Women’s Day: These Female Travellers Can Motivate You to Hit the Road

Celebrated on March 8, International Women’s Day (IWD) is observed to mark the social, political, economic and other achievements of women. It is also a day to raise awareness about women’s equality. IWD can also be considered a lobby that calls for action to accelerate gender parity. Fundraising, uplifting women by raising visibility, organising events and shared missions are some of the objectives that International Women’s Day aims to achieve worldwide. The IWD website is a platform that helps create and forge a positive change in women for good.

There are many ways in which International Women’s Day is observed. Be it through fund-raising, launching an initiative, running a campaign or donating to a female-focused charity, three main beliefs guide the purpose of IWD. And, they are as follows:

• Identifying, increasing and celebrating women’s visibility to promote equality and their achievements
• A shared purpose, gathered trust and appreciation help bring a positive change in women along with strategic collaboration
• Gender bias and discrimination can be abolished by raising awareness worldwide

Thus, on March 8 every year, women’s achievements are upheld, challenges are recognized and greater attention and focus are given to their rights and gender equality. The below listed solo women travellers are a great source of inspiration to many others when it comes to living your dreams what come may. So, read on... 

Women Travellers for Instant Inspiration

Right from backpacking to hitch-hiking cross country, these women travellers will make you want to give up your fears and fall in love with travelling alone:

• Shivya Nath

Hailing from a small town, Shivya Nath had always dreamt big on travelling the world. Her conservative family values restricted her from living her dreams. Her family was hesitant to let her travel alone as a woman.

After she completed high school, she moved to Singapore to complete her graduation. Things started looking good for her travel dreams when she hit it big and bagged a job at the Singapore Tourism Board. For a while, she did enjoy her role at her job which taught her a lot about travel, but the corporate life was too much for her.

At 23, she quit her job and within two years, she began her full-time travelling career all over the world. Today, she has a blog called ‘The Shooting Star’ where she regularly updates her stories. She has lived with Guatemala's Mayan community and swam with sharks off the eastern Malaysian coast. She is regularly featured by BBC and Nat Geo Traveller India.

Lakshmi Sharath

Lakshmi is a true inspiration for solo trips for women. She worked for 15 years before realising her dream to travel the country and the world. Besides being a full-time travel blogger, she is also a media professional, established photographer, notable writer and content specialist.

Lakshmi has been to most places to visit in India as well as 25 other countries around the globe. She began her blog in 2005 called ‘Travel with Lakshmi,’ which had received the best travel blog award in the year by Indiebloggies.

• Anuradha Goyal

Anuradha is another shining example of those who have left the mundane corporate life after working for 12 years to pursue their dream of travelling. She started her travelling journey with the help of a road trip planner and rose to visit most of the female travel destinations in India.

It has been a decade since she left her job and since then she has visited at least 15 countries all over the globe. She regularly publishes on her blog called ‘Inditales,’ which has received huge media attention over the years.

• Rutavi Mehta

Working in the hospitality sector did not bode well for her when she decided to backpack around Europe and take a break from regular life. That is when she fell in love with travelling solo.

She has recently trekked to Mount Everest Base Camp and is often recognized for undertaking the ‘rickshaw run’ where she raced a rickshaw from Jaisalmer to Shillong. She also believes in making a change and helping people, which is why she volunteers two months a year to teach children at schools in Ladakh.

• Mridula Dwivedi

With over 18 years of on-and-off travelling experience, Mridula is one of the most experienced and adventurous female travellers in India. Her blog ‘Travel Tales of India & Abroad’ began in 2005 and she has been travelling since then.

Even though she has a PhD from IIT Kanpur and later went on to be a professor, she quit her job in 2016 and began to pursue her full-time career as a solo female traveller and blogger. To date, she has covered over 26 countries and hopes to travel all day. Her website and blog page has received quite an acclamation and drawn the eyes of BBC and Guardian.

Living out of a suitcase may seem scary to most, especially if you are a woman. But, the stories and blogs of these women, as well as hundreds of others who travel the world, are sure to inspire you to take solo trips at least once in a lifetime. It may seem sudden and overwhelming to begin with, but the joy of travelling alone has its thrill and charm that can only be uncovered when you begin exploring.

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