right now making their own adventures.
In honour of International Women’s Day, we want to bring you 5 of the most inspiring female travellers, adventurers and explorers making their way around the globe today.
It just might spark the beginning of your own adventure.
1 ELISE WORTLEY
Elise’s story is a fascinating one. An employee of Exodus Travels with a lifelong passion for adventure, Elise is walking through the Indian Himalayas with an all-female team and no modern day equipment, following in the footsteps of legendary female explorer Alexandra David-Neél who set out in 1924 and walked that same route when it was forbidden to foreigners.
Elise was inspired to make the journey by the book David-Neél wrote on her return, My Journey To Lhasa, which reveals the hardships David-Neél went through even to be able to make the trip – and the experiences she had along the way, against all odds.
Elise not only replicated the route that David-Neél walked over her 14-year expedition, but she also wore the same clothes and used the same rudimentary equipment David-Neél had at her disposal.
She hiked up mountains in traditional Nepalese dress and carried all her belongings in a chairpack that she made herself using a sawn-off old chair.
No high tech hiking boots, jacket or tent. No lip balm (whaaa?).
Just yak fur boots, a yak wool coat and a yak fur tent. And to think you can’t even go to the loo without taking your phone with you.
Passionate about raising awareness of women’s rights in travel, her aim with the trip is to encourage others not to be afraid to take on a challenge.
‘I want to highlight female leaders and prove just how hard Alexandra’s journey really was back in the early 1900s,’ she says: ‘I want to show that women were, and still are, at the forefront of adventure and shaping the way in which we travel.’
Her blogs, (example titles include ‘traditional clothes wake-up call’ and ‘10 things I didn’t fully appreciate about a warm bed’) are absolute must-reads and make us a) grateful for the high-tech fleece-lined boots we have on our feet right now, and b) give us massive wanderlust.
Just imagine, there are little girls out there right now who one day will want to follow in Elise Wortley’s footsteps.
You can find out more about Elise’s journey here or on her Instagram @woman_with_altitude or seek out your own taste of her journey with your very own iconic trek here.
2 KIKO MATTHEWS
You have to meet Kiko Matthews to truly understand why she decided to row solo across the Atlantic, pretty much before she’d ever set foot in a rowing boat, to raise money for King’s College Hospital.
The science teacher-turned-paddleboard instructor, who is currently just over halfway through the 3,000 mile row, is a personality powerhouse – and she is aiming to cross the ocean in a world record time of 45 days, taking 11 days off the current female record.
Oh – and of course, like all good adventure stories, there’s a catch or two. Until she started training last year, she had never set foot in a rowing boat aside from a spin in a boating lake aged 9.
The second catch? In 2010, Kiko had a brain tumour that caused rare and debilitating disease Cushing’s. King’s College Hospital saved her life then – but the tumour returned during her training. Rather than quit, she casually had it whipped out – again at King’s – and carried on with her training.
Kiko, who will (all being well) be one of only 6 women who have successfully made the crossing, raised money to make the trip with an all-female fundraising collective 100TogetHER, which looked for 100 individual women or female groups pledge £1,000 each.
For Kiko, this community-focused fundraising makes perfect sense for the challenge. ‘This record is about them as much as me,’ she said ‘I put photos of all the women who helped me on the inside of my boat. Their faces will keep me going.
‘I’ve been single for years, so I’m very independent,’ she adds. ‘But I discovered long ago that I can’t always achieve the things I want to achieve on my own. I have to ask for help.
‘I’ve always been into the notion of community and working together to help overcome things.
‘I’ve proved it to myself that community and collaboration are sometimes the only way to achieve your dreams.
Kiko – currently shark-dodging and dolphin watching somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic ocean – is blogging about her incredible feat at kikomatthews.co.uk (her latest is quite the read) and on Instagram at @kikomatthews.
If you think rowing of any sort might be for you (no need to go from zero to Atlantic crossing of course), you can test your oar skills with one of Exodus Travels’ aquatic adventures.
Canoeing down the Dordogne, anyone?
3 MARY LOU
Her Instagram handle gives you a clue to one of her passions in life. But Mary Lou, aka @itstheveganmary, is about so much more than being vegan.
An entrepreneur from Dalston, she is taking a break from her London life to travel Asia, documenting her travels on Instagram as Vegan Solo Traveler.
Currently in Thailand and heading next to Cambodia, Mary Lou’s utterly approachable yet inspiring Instagram is replete with colourful shots of her loving life after swapping the daily grind for globe-trotting.
Now instead of cycling to work along the Kingsland Road, she is cycling through a market in Vietnam and giving her followers (and us) enormous life envy in the process.
‘I didn’t get to travel much in my 20s as I started working as soon as I left uni, then I started a business and got married,’ she says. ‘I did take holidays here and there but it was hardly ever outside of Europe. Divorce a couple of years ago meant I started to see life differently and of course regretted not seeing the world.
‘Being single and childfree means I can embrace my freedom and so I booked a plane ticket to Hanoi. I researched Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand via Instagram and blogs, planned a route and decided to do the backpacker thing and stay mostly in hostels.
‘I’ve always been independent but as the trip got closer I felt so nervous to the point of almost not going. I wondered if I’d hate staying in dorms, whether I’d find much vegan food, if I’d even enjoy being away – and even questioned whether I was too old to be backpacking.
‘It turns out I had nothing to worry about.
‘I made so many new friends from all over the world and of all ages; I nearly always had company. There were a few times when I decided I needed my own space so would stay in hotels and that was a little lonely as it was harder to meet people.
‘Asia is easy to get around and I always felt safe as a female travelling alone. Hostel staff are helpful with booking journeys and tours, talking to fellow travellers helps with planning new places to visit.
‘It’s easy enough to find good vegan food but there were some challenges which I share on my Instagram page. Travelling solo meant I could tick off many things from my bucket list including scuba diving and I conquered many fears, including sleeping in a bamboo hut full of creepy crawlies.
‘I didn’t need to compromise on anything I wanted to do or wait for anyone else. I’d recommend everyone travels solo at least once in life. For me, I’ll be travelling solo more often. It’s taught me to be fearless and always go for what I want.
‘Far from being alone, I pretty much always had company, making so many new friends from all over the world and of all ages, including a fabulous 68-year-old American lady who reminded me it’s never too late to follow your dreams.’
You could be cycling off around Vietnam with cycling adventure holidays like these – including this epic Hilltribes cycle trip.
Explore Cambodian adventures here and check out what Thailand has to offer here.
4 KRISTIN ADDIS
Kristin is an award-winning solo traveller, adventurer and blogger at Be My Travel Muse.
She’s ticked off pretty much every country in the world – Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Indonesia, Austria, Botswana, Mozambique, Argentina, Sri Lanka, Kyrgyzstan – Kristin has seen them all and so much more, and almost all entirely alone.
‘I started out as a normal girl without a trust fund and full of fears, but through travelling I learned that I’m brave, powerful, capable, and strong,’ she says.
She is devoted to solo travel and the liberation it brings – and now she shares her wisdom to motivate other women to make the leap – not least through her book, Conquering Mountains: How To Solo Travel The World Fearlessly, all about how women who have never travelled solo can find the courage to go, plus how to save up effectively, how to stay safe and what to pack.
‘Sometimes the most daunting part about going on a trip is the planning part, she says. ‘How do I figure out where to go, how do I deal with naysayers, what about the fear, and how am I going to save up for this and be able to afford it? With the right framework, you can break it down into pieces, like a cake, and make it more manageable and enjoyable. Because we all love cake, right?’
While it can be daunting, her advice is to just go for it.
‘Solo travelling can seem pretty scary the first, or even the 15th time you do it, but it’s almost always oh, so worth it! Solo female travel isn’t nearly as uncommon as it once was, and you’ll meet plenty of other solo travelling ladies on the road who are just like you. Just take the leap!’
You can find her posting on Instagram at @bemytravelmuse and find inspiration for your own Kristin-style trip to Sri Lanka here, a Mozambique getaway here or an Argentinian adventure here.
5 DERVLA MURPHY
What do you think you’ll be doing in your 80s? If you’re anything like Dervla Murphy, you’ll be travelling around the world on a bicycle.
‘On my 10th birthday, a bicycle and an atlas coincided as presents and a few days later I decided to cycle to India,’ she says.
50 years later, she is still going. The inimitable Dervla has been travelling the globe, mostly alone and mostly by bike, with limited supplies and equipment, for five decades.
She writes as she goes, and her best known book – Full Tilt: Ireland to India with a Bicycle – is a bestseller.
She has written 20 more titles since, charting her travels from one end of the earth to the other.
‘Choose your country, use guidebooks to identify the areas most frequented by foreigners – and then go in the opposite direction’ she says.
If Dervla has inspired you to explore the world on two wheels, find more about Exodus Travels’ cycling holidays here.
Find inspo on cycling through remote mountainous areas of Laos here and India – or a very Dervla Murphy-style 15-day Kerala and tropical India cycle adventure – here.
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