9 myths about Solo Women Travellers!

Solo travelling gets a lot of piqued interest in India. Though I belong to modern twin cities of Hyderabad- Secunderabad; I yet have to yet meet a solo female traveller in person.

Wherever my travels take me & I meet new people, different people express different thoughts about my travelling on my own. There are myths that people harbor about female travellers and here are the oft heard ones that I keep hearing - which sometimes irk me, sometimes get me amused.
Here are the Top 9 that get to me!

1. You must be stinking rich to afford solo travels - Well, I would love to get this true! I plan for each of my trip well and save and save for each trip! Its MY passion - so no one but I takes care of it from planning to executing to everything on between!
2. You mustn't be normal. - Seriously I have had people say this to me more than a few times. I guess in India if a girl travels on her own, it probably is considered abnormal. There is nothing like being abnormal though. It's about following your passion, even it comes to chasing it solo. 
3. You must be an 'advanced' person!: Whatever this means - the message I always get is that travelling on your own means you are one among the flighty types. Just becoz a girl travels solo, they are not looking for Flings! Rather any sane seasoned solo traveller will vouch that is far from the truth.
4. Your family must be too independent - Independent I am. But, Sometimes people express in a way that drives the message that the family does not care enough- to allow you on your own. Far from the truth. Infact I have to give my itinerary details in detail to my family before every travel..& I don't mind that. 
5. It must be easy for 'someone like you' to go out and meet new people: Generally solo travellers are ambiverts if not extroverts. It's a part of the necessary learning in travelling. But not always it is easy to do that. New people always give new vibes, and not all vibes make you feel comfortable.Your guard is a little more high in certain places and yes, I do feel shaky on certain grounds [Literally!]
6. We can be adjusted: I can talk of myself on this. While I am a non fussy traveller, people assume that just becoz I'm on my own, I can shift to the middle train seat, sit in the back seat in some travel car, change of balconied room in some hotel, adjust in the next batch of someplace to let some 'together people' together, etc. Well, I take pains to do all the above mentioned so that I get it right for me. So, while I am an accomodating person mostly, I do not adjust for certain things. Myth to be broken - we cannot be 'adjusted' as anyone pleases at All times.
7. You would get so bored and lonely - Not at all! Ask any of the ones from us; why - that's the precise reason we travel alone so that we can cherish the "my time". I for one, am a big champion for the 'My time' concept. So I am nor bored not lonely... 9 out of 10 times I am blissed out during these very travels.
8. Men are creeps for female travelling alone. - From my personal experience I can say that it is far from the truth. Ofcourse you'd agree continuing chatting up with someone after the basic acquaintances are made and you can sense the body language and listen to your personal GPRS - your Gut. And the times I have interacted with them, I have found they are absolutely normal people, not creeps waiting to lure any female traveller! Sad myth this. [This does not imply to go around loose in making new acquaintances - go with your gut, but Never Ever leave your guard] ... And lastly,
9. It is WRONG to do that!: This statement one can hear only in India. How a female should operate in the Indian society is so wired into the Indian psyche, that quite a few Men have told me it is Wrong to travel like that, as females are not built to stay without support, travel being out of scope. 

Well, to respond to that, I take a walk away from these people rather than telling them away - coz walking away leads me to another new destination!

There is one more thing  I missed out on which I Have to add. That being:

"Don't you drink?.. oh come on it's OK, you can order a drink. You travel so much..surely you would not be a teetotaler" When I'm clear enough with my reply, I don't  understand the need to not believe or question it. I've heard this on two specific occasions - by males and I made sure I was far-far away from those people from then on. [Mostly hotel aquaintances who start off making small talk.. and then try to get friendly.] My safety antenna would have been touching the sky then!!

Those are the few things I have encountered time to time which makes my resolve more stronger to break them. Not to prove a point really - but to just to revel in one of my passions.

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