Women are no longer waiting for others to travel; they are going it alone or in groups.
Women are no longer waiting for others to travel; they are going it alone either totally solo or with a group of soon to be new best friends which is what our company specializes in.
Yes safety is still the number one concern when you poll women who plan on traveling solo, but there are a lot of other issues that factor in as well. Safety becomes far less of a concern when you travel with a group like ours. When traveling completely solo it is more of an issue. The biggest concern is walking alone at night. In some cities I feel totally comfortable doing it and in others I don’t. There isn’t much the travel industry can do about that.
I’ve read about women only floors in hotels but never stayed on one. Frankly I’m not sure that’s a critical need - but if it makes some feel more comfortable then why not? I think having the type of security in the elevator which forces you to tap your card to get onto your floor is likely sufficient.
When taking an Uber or other similar service, it’s important to double check that you’re in the right vehicle. Uber has stepped up security by offering a myriad of safety measures including a special PIN to tell drivers, the ability to select a female driver, a tracking device and an emergency button. When traveling in a group with a private vehicle, this is no longer a concern.
What I hear women complain about more often is the single supplement. Women traveling solo hate it. They also don’t like having to share a room with a stranger on a group trip or suffer the up-charge. We count these two issues as well as the safety in numbers differential as one of the reasons we’ve seen such success. On our trips, the price we show is for a single private room - no sharing, unless you really want to with a friend or relative. We never put strangers together.
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Upscale train journeys and cruises have not yet (by and large) made their trips accessible for solo women travelers because their pricing assumes double-occupancy. Sometimes the single supplement is 100% more. Depending on whose stats you use, 24-36% of travelers are going solo these days. It’s crazy to me that such a large percentage of travelers are either being ignored or penalized with a hefty solo fee.
In 2009 Doni Belau started Girls’ Guide to Paris so she no longer had to choose between what she did and what she loved. We began as an on-line guide to Paris focused on what women would enjoy. Over time, we began offering small-group, women-only trips to Paris, and with their success, expanded to other parts of France ... then Bali, England, Greece & Morocco.
By 2022, we were traveling to more than 20 countries, so we changed our name to Girls’ Guide to the World to reflect our global perspective. My heart will always be in Paris, but the spirit of our trips transcends any one place.
I feel like the luckiest woman in the world; I get to travel to beautiful places and share the experience with incredible women who have so much to offer.
Come see the world with other women who share your appreciation for beauty and spirit of adventure. We are sisters who come as strangers and leave as friends.