Travel
Laughs & Lessons: 13 Female Solo Travellers Reveal Their Funniest Stories
Slide Nr 1We’re looking forward to better times… by looking back on great times past. 13 solo female travellers share their most amusing stories – and the lessons they’ve learned on the road.
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Travel
Laughs & Lessons: 13 Female Solo Travellers Reveal Their Funniest Stories.
Slide Nr 2Monkey Business. “My bag was stolen by a monkey while I was visiting the Sacred Monkey Forest in Bali, Indonesia. True story! You can bring bananas for the monkeys, but I didn’t want to get that close, so I didn’t bring any. Yet as soon as I walked into the park, I was surrounded by monkeys! A small one jumped up next tome and started yanking my shoulder bag. I didn’t want to let go, but everyone around me was screaming, “Let go of your bag!” I had no choice. The monkey ran up the hill with my purse, unzipped it (how did the little guy know to do that?) and dumped everything out! I was mortified and was already planning to call my bank and tell them that a monkey stole my credit card! Then the park ranger came over and tried to help me retrieve my wallet and other items. Meanwhile, many people were filming the monkey rummaging through all my belongings. It took 20 minutes, and I got back almost everything except for a watch and an umbrella. What did I learn? Don’t trust a monkey? Ha! In all seriousness, I feel that sometimes you can be as prepared as you want, but some things are just out of your control. Be prepared to go with the flow and roll with the punches.” – Queenie Mak of Ms Travel Solo
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Travel
Laughs & Lessons: 13 Female Solo Travellers Reveal Their Funniest Stories.
Slide Nr 3Airport Error. “I booked a trip from London to Dublin after finding a flight deal that was too good to pass up. As usual, I was cutting it a little too close when I left for the airport, but luckily the Piccadilly line goes all the way to the airport, and the subway can’t get stuck in traffic. I arrived at the check-in desk out of breath, but I knew I would make my flight. However, when I handed over my passport and confirmation number, the check-in agent said: “You’re at the wrong airport. Your flight leaves from Gatwick, not Heathrow.” My face dropped, and my heart sank. I would never be able to get from Heathrow to Gatwick in time to catch my flight. I was devastated, and I could feel tears running down my face. The hotel I had booked was non-refundable, and I lost the money for the flights as well. Not to mention the awesome week I had planned in Dublin. It took me a while until I was able to laugh about this travel fail, but it taught me a valuable lesson: I now always double-check which airport my flight leaves from, if there’s more than one airport in a city. Travelling solo means that there’s nobody double-checking things for you – I’ve learned to be much better organised thanks to my solo trips.” – Dani Heinrich of Globetrotter Girls
2/13
Travel
Laughs & Lessons: 13 Female Solo Travellers Reveal Their Funniest Stories.
Slide Nr 4Getting A Lift. “I’m from NYC, so driving isn’t exactly second nature, which I was reminded of during a solo trip to Guadeloupe. One morning, as I was driving on a main highway, I spotted a lovely view that I wanted to get closer to. I turned off the highway, but as I got closer there was a big sign warning not to drive further as it was private property – a bummer, but really no big deal. That is, until I was turning around to get back to the highway, and backed right into a (pretty obvious) ditch. I had no working cell phone, but reminded myself not to panic. I toyed with the idea of walking to the highway and trying to flag someone down, but then realised there were three men working the land on the private property, who looked strong enough to lift the back of the car. I wasn’t entirely sure what lifting a car out of a ditch entailed, but I ran over to them and began sharing my story. They looked confused, and I remembered they spoke French, a language in which I can only say ‘bonjour’ with a terrible accent. And so, a game of enthusiastic charades began, as I fell to the ground trying to act like a car tipping backward. They definitely thought I had lost it until they eventually saw the car itself in the ditch – as in, I could have just saved the bad acting and pointed to the problem. Long story short, the men helped me, and in no time I was back on the road, albeit now more cautiously. For me, this was a beautiful lesson in the kindness of strangers.” – Jessie Festa of Jessie on a Journey
3/13
Travel
Laughs & Lessons: 13 Female Solo Travellers Reveal Their Funniest Stories.
Slide Nr 5Chasing Waterfalls. “After exploring over 50 countries, I had still never seen a waterfall in person. So when the opportunity to see Boti Falls, a twin waterfall in Ghana, presented itself, I was up for the adventure. After a 3-hour journey from Accra to Boti, we arrived at the waterfall – and saying I was excited would be an understatement. I quickly changed into my swimsuit and was ready to capture my Instagram-worthy photos. I stood on a small rock close to the waterfall, dancing, laughing and having the best time of my life, but water and smooth rock surfaces are not the best combination. If only someone had told me in time. It happened so quickly! The next thing I knew I was falling. Hard! Thank goodness I was able to break the fall with my left hand, but the epic thing was that my friend who was filming a video got the whole thing in SLOWWW MOTIONNN. Till today, I still look back on the video and have a good laugh. What an incredible way to experience my first waterfall. I guess there is a reason the song says ‘don’t go chasing waterfalls’. But I know I would do it all again in a heartbeat.” – Pelumi Nubi of Black Kintsugi
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Travel
Laughs & Lessons: 13 Female Solo Travellers Reveal Their Funniest Stories.
Slide Nr 6Say ‘Cheese’! “While I was travelling alone around India, people would stop to ask me to take a photo with them innumerable times a day. At first it was cute, but then sometimes people would actually form a line, waiting to take a photo with me. After several days of this, I was so tired of taking photos that I pretended to announce that I would be charging them 100 rupees per photo (a little over $1 USD). Of course it was a joke and, as I’d hoped, some people left – but the joke was on me when others actually took money out to pay me. I wouldn’t accept it, but I had to laugh. I couldn’t believe they took me so seriously. It was such a very cute moment for me. I found the locals to be really nice and sweet. India is such a magical country!” – Olga María of Dreams in Heels
5/13
Travel
Laughs & Lessons: 13 Female Solo Travellers Reveal Their Funniest Stories.
Slide Nr 7Girl’s Best Friend. “Two glasses of wine, two veggie tacos and some shots of the bartender’s prized tequila – it was time to make my way back to my villa on the beach. The day had been spent working on my blog at the beach of Hua Hin in Thailand. I’d made a new best friend: a dog I named Oeht, who waited for me at the door of the bar. Yes, he liked that leftover veggie taco. There was no saving it for the morning, he was insistent. That night I found myself telling Oeht my life story. I know he knew what I was talking about, I could tell by the way he looked at me with his big brown eyes. The next morning he was gone, but that afternoon I would find him sitting next to a couple giving them that look of understanding as they sipped on their wine, talking to him and feeding him chips and guacamole. I had a good laugh.” – Anna Sherchand of AnnaSherchand.com
6/13
Travel
Laughs & Lessons: 13 Female Solo Travellers Reveal Their Funniest Stories.
Slide Nr 8Customs Confusion. “On my first international solo trip, I landed in Sydney, Australia, excited and scared to be out of the United States for the first time. I got off the plane and had never been through customs before. As I was filling out the form, I wasn’t sure how to answer the question of whether I had been around any livestock recently – being from Southern California, I’m going to say the answer was NO, but I didn’t know if they checked my shoes to see if they had mud on them! I was so worried, I asked the agent 3 times if what I was writing on my form was correct. He basically told me to relax, consider where I had been, and say no. I always laugh looking back at this conversation, because the answer is very clear now, but when you’ve never done it before, filling out customs forms can be incredibly nerve-racking! Remember to relax, and answer the questions with logic and truth, but don’t overthink it!” – Danielle Nelson of Pack This Journal
7/13
Travel
Laughs & Lessons: 13 Female Solo Travellers Reveal Their Funniest Stories.
Slide Nr 9Table For One. “I’ve been travelling the world solo since 2012. That’s a total of eight years requesting a ‘table for one, please.’ As with any life skill, eight years is quite a backlog of experience to draw upon, so it might come as a surprise when I admit that I am still, to this day, a victim of my own boredom when it comes to dining alone. I’ve made up characters for myself and convinced anyone who will listen of whichever alias I am that day. Surprisingly, when a woman says she simply wants to dine alone, it’s not a believable response for many. I tried taking books to read and even noise-cancelling headphones to suggest I was not available for open discussion. “Excuse me, madame,” an eligible suitor might dare approach. I would slowly and painfully remove my headphones, smile (the forced kind) and await the opening line. “I couldn’t help but notice you are dining alone.” You don’t say? “Are you travelling by yourself?” Creepy. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have bothered you.” Silence. Sure, there are evenings where I welcome conversation and look forward to meeting strangers. But equally, there are evenings where I just don’t feel up for it. Those nights, I now reserve for room service.” – Brooke Saward of World of Wanderlust
8/13
Travel
Laughs & Lessons: 13 Female Solo Travellers Reveal Their Funniest Stories.
Slide Nr 10Ask, And You Shall Receive. “For my very first solo adventure, I decided to spend four months backpacking around Europe. I was 21 and desperately wanted to prove that I could be independent and self-sufficient. Within the first couple of weeks on my own, I visited Zurich, where I decided to go see James Joyce’s grave. Keep in mind, this was well before we were all travelling with smartphones, so I was relying on a map to get me to my destination. A couple of trams later, I found myself walking endlessly up and down where I thought the graveyard should be, to no avail. I walked in circles, refusing to admit to myself that I was woefully lost. Finally, I asked someone if they knew where the cemetery was. Also a tourist, he said he wasn’t sure, but that I was standing next to a sign that said ‘Friedhof’ – which, he informed me, means ‘cemetery’ in German. I had walked past that sign at least five times, but in wanting to be as self-sufficient as possible, I had been too proud to ask a stranger for help. That taught me that I needed to loosen up when travelling on my own, and that it was totally okay to ask for help when I needed it. It turns out, after 14 years travelling to over 100 countries, most people are indeed happy and eager to lend a hand!” – Brenna Holeman of This Battered Suitcase.com
9/13
Travel
Laughs & Lessons: 13 Female Solo Travellers Reveal Their Funniest Stories.
Slide Nr 11Running On Empty. “Picking up my rental car upon arriving in Jordan close to midnight, the agent mentioned a gas station nearby. Great. Now I didn’t need to ask where one was so I could refill before returning the car. The next morning, it was all excitement as I officially started my 16-day road trip. Setting off, I noticed that there wasn’t a fuel gauge on the dashboard. How odd, but I didn’t waste a second thought on it. Passing numerous gas stations and waving goodbye to civilisation, I headed into the barren desert and towards my destination: the remote desert castles. I was loving the adventure, when suddenly the car started to slow down. What was going on? With no response to the gas pedal, the car sputtered to a stop. Mild panic set in. Getting out, I opened the hood. Don’t ask why, as I know nothing about engines, but isn’t that what everyone does? Happily, a knight in shining armour appeared. No, not a mirage but a Jordanian in a beat-up car. Through hand gestures, he said I ran out of gas. What?! It was a new rental. How could I be out of gas after just 30 miles? As I discovered, rentals in Jordan don’t come with a full gas tank, or really any gas. So that’s why the agent mentioned a gas station! And wouldn’t you know it, after getting gas in the car with assistance from my knight, the fuel gauge appeared. Since then, I’ve never forgotten the hospitality of Jordanians, and I have never taken fuel in rental cars for granted again!” – April Blaszak of The Unending Journey
10/13
Travel
Laughs & Lessons: 13 Female Solo Travellers Reveal Their Funniest Stories.
Slide Nr 12True Blue. “I’ve been lucky to not struggle too much with body confidence in my life, but I was still somewhat terrified about stripping naked in a park at 3am in Hull city centre, and covering myself in blue body paint. The American photographer Spencer Tunick, who specialises in large-scale nude photoshoots, was my reason for being there – along with 3,000 other willing volunteers. For three hours, we paraded through the streets of Hull followed by Spencer’s camera, all completely naked. It was unbelievably liberating, but more surprising was how unified we all felt. With nothing to hide behind, this crowd of blue bodies became immediate friends. I barely noticed the nakedness around me: I was simply revelling in the surreality of the experience, and the realisation of how comfortable I felt in my own skin.” – Flora Baker of Flora the Explorer
11/13
Travel
Laughs & Lessons: 13 Female Solo Travellers Reveal Their Funniest Stories.
Slide Nr 13Sleepless In LA. “After travelling the USA for 3 weeks, I was in my penultimate destination, San Francisco. Having not done much research before arriving, I didn’t realise how quickly Alcatraz tickets sold out; the only ticket available was for the day I was meant to be leaving for LA, but I went ahead and booked it anyway, disrupting all of my travel plans. My only option to get to LA was by overnight bus, so I booked this and cancelled the first night in my LA hostel. How bad could an overnight bus be? Fast forward to that evening: I boarded the bus and got comfy, somehow managing to sleep for quite a lot of the journey, and waking up just before we arrived in LA. I checked the time – the bus was way ahead of schedule. The bus dropped us off, and I found myself in Hollywood, the wrong end of Hollywood Boulevard, at 4am on a Saturday morning, still pitch-black outside. I made my way to my hostel in an Uber, but of course I’d cancelled my night’s stay, so when I arrived there was nowhere for me to go other than the garden or common room, both littered with passed-out drunk party-goers. After an uncomfortable 8-hour bus journey, the best I could get was a common room sofa! My friend from California still winds me up about it to this day, and a lot of lessons were learnt, namely A) If you want to visit a certain popular attraction, do your research in advance, and B) Cutting costs by travelling overnight isn’t always the best idea. Maybe keep that room reservation if you’re arriving in the early hours!” – Laura Clowes of Country Girl Explores
12/13
Travel
Laughs & Lessons: 13 Female Solo Travellers Reveal Their Funniest Stories.
Slide Nr 14An Unlikely Pawtner. “Not so much a humorous story, but an encouraging one: Back in 2015, due to a ferocious storm, I was left temporarily stranded on an island off Taiwan. With no safe way of getting back to the mainland for a week, I was cut off from civilisation. I made the most of my time by cruising around on my bright red moped. Being a solo lady on this island may make you ponder if I was lonely and at a bit of a loose end, but I felt the complete opposite. Not only was I connecting with nature, but I also made a four-legged friend. Every day, as I drove past this shaggy dog, he would run up to me and snap at my ankles.‘Go away,’ I scolded. But as the days passed, I finally decided to halt. He jumped right onto my footrest. ‘Uh okay,’ I said as I revved the engine. We immediately became best pals. All he wanted to do was see the island and world like me. This experience taught me to 1) Open my heart to others during difficult times, 2) Be prepared to let go of control, and 3) Share experiences with the love and support of others. We’re all in this together. Stay strong and open-hearted during this time of lockdown and isolation, my friends.” – Alice Teacake of Teacake Travels
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