5 Solo Female Travel Bloggers Who Are Challenging Stereotypes

Think of a solo female traveler. Thanks to Instagram, what probably comes to our minds is a white woman with blond hair and sun-kissed skin. I love these amazing women, avidly follow their adventures, and read their travel diaries often.

However, it's not often we see women from certain parts of the world on the road. We don't see many black or Latinx women decorating our Instagram pages. It's not often we see a Muslim woman. We don't see many hijabi travel girls. It's not often we come across a brown girl who packed her bags and hit the road. But these women exist, and they blog about their life on the road, inspiring many other young girls (and boys) around the world with itchy feet to follow their dreams. Ahead are a few female travelers challenging the stereotypes.

01

Anam Hakeem (Girl With Green Passport)

Anam Hakeem of Girl With Green Passport blogs about the reality of traveling the world on a Pakistani passport. She comes from a middle-class family in Karachi, Pakistan. From a young age, Anam had one big dream — to travel the world. When she didn't get permission from her parents, she rebelled against all odds. Her solo adventures began in 2014 when she scored a US visa to see TomorrowWorld.

Quote: "In my community, women are allowed to study, even encouraged to go to good private schools, and finish their Masters. But at the same time, they are also not appreciated if they develop ambitions other than marrying, and making a family at the right age. And travel before marriage? Ha! The people I've met abroad while solo traveling were shocked, not to see a female solo traveler but, one from Pakistan. Traveling taught me to let go of stereotypes and see humanity through the lens of tolerance. I realized we are all same, even in our desire to be different."

02

Gloria Atanmo (The Blog Abroad)

Living out of a suitcase for last five years, Gloria has traveled to 60+ countries in six continents, and writes about her adventures on The Blog Abroad. She's of Nigerian descent, born and raised in California. Gloria believes that with the technology, and resources around us, it's not really groundbreaking for a woman to venture around solo anymore. She hopes that more women will feel empowered enough to travel solo at least once in their lifetime as travel helps you reveal your own self.

Quote: "I often found myself being the spokesperson for black people, simply because the people I was meeting had no direct contact with anyone who looked like me, so I became their go-to for any and all questions related to black people and black culture. While amusing and lighthearted most of the time, this also came with its fair share of racist remarks, outdated stereotypes, a slew of microaggressive behaviors, and probably the worst, the constant assumption that the only way I could afford to be in a country as a black woman, was because local men were paying me for sex. There was a severe lack of black voices in the travel space, and major travel brands simply weren't marketing to us or including our faces in their ads, as if we didn't travel just as much as the next race. I didn't see media being made for black travelers, so I started creating it myself as a resource to other black people who may be venturing abroad for the first time."

03

Juvena Huang (The Wandering Wasp)

Juvena was born in Singapore to a Chinese family. After a sojourn to Vietnam, her experiences of meeting Hmong people ignited her travel dreams. She acquired her motorcycle license and her scooter named Ebony. Ebony soon became Juvena's path to freedom. It was the getaway to a diverse motorcycling community. Sadly, it was the death of a close motorcycling friend that made her realize how precious life is and encouraged her to leave the comfort of her home in pursuit of the unknown adventures on the road. She left her job and her travel dreams finally became a reality. Ebony became her companion as she rode from Singapore to Europe alone, covering 44,000 kilometers, and 25 countries in 27 months.

Quote: "In some countries where women do not usually go out unaccompanied, I often get asked about my husband. I would jokingly point to my scooter. Sometimes, policemen are astonished to see 'F' in gender on my passport. It is unusual for women to be riding. Are you sure you are a lady?' they asked. Upon knowing that I rode thousands of kilometers solo on my scooter, I get respect and admiration. Sometimes an encouraging pat on the back. Of course, there is also a bit of unwanted attention at times. In some societies, women traveling alone can be regarded as 'loose' and 'easy.' How movies or pornography portray women also contribute to this perception about foreign women. Twice, I received direct sexual proposition. Maybe, the dating culture is different or even non-existent."

04

Shivya Nath (The Shooting Star)

In 2011, Shivya took a two-month sabbatical from her job at Singapore Tourism Board, went on a flash-packing trip around Europe with a friend, and volunteered in Indian Himalayas. At 25, she sold most of her possessions and decided to live a nomadic life. She's been traveling the world without a home for four years now and shares her stories on The Shooting Star. Growing up in a protective Indian family in Dehradun, a small town in India at the base of Himalayas, her parents never liked the idea of their daughter traveling alone.

Quote: "I only gave my parents a tempered version of what my life was like, until I had actually figured it out. I also never asked them for money (as often happens in India), proving that I was financially independent and responsible for my own decisions. During my first two-month trip, I saw, experienced, and lived more than I ever had before, and decided to quit my corporate job with the dream of traveling the world on my own terms. Being on the road, sometimes people respond with fear and negativity, but sometimes they feel inspired and tell me how they would encourage their own daughters to travel alone too. A lot of people think I'm crazy when they hear I'm traveling alone, they tell me how unsafe and scary it is, then go out of their way to ensure I'm safe. It's this kindness of strangers that keeps me going."

05

Yasmin Ali (Oh, Yasmin Travels)

A 24-year-old solo traveler and a travel photographer, Yasmin Ali was born in Yemen to Somali parents, and moved to America at the age of five. Yasmin currently works in digital marketing and on the on-going series, "Letters From" as she shares glimpses into her travels with perfect letters to her readers.

Quote: "Even though travel has always been a part of my life, things changed when I made the bold choice to wear the headscarf (hijab) at 20. I noticed the changes immediately. The day after I decided to wear the hijab, I booked a ticket to Minnesota to visit my aunt. The day of my trip, at the airport, I got my first wake-up call. As soon as I got in, and sat down, an older white male walked right past me, mumbled a bunch of profanity, and glared at me as if to tell me I shouldn't be there. On this trip alone, a father stopped playing with his child to stare at me, a woman moved to a different row to glare at me some more, and a family whispered furiously right behind me. I didn't even get to Minnesota yet!"