Scary experiences travelling solo

If I'd have thought of that, I'd have worn one in Turkey.
The men there were an absolute nuisance.

At a safari lodge in Zambia I met 2 women one French one Dutch that were cycling from Addis Ababa to Cape Town, this was a few years ago you probably couldnt do it now.

Chatting to them about security, no problem, they stopped at the local school every night, there was always someone who could speak English or French. They were always offered food and a guard for the night, as any guest would. This reflects my experience of local populations, friendly, law abiding and keen to show you their way of life, however humble it is.

The locals of course know who the local trouble makers are and any incident involving “guests” would bring swift and very painful justice.

Back in the very early 70s dh and I wandered around Damascus with zero problems - except that we were probably the only tourists, the road signs etc. were naturally only in Arabic, so we got lost, and it was quite a while before we found anyone who understood French, let alone English.

In the souk I was somewhat unnerved by women with thin black veils entirely covering their faces, who were crowding around me and touching my hair - long and blonde at the time. But it was just curiosity at this strange creature!

I’ve never travelled alone but Dh nearly had his money taken from his waist bag in Piza. A young pregnant girl with even younger children pushed up against him, opened the zip. I pushed her away, as he was oblivious.

Scary in Colombo Sri Lanka , a man helped us across a busy road and hurried us into a Tuk tuk, to be taken somewhere. We managed to get out quickly.

A mentally disabled man grabbed me in a Vietnamese market.

All these incidents were with dh and others.
Goodness knows if I’d been on my own. 😳

Thought I'd just post this article.

amp.theguardian.com/travel/2024/mar/07/the-joy-and-freedom-of-a-solo-holiday-as-an-older-woman

Many moons ago I traveled across America. In one big city I popped into a cafe bar for lunch, and when I used the loo, which was outside in the backyard a group of men gathered around whilst I was inside the toilet, yelling racist comments.
I was stuck! Eventually the manager came out to see what all the fuss was about, shooed them away and advised I leave by the back entrance and find another venue. He was quite cross with me too!

JenniferEccles

Oh yes Barcelona. It’s notorious for pick pockets.
We called in there on a cruise a few years ago and the Captain came on the tannoy after we had docked to tell us to be very careful and to take the bare minimum out with us, in terms of money and bank cards.

Despite his warning we heard later that one passenger had had his passport stolen from his backpack.

We visited Barcelona once on a day trip from our resort and one of the other passengers put a bag under the table when we had coffee in a street cafe. Of course it got pinched and he lost all his paperwork , passport travellers checks and cash. They had to take the whole bus load of us to th police station which delayed us no end. DH had his cash hidden in his socks. Why this silly man had all his valuables with him goodness knows.