EL AL | Atmosphere

Alone but safe A few tips for the solo female traveler

the pineapple, and they left. I can’t say I wasn’t scared the whole time – even more so than when a bear appeared in front of my tent in the United States. But I managed to stay cool and confident, and hoped that my disability might actually work to my advantage, as it could dissuade them from the thought of kidnapping me for ransom money”. estysegal • Learn how to say hello, please, and thank you in the language of the country you are visiting • Keep a travel diary. It’s empowering and allows you to process your experiences. • Learn to enjoy and feel gratitude for everything you experience. • Plan ahead: learn about your travel destination, have a clear idea of where you’ll be staying on your first night, keep important phone numbers handy. • Choose a hotel with a reception desk that’s open 24 hours. • Let at least one person back home know where you are and where you’re staying, at all times – especially when you’re somewhere with no WiFi. • Pack light: it’s no fun dragging a heavy suitcase around. • Always - and without exception - do only what feels right to you. • Mark specific itinerary points: they structure a journey as much as they allow for spontaneity. • Trust your instincts – if you feel unsafe about something / someone, just stay away from it / them.

Photos: Courtesy of Esty Segal

and looking onto a breathtaking landscape, I don’t need to try and express my feelings with words, I don’t need to say things like ‘amazing, incredible, or wow’. I can just intensely feel what I feel, and to me, that’s way more powerful”. What reactions do you usually get from people as a solo traveler? “People are usually surprised to hear that I travel alone, especially as an amputee. I’ve also been traveling without my prosthetic leg these past six months, so my disability is even more visible. I get a lot of positive feedback and support on social media, and when I meet people along the way as I travel, I don’t feel like it’s an issue. It feels natural to me to be accomplishing my dream, and

people feel my passion and I love that. But there’s still one question I keep getting again and again: ‘don’t you get scared on your own?’ “. Could you share a particularly memorable moment from your travels with us? “Once, when I was alone in the Mexican jungle, I suddenly saw two men coming towards me. They looked threatening – like something out of a drug cartel tv show. I grabbed my crutches, walked towards my cooler, and took out a pineapple, and proceeded to cut it open with my machete, so that they saw I knew how to use one… I then offered them some of the ice-cold pineapple – hard to refuse in the middle of the mad jungle heat. They sat down beside me, we ate

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ATMOSPHERE MARCH 2023