Travelling alone - is it dangerous for a girl ?

Peter
Traveller
9332 comments

Hi kattien.
In my eyes it is not dangerous - it is the same in Bratislava, London or Rome. Avoid the dark corners and if you go out int the evening, join some other travellers. You will meet a lot of others in hostels. For example share a 4/6-bed room - and often it is the case that you will join the others of your room for party at night. :)
But maybe someone else can share experiences.
Peter :)

anonymous
Traveller
2469 comments

Thank you for advices :) It helps me much..

CatMandu
Traveller
2 comments

Hi Kattien! :D

I can tell you for sure, as long as you follow Peter's advice in the post above, and also keep an open but alert mind, you'll be fine! I've been travelling on my own for 10 years now, and I HAVE been in my fair share of bad/dangerous situations, but these have always been because I ignored the forementioned advices and didn't check where I was going and when..
(One example is when I went to Belfast in mid-july. Not recommended, especially when you got an irish accent, like yours truly, AND you stumble into the pro-british parts of town.. BUT, if you avoid these two things, and Marching season, Belfast is a beautiful city. :D )

Just play it safe, be on your guard a bit when you meet people (not to be taken as a think everyone is evil-kinda advice, but there ARE people out there that will try to take advantage of you. But youwill learn to see this very fast, I was a full-out master in judge of character by the second year.), enjoy the travels and have FUN! 8)

Toshiya
Traveller
19 comments

I was also wondering this - thanks for the answers :)

What I was also wondering is do people prefer going alone or in a group? I went interrailling last summer with 2 friends and even though we had fun, we had to compromise with where we went (like we spent nearly a week in France and I didn't want to go at all...) and by the end of it I was really sick of one of the girls I went with.
I want to go again this year but to some different countries but I'm still a bit nervous I wouldn't enjoy a holiday alone :|

CatMandu
Traveller
2 comments

Toshiya;
Don't worry!
I usually always travel alone, not because I'm antisocial or anything, but because it's easier to meet new people! (which is the part I love)
You always meet people in hostels or an the train/bus/trainstation/whereever, and when you're on your own, we humans tend to be more welcoming towards new people.

AND, you never have to compromize. You take your trip in your own pace, do what you wanna do, and live whereever suit you.

But that's just me. I like the experience, because I see more of the countries I go to this way. :D

Flo
Traveller
10723 comments

Hej,

I have done InterRail trips on my own, as well as in groups of two, three, four, five and more people... Depending of the setup of your group I'd prefer a maximum of three, maybe four people for a period longer than one week.

If I'm travelling alone (which I did the last three years in February for about 10-14 days) I spend most of my time with photography, exploring the city and railcc stuff (getting train info/pictures and so on)...if I still have enough energy in the evening it is usually no problem to get to know some new people in the hostel and to go out or just sit together a while and chat.
When travelling with one or two friends we often camp or stay at frieds places so we dont get to meet as many other travellers - if we do it usually on a train. Especially in summer you can easily spot other InterRailers/backpackers along the main routes in Europe, and most of them usually are easy going and nice travel companions at least for the next train ride. :)

Travelling in a bigger group can be really challenging and I would recommend to have kind of certain rules set before you go. Dont try to do everything together, everyday! If someone wants to visit another museum/place/whatever, it is ok. You might even split the group for a few days and meet again in another city.

Tomthebear
Traveller
138 comments

I think, if you stick with the given advices, you`ll be fine! I travelled alone through Scandinavia, last summer (ok, I`m no girl ;) ), and it was nice! Most likely, I will once again travel alone, next summer. This is, because all of my friends either have no interest in that kind of travel, or no time, family etc...

Jakub_W
Traveller
11 comments

Previous answers explaining pretty much everything i thought i would add my experience.
I went Interrailing for 10 days in july '12 with a girl i didn't know that well (only known each other for few months but we live in 2 different countries) and though because interrailing is about meeting new people it would be great. First couple of days were fine but then we started to argue about places to visit etc. I wanted to see as much as i could and she preferred to relax and take our time in fewer places.

If you already know what you want to see or do and you don't want to compromise then its better to do it by yourself. It doesn't get boring, quite the opposite being honest, a lot of other nice, open minded people travel around Europe and it is easy to start talking, travel with them for a bit or just go out one night.

I'm going again this year for 20 days and planning to go by myself as i know i will meet more people than being limited to group i travel with :)

Going back to the topic, i don't think that it matters much whether it comes to safety if you are in a small group or alone, if you follow common sense and don't do thing you wouldn't do in your home town to stay out of scary situations then you will be all good.

Enjoy!