Ten ways to stay safe in a big city

Travelling to a big city can be exciting. They're large, chaotic, and always buzzing. Yet it can also be quite daunting, as big cities are often a hives for would-be thieves and robbers. But simply by taking a few precautions you can make your trip easier. In a recent article for MSN NZ's Travel Bite I shared my 10 top tips for how to travel safely in a big city. Here's what I recommended:

Look the part
No matter whether you're travelling to a big city or a small country town, the number-one rule of travel is: don't dress like a tourist. Wearing shorts, carrying a backpack and slinging a camera around your neck will quickly mark you as a tourist and make you more vulnerable to petty thieves and con-artists. Blend in. Dress like a local and don't wear expensive jewellery.

Lose the valuables
The second golden rule of travel is: don't carry anything you can't bear to lose. Leave your valuables locked up safely in your hotel room and only carry as much money as you need for the day. If you have to take a camera, don't carry it around in a professional looking camera bag. And whatever you do, don't pull out your mobile phone or any other fancy gadgetry in plain view on the street. Slip into a quiet doorway, shop or cafe.

Be alert
One of the great joys of travel is thrill of discovering new and amazing sites and places. But no matter how awestruck you are by your discoveries, you need to stay tuned in to what's going on around you. Be on the lookout for pickpockets in crowded public places such as squares, markets and parks and watch your valuables when travelling on trains, buses and subways.

Stay on track
When walking around a strange new city, stick to the main trafficked streets and routes. Avoid taking shortcuts through deserted parks and vacant lots or down unlit passages. At night, don't even think of walking home, no matter how close you are to your accommodation. Take a taxi; it's a safer bet.

Money matters
Only use ATMs during bank hours and use one inside a bank or in a shopping centre rather than on the street. Also, when carrying money on your person, make sure you split it up. Keep some of it in your socks or shoes, some in a wallet or purse and some in a money belt under your clothing with some smaller notes in your outer pockets ready as "mug money" to hand over to thieves. That way, if anything does happen, you'll at least have enough money to get back to the hotel.

Hold on
Whether you are sitting at a street side cafe, at a bus stop, on a park bench or even inside a restaurant, never leave your handbag next to you, on a chair back or on the table. Always keep your bag on your lap or on the ground with a strap wrapped around your leg. In taxis, the best place to keep your valuables is on the floor between your legs.

Exude confidence
When travelling alone (or even with a group) act confident and adopt a no-nonsense attitude. Always look like you know where you're going — even if you don't! Try to avoid looking at maps while you're in the street. Study your route beforehand, or find one of those wallet-sized maps that you can discreetly refer to if necessary.

Watch your back
If you are being followed duck into a nearby shop and wait until the person has passed. If the person continues to linger around outside, don't be afraid to ask the storekeeper for help.

Stranger danger
No matter where you are staying, always lock the door to your room, even when you are in it. And never open your door to anyone you're not expecting and don't know. Use the peephole and call reception if you're in doubt.

Carry a personal safety device
Consider carrying a personal safety device or other noisemaker, and sound it loudly if you are accosted or feel threatened. Even a simple whistle may cause just enough of a distraction to give you a chance to escape an unpleasant situation.

What tips do you have for travelling safely in big cities?

More wicked websites for wild, wandering women

Thank you so much for the positive feedback for my last blog post, Wicked websites for wild, wandering women. In less than an hour after uploading the post I had more than 150 hits not to mention dozens of emails from women all around globe. It seems we sisters are very keen to do it for ourselves!

Amid all the thank yous and twitter retweets, I was also passed on two more recommendations for honours as a wicked website for wild, wandering women. They are:

HERmail.net Recommended by Evelyn Hannon, editor of Journey Woman, this is a free international directory of women who are willing to mentor other women travelling to their part of the world. As Evelyn writes: "It's my personal gift to women, everywhere and it has connected 1000's of women to date."

WAVE Journey An acronym for Women's Adventures, Vacations & Experiences, WJ is an online resource for women travellers around the world co-founded by Vivienne Chapleo and Jill Hoelting of Canada and United States. The travelling duo also run a travel blog, WAVE Journey Women where they'd highlight places they rather be.

If you know of any other worthy wicked websites for wild, wandering women, please let me know and I'll add them to my list.

Wicked websites for wild, wandering women

It's Wild Wednesday and I can't think of any better way to celebrate than to nominate my favourite websites for wild, wandering women. All started, owned and operated by women, the following eight inspirational sites are the ones I seek out when planning my travels:

Go Galavanting Founded by Katy Quissell and Kim Mance, this online travel magazine and community is for gutsy women who believe there is more to travel than staying in expensive five star resorts and finding the world's perfect facial. Think: experiencing new cultures and going on life changing adventures, but all done with style of course!

Journey Woman Award-winning writer, editor and travelling grandma, Evelyn Hannon, has proved that age and gender are not barriers to travel, creating one of the most respected websites designed especially for women along the way.

Thelma & Louise Club Started by gal pals Christine Davies and Grace Frankel, this exclusive female-only network allows members to meet like-minded women and find travel buddies for their next adventure.

UGoGurl Travel writer and self-confessed media maven, Elaine Lee, offers great advice for African American travellers as well as extensive reports and articles.

Wanderlust & Lipstick Founded by Beth Whitlam – a 22 year wild wandering veteran whose career highlights include having a grenade pulled on her in Cambodia – this is a website for women who are passionate about travelling offering tips and hints from experienced Wanderlusters who, like Beth, have seen it all.

Women on the Road Created by Leyla Giray, Women on the Road is a fantastic website aimed at women who love to travel. Along with practical information on planning, safety and money, the website features interviews with inspirational women travellers who share their experiences and philosophies on travel.

Women Travel Tips Started by National Geographic author and editor Marybeth Bond, this website is an excellent resource for women travellers with practical tips and hints for business, adventure, family and solo travel.

Women Travel the World This website is dedicated to connecting women travellers through female-friendly tour and accommodation listings. There’s also a range of articles covering topics from adventure tourism to food and wine shopping.

Interview for Women on the Road

Over this last year I've been privileged to have interviewed some amazing and inspiring women including seven times world surfing champion Layne Beachley and Australia's favourite jungle girls Bindi and Terri Irwin. Recently though, the tables were turned and I became the subject of a similar interview for Women on the Road. Edited by Leyla Giray, Women on the Road is a fantastic website aimed at women who love to travel. Along with practical information on planning, safety and money, the website features interviews with inspirational women travellers who share their experiences and philosophies on travel. Other interviewees have included Hilary Bradt, the co-founder and chairperson of Bradt Travel Guides, Beth Whitman, publisher of Wanderlust and Lipstick (another great website for wild, wandering women), and Fawzia Rasheed, who is the author of Rough Guides' new book, Travel with babies and young children, so I'm certainly in good company. You can read my full interview here.
Picture: That's me standing on John Ford's Point in Monument Valley, Arizona.

Women CAN read maps, men just DON'T listen

I've just finished writing an article for MSN New Zealand titled Are men better travellers than women? (yes, a minefield I know, but I can't wait to see the reader comments on that one!), and one of the arguments that kept popping up time and again in my research against women was the old Women can't read maps chestnut.

While this notion has certainly been bandied around for as long as I can remember, it was made popular by Allan and Barbara Pease in their 2001 book, Men Don't Listen and Women Can't Read Maps. It was then given more credence by a report released by the University of Warwick in 2007 that claimed that women are apparently genetically predisposed to remain forever lost.

Really, I'd just like to say what a load of rubbish! I for one am very adept at reading maps (road maps, that is) and love nothing more than plotting a route and hitting the highway with a map close at hand. Perhaps it is because I've spent so many hours following and drawing up maps for the travel guidebooks I have worked on, but I pride myself on being able to get from A to B without getting lost. I've even, with my trusty map in hand, managed to have a fight with a GPS and been proven to be right (it's a long story).

Personally, I think it is more a case of men not listening to the women who are reading the maps. I have had this happen to me on several occasions while travelling for work, when in spite of the fact that I had a perfectly good map and was providing accurate directions to the destination I was seeking my male driver refused to listen to me and instead continually stopped to ask other men for directions. In one particular instance, the driver had blindly driven past the place we were trying to find, but rather than following my advice to turn around and go back he simply ignored me and continued on down the road in the wrong direction!

So what do you think? Can women read maps? Or are men, as the University of Warwick claims, genetically predisposed to be better travellers than women?

Five reasons to travel solo: #5 Personal growth

Finally, here is my top reason why you should consider travelling solo. As Leyla from Women on the Road pointed out in her comment on my first post, the greatest benefit of travelling solo is that it boosts your confidence and helps you grow. Travelling solo is when you really find out what you're made of. With no one else to rely on, you must learn to trust your own instincts and make your own decisions. Things of course will go wrong – remember I wound up in hospital on my last solo trip – but it's these very challenges that'll make you stronger. And with every new hurdle you conquer, your confidence will grow as you discover that you're far more capable than you ever imagined you could be.

Happy travelling!

Five reasons to travel solo: #4 Make up your own mind

Have you ever noticed that when you travel you tend to change your opinions of a place depending on who you’re with? For example, you finally set your eyes on the Pyramids in Egypt and are in total awe, when your travelling companion turns to you and says, “They’re not that impressive.” So you take another look and have to agree your friend’s right – surely they should be bigger? Alain de Botton, author of The Art of Travel, argues that how we see the world when we travel is greatly influenced by those we travel with. Not only do we change our views, but we also limit our curiosity to fit in with our companion’s expectations. Therefore, the only way to truly see and experience a place is to travel alone.

Five reasons to travel solo: #3 Local connections

As a solo traveller not only will you find it easier to meet other travellers, but you'll also be infinitely more approachable to the locals who can easily be intimidated by large groups of foreigners. If you're alone they'll be more inclined to invite you to eat with them, or even to put you up for the night than they ever would if you’re travelling with someone else. I've had some of my best local experiences when I've been by myself: I had dinner with a real Transylvanian Count in his castle in Romania, I celebrated the Orthodox Easter with a local family in the tiny Republic of Moldova, and, I was given a personal tour around Bardia, an isolated town in the far north of Libya, by two elderly men who expected nothing except a heart-felt thank-you in return. I would never have had these opportunities if I had not been alone.

Five reasons to travel solo: #2 New found friends

Most people assume that travelling solo means you travel like a hermit and spend all your time alone. Far from it - you only need to be alone if you want to be alone. In reality meeting other people tends to be much easier when you're on your own. For starters, you'll be forced to come out of your shell and initiate conversations with others. And moreover, as a solo traveller you're far more approachable than a couple or a group of friends.

A casual chat in a local cafe can easily turn into an invitation for dinner or even the opportunity to discover a region of a country you'd never dreamed of going to. For me, a chance meeting with two other travellers in L'viv in the Ukraine turned into a cross-country train journey into the heart of the Carpathian Mountains to trace the family roots of one of my new found friends. It was actually one of the most fascinating, fun and entertaining trips I've ever been on. Yet while most friends you make on the road will temporarily provide you with the benefits of having a travel partner without the commitment, there are those kindred spirits that you'll meet that will become friends for life. In fact, many of the friendships I have to this day have been made when I've been travelling solo - that includes my two travel buddies I met in the Ukraine!

Five reasons to travel solo: #1 Freedom & flexibility

Most people are surprised - some even shocked - when they find out I travel alone. Reactions to my revelation vary from long, sympathetic stares to appalled cries of: "Don't you get lonely?"

Sure it's great to share your travelling experiences with others: Having my friend Dan join me on my recent research trip through Tanzania for the first four weeks was fantastic, but I equally enjoyed the journey when I was on my own (with the exception of winding up in hospital of course!). The fact is travelling solo is one of the most self-satisfying experiences you're ever likely to have. So for anyone who's never contemplated taking-off alone, I thought I'd share five fabulous reasons why you should consider flying solo.

The biggest attraction of travelling solo is the sense of freedom and independence you'll feel. It's one of the few times in life when you get to call all the shots. You decide when to go where and you don't have to consult anyone. When travelling, you're often presented with opportunities to experience new places or sights that weren't in your original plan. If your travel companion doesn't want to go, you'll either end up comprising or, worse still, miss out altogether and then bemoan the decision for the rest of the trip. But if you don't have anyone to consider, you can spend all your time lazing on a beach if you want, or suddenly decide to explore that little-known temple which piqued your interest. What's more, if you don't like a place, you can simply move on. No debates; no arguments; no compromises. Bliss!

The greatest woman traveller?

When it comes to travel, woman have always been adventurous, but, as usual, it's the men who've gotten the glory. While manly explorers like Henry Morton Stanley, David Livingston and Christopher Columbus have been immortalised forever in the history books and are still revered today, adventurous women like cartographer Gertrude Bell and British anthropologist Isabella Bird have become mere footnotes to history and today remain largely forgotten.

British magazine Wanderlust has decided to redress this imbalance by asking readers to vote for the top woman traveller of all time. Some of the woman on their list include African explorer Mary Henrietta Kingsley, 18th-century author Lady Mary Wortley Montagu and American aviator Amelia Earhart. They've also thrown in a few more modern women travellers such as Irish travel writer Dervla Murphy and world-record-breaking long-distance yachts woman Ellen MacArthur.

Personally, Mary Henrietta Kingsley gets my vote for travelling through parts of Africa I still haven't been to, dressed in those ridiculous, voluminous Victorian get-ups and for fighting off a crocodile with a paddle - what a woman!

You can cast your vote until 8 April.

So who'd get your vote? Who do you think is the greatest woman traveller of all time?

Journey Woman Travel Writing Contest

Sorry guys this is one for the girls!

To all the budding travel writing women out there, Journey Woman, a great resource site for women travellers, has launched a travel writing contest looking for the most inspiring “women-centred” tales of determination and courage. They want to hear your stories of how you overcame either a personal or external struggle in order to make your journey a successful one.

Stories can be serious, comical or reflective – however you write best – just as long as you demonstrate that the journey was worth the effort. Entries must be no more than 500 words.

1st Prize: $100 (U.S.) + being published in their newsletter and website
4 Runners up: $25 (U.S.) each + being published in their newsletter and website
Deadline: March 15, 2008

Read the complete list of rules (plus a sample story) here

Good luck!

Seven top tips for solo women travellers

Travelling solo is one of the most extraordinary and rewarding experiences you'll ever have. But, it can also be quite daunting, and doing so as a woman often complicates matters even further.

From being groped walking through a park in Athens to being harassed by gun-toting border officials in Transdniestr and propositioned for sex in the Ukraine, I’m well aware of the pitfalls of travelling solo as a woman. Frustrating as it is, women continue to face more challenging situations when travelling than men do. But don’t let that stop you. Simply by taking a few precautions you can make your trip easier. So to help you out here are my seven top tips for women travellers.

1. Dress appropriately
Leave the revealing clothing at home! Clothing that is fashionable and appropriate for us to wear at home may project a provocative image in another culture. Some cultures find it an offensive or even enticement, for women to wear short skirts, shorts or even bathing suits. If you're unsure, take your cues from the local women who set the standard for what attire is acceptable. Also, you might want to consider wearing a wedding ring. While I haven't tried this yet myself (mind you, I'd often wished I had!), many woman travellers have found that a ring can quickly deflect unwanted attention.

2. Carry a personal safety device
Avoid walking around on deserted streets after dark – even if you are with a companion. If you can't, then carry a small flashlight or other personal safety device in your hand. Even a simple whistle may cause just enough of a distraction to give you a chance to escape an unpleasant situation.

3. Exude confidence
When travelling alone (or even with a group) act confident and adopt a no nonsense attitude. Walk with purpose and look like you know where you're going – even if you don't! That way, you'll be less of a target for hustlers who prey on disoriented tourists. Also try to avoid looking at maps while you're in the street. Study your route before hand, or find one of those wallet-sized maps which you can discreetly refer to if necessary.

4. Stick with a group
It is unlikely that you will be approached or harassed if you're in the company of other people. So try to sit or stand next to other women or family groups in restaurants, on trains or buses, and in other public places.

5. Watch your back
If you are being followed duck into a nearby shop and wait until the person has passed. If a situation of harassment escalates, making a scene can sometimes be effective as many societies place a high premium on respecting social norms. Learn to say the phrase, “Go away!” in the local language and use it firmly. If all else fails, don’t be afraid to ask for help.

6. Lose the handbag
Unless you want to impress the young fashionistas of Paris or Milan - lose the handbag. It is not uncommon for a would-be thief to cut the straps of a handbag and then disappear into a thick sea of bodies with all your valuables. The best way to avoid this is to wear a money belt. However, constantly reaching under your shirt for money draws attention to it and tends to defeat the purpose. So carry enough money in a small, easily accessible money pouch or purse that will cover all incidental daily expenses.

7. Use common sense
Using common sense is perhaps the single best tip for staying safe and having a good time while you're travelling alone. This includes the usual recommendations: don't walk around late at night, don't drink with strange men, don't ride in empty compartments on trains, and don't compromise safety to save a few bucks on a hotel or transportation.

The key is to maintain awareness while not becoming overly paranoid. After all, travelling is meant to be fun!

An edited version of this article is on MSN NZ Travel