Travel By Faith
It's Wednesday again - so let's get wandering!
First and foremost, I'm sorry for the disruption to our regularly scheduled programming…
Last week, I had a little bit too much fun between my time in Croatia and Montenegro, and I lost my voice as a result. So recording the audio portion of this blog would have been impossible. But thankfully I've now recovered, so let's pick up where we left off.
This week the topic applies to life in general, but especially travel considering all the intense propaganda narratives about superior safety within the United States.
The best advice that I can give any traveler is to travel by faith, not by fear.
We need to challenge the belief systems (that we've been conditioned to have from a very early age) that teach us we are safe within the United States, and unsafe outside of the United States.
As a solo female traveler, I have been warned, and beyond that, even fully discouraged from many international trips that I've taken (and had no problems on, by the way, completely loved and had a fabulous time)…
But time and time again, I’ve been told I should not go… because people genuinely believe that I will be in blatant danger if I travel foreign and/or developing countries by myself.
The truth is, the most unsafe I have ever felt while traveling was during a cross-country road trip of the United States. And I wasn't traveling alone either.
The most endangered and in harm's way I have ever felt was NOT while traveling solo in so-called “third world countries” (which, by the way, I know is an incorrect term, but truthfully, it's how Americans still refer to them - so that's why I said it that way here).
Unfortunately, my experience of feeling most endangered within the US is not uncommon.
Many of my favorite travel creators have said the same when ranking their favorite countries and sharing where they felt the most secure and at ease in comparison to where they felt most in danger (as a solo female traveler specifically).
More often than not, the United States does NOT rank highly when it comes to countries that solo female travelers feel safe… and yet, we're taught (in school and beyond) from an early age that it's actually the only place we're safe.
So it breaks my heart when young girls (for example, my cousin's friend during our annual lake vacation in New Hampshire earlier this summer), sincerely say or ask things like - “but aren't I more likely to be kidnapped or sex trafficked in other countries?”
This came up because she was in awe of my Eurosummer plans, saying she dreamed of doing the same and traveling the world herself someday… but she felt genuinely scared.
This fear had not just come from within herself. It was taught to her, not just by her family, but by our systems - a societal infrastructure that has raised a nation to believe that the U.S. is where we're safest, even though there's a real argument for the opposite being true.
I'm not saying don't travel the United States…
But I am saying, don't believe the propaganda that you can't travel the world (outside of the U.S.) and be safe while doing it, especially if you are an aspiring solo female traveler…
Travel by faith, not by fear… because there are always more good people in the world than there are bad.
Both good and bad, kind and evil, exist everywhere - including the United States.
So don't let propaganda about the rest of the world deter you from living your best life and taking the trips of your dreams.
Keep a good head on your shoulders, have faith in yourself (and in the good in the world)…
Because I promise you, I am living proof that you have nothing to lose and everything to gain from setting that fear aside and choosing to have faith in the magic, in the kindness, and in the love that exists everywhere in the world… not just in the United States.
xoxo - kell