JourneyWoman CEO Carolyn Ray Shares Solo Female Travel Tips for Europe on Rick Steves Monday Night Travel Show

Practical tips for female solo travel in Europe 

by JourneyWoman staff

On Monday, March 2, JourneyWoman’s Carolyn Ray joined Lisa Friend on the Rick Steves Monday Night Travel show as the featured guest for International Women’s Day. Focusing on female solo travel in Europe, the discussion included safety, packing and accommodation, and cybersecurity tips for first-time female solo travellers. In these uncertain times, Ray reinforced the importance of registering with governments prior to travel and purchasing travel insurance. She also noted that AI can make travel planning confusing with inaccurate information. “Check your sources, don’t rely only on AI or Google, ask solo women who have been there,” she said.

To help shift perceptions about solo travel, Ray did some myth-busting about who is actually travelling solo, including the outdated perception that solo travel is a niche (it’s a billion-dollar industry), and is only for younger women. Drawing on JourneyWoman’s “Invisible No More” research , she said that 61 per cent of women over 50 prefer to travel solo and that women 65-74 spend the most on travel. Ray showed photographs of adventurous women over 50 travelling in groups, such as JourneyWoman’s annual Northern Lights trip with Hurtigruten. She also spoke about the myth of solo travellers being lonely or sad, showing Alice Morrison, 61, who has just completed a solo hike across Saudi Arabia. “We cannot let ourselves be guided by fear and what we read in the media,” Ray said.

Ray also addressed the single supplement, which makes travel unaffordable for many women. In fact, JourneyWoman’s research shows that 78% of women say that the single supplement is the #1 barrier to solo travel. She noted that  JourneyWoman has been working with many travel companies to change this and curates no single supplement tours on the Women’s Travel Directory

Another topic of interest was cybersecurity and eSims. Ray mentioned that she has been testing Saily, a newer eSim from NordVPN, that integrates VPN technology. Of the many eSIMs on the market now, only NordVPN’s Saily builds security features like ad blocking and web protection into the eSIM, which are turned on automatically. (Use code JOURNEYWOMAN to get 5% off your Saily purchase).