Travelling Solo: Tips for Women Travelling Alone

These tips are taken from a book entitled A Journey of One's Own: Uncommon Advice for the Independent Woman Traveler, by Thalia Zepatos, a book I picked up for two dollars at St. Vincent de Paul. Chapter seven deals with keeping safe while travelling alone, including how to handle sexual harassment when you're alone, away from home. The author writes: "One of the cultural barriers operating here is that many men translate the word no to mean "maybe," "perhaps later," or "you haven't asked the right question." If you want to say no with conviction, then make a special point of it. Smiling and shaking your head from side to side just won't do the trick. (Besides, a side-to-side head shake in Greece or India means yes.) Here are some ways to assert your position:

Change the dynamics of the situation--stop walking if he has been accompanying you, or start walking if you've been conversing at one spot. Cross the street, step off the curb, or on to a bus--anything to denote that you are going your own way alone.
Raise your voice so that others can overhear. Repeat no, no, no, several times; it is understood in many languages. Be sure to learn the translation for no in the local language, too. Don't be afraid to yell loudly."

The first picture is of the inn I stay at when I go to Wakefield. Through the glass windows is the dining room.