The Woman Traveler, at least historically, has been the stuff of myths. The travel pioneers; those amazing women who defied both their time and their gender to see the world; are a depressingly small society. Even then, most are considered notable for being ‘adventurers’ When we take away the pilots, the polar explorers and the mountaineers – well, it is even more depressing.

The Fairer Sex

The notion that women are somehow less capable of the rigors of travel is understandable when you go back 100 or more years ago. The days when going anywhere was a matter of months rather than hours, made it a lot harder.

It both sounds more glamorous and frightfully tedious. The notion of steamer trunks filled with everything the modern woman needed to survive a ‘Grand Tour’ of the continent makes my head hurt. I see the parasols to protect from the sun, the heavy skirts, the uncomfortable shoes and the idea that we just weren’t built for such rigorous activities.

Men were hearty, women were frail; and honestly 200 some odd years later, we are still the fairer sex. Travel is hard and it is exhausting. In the eyes of many, it is downright dangerous to the single woman traveler.

Woman Traveler Archetype

Yes, archetype; it’s a big word but sadly we have two for the woman traveler.

Again, we have the adventurer who dresses in a manly fashion and defies the norms. She is driven to be in a man’s world. Think of Amelia Earhart or Bessie Colman; women who dared to step into the man’s world of aviation. In fact, the Women Traveler has a lot of pilots in the club; I suspect because they treasured those moments alone in their planes, no one to nag at them about what they were supposed to be doing.

Then there is the somewhat eccentric older woman who travels once freed from the bounds of familial or societal restraints. Isabella Bird  -a personal hero – is a great example. Freya Stark, the ‘passionate nomad’ is another. Neither woman traveled alone until they reached the ripe old age of 40 (37 in Freya’s case.)

The Modern Woman Traveler

What can we learn from these two archetypes? For me, it is the notion that if you want to see the world in any meaningful way, you can’t wait for permission. You also can’t wait for others to agree to go with you. In fact, you are probably going to have to do it on your own. In other words, not a lot has changed in that respect.

All of these famous women travelers were considered crazy because they largely traveled on their own terms and that generally meant going solo.

Today, there is still a lot of incredulity at the woman who travels alone. I encounter it a lot, the amazement that I would go to anywhere by myself. Yet the dangers and pitfalls that a single woman traveler might encounter are far more benign than when Dame Freya was wandering the Middle East, or Ms. Bird was exploring the American Rockies.

We can step on a plane in the afternoon and arrive halfway around the world the next morning. The sight of a woman walking the streets of a city without a chaperone, spouse, or some other companion is not unusual. Rarely is a woman out by herself given even a second look.

Braving the World at any Age

I know that part of what inspires me about these women is their age. Freya Stark went to Spain at age 93. Isabella Bird made her last trip at age 70, to Morocco and died shortly after returning at age 74. For a woman who battled a number of medical issues through her life, that isn’t a bad run.

Being fifty or sixty or seventy – or older – isn’t the barrier. It is our self-imposed limitations that keep us from spreading our wings. I expect to be planning a trip – or better yet – be on one, when I shuffle off this mortal coil.

Too much of what is out there in the way of information for the woman traveler is geared to the twenty something, or the gap-year student. There is a lot of information for the ‘let’s see the world before we settle down and have children’ set. But when it comes to the woman traveler who had already had the family and the successful career? There isn’t much.

It doesn’t mean it shouldn’t or can’t be done.

Badge of Honor

I beat this drum a lot, talking about why women should travel. So many women shake their heads when I talk of where I have been, and honestly, I have just scratched the surface of what I want to see. I am not a great adventurer. It would be a bit of a stretch to call me even a seasoned traveler.

Being a woman traveler is a badge of honor and one I mean to claim for myself. I have met some amazing folks who didn’t let anything get in their way of seeing the world. My goal is to be one of them.

I think of the two ladies in Croatia, both in their mid-60’s who had been traveling together for close to twenty years. Their husbands hated travel, but it didn’t stop these two. They found in each other a kindred spirit and a curiosity about the world. So they traveled. (notice that they were both in their 40’s when they started!)

There is the lovely woman I met on a train to Prague who was on a temporary assignment in Krakow. She spent her weekends exploring the surrounding countries, on her own. The stories are legion, as we seem to know each other. Woman travelers recognize one another when we are on the road, or so it would appear.

Maybe it is that badge of honor, one that can be seen only by like souls. As I write this I realize that it is a badge that isn’t given out, but rather is claimed. We should all be reaching for it.