I would like to thank Iris for publishing this article. Her blog is a great place to follow her fearless and epic solo adventure and an amazing inspiration for female travelers looking to get over the fear of traveling alone. After reading this I recommend you check out her post on tackling sexual harassment when abroad. But first, learn about these online security tips: For backpackers, hitchhikers, squatters, and couch surfers, we spend such a large amount of our time listening to the fear-mongering of others pointing out the dangers and flaws in the way we chose to live,Continue reading
safety
Street Harassment Abroad: An Introduction
Share this piece if you think it matters! Keep traveling. We know the drill of catcalling in our hometowns and countries and possibly have set up our own systems of avoiding the everyday comments and ‘compliments’ from strangers on our commute. As women or individuals perceived as women – as a collective – we know and even expect street harassment to happen. Once you travel, whether solo or in a group, things become different. Men scream things at you in a foreign language and instinctively you know that it’s street harassment, but as you don’t understand the exact meaning ofContinue reading
Waterproofing my Backpack Before the Next Trip
Waterproofing my backpack before the next trip. This is important maintenance work! I’m doing a lot of preparation works from my mom’s home before I head out again. I’ve been at my mom’s place for a few days since hitchhiking home for Christmas from Istanbul. Though I love catching up with my family here, I can’t stay for new years because I don’t like to be in this country during that time. The reason? They’ve got this insane fireworks culture in the Netherlands. Everyone can buy fireworks and light them up themselves, which wouldn’t be a problem if there weren’tContinue reading
The Hitchhiker’s Wishlist (2014)
This year’s hitchhiker’s wishlist for Christmas and in general is as follows: 1. Colorful markers to make ultra-cool hitchhiking signs 2. Hiking socks. There are never enough new unsmelly, hole-free hiking socks 3. Rip-proof, dirt-proof, and smell-proof backpack. Preferably with an anti-food explosion feature too (I have traumas) 4. Leather hiking boots with cool laces 5. Zero-mass tent with zero-mass stakes. Why is this so heavy? 6. (Related to number 5:) Magic mattress and sleeping bag with spontaneous ‘my own bed’ feature that makes it as comfy as home. A little like that scene in Harry Potter when they enterContinue reading
The Best Travel Apps
I was planning to write about ‘the best travel apps’ for a long time, and I’m finally stuck somewhere with WiFi to actually do it. So here we go. Starting with the obvious observation: The last decade has seen some incredible progress regarding technology and so it has affected the way in which we travel. It doesn’t matter whether we go to an all-inclusive resort in Turkey or go backpacking in a crap hostel with bedbugs, We, the (privileged) people who travel have started to expect WiFi and other services everywhere. We bring our own laptop (heavy), tablet (perfect) or smartphoneContinue reading