tips Archives

Women Traveling Solo Realities

I’ve previously posted about why you should travel solo, at least once in your life, and also provided some tips in another post for traveling alone. This time I decided to post about Women Traveling Solo realities by asking some ladies who often travel alone regarding the realities they face and combined this great collaboration post. There's a variety of advantages and disadvantages for female travelers who travel solo. I've read a lot of stories which have raised a lot of interest to the related subject, like the one of Alyssa Ramos who posted about 'How Traveling Solo Destroyed My Dating Life' which has changed here life. Sadly travelling alone might also end up in a bad way, like the recent story of Maria Coni and Marina Menegazzo, the two girls, who although weren't travelling alone they had a sad ending. It's always good to make a small research before travelling alone somewhere. There are a lot of places which are not consideres as a safe place for a woman to travel on her own. As TravellerAU reports, India, Brazil, Turkey, Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico and Kenya are some of the countries considered dangerous for women travellers. I've gone through situations where I had to deal with aggressive men who came up to asking me where I'm from and why I'm alone but I've managed to take care of this without getting in to trouble. Just by being nice and eventually walked away by ignoring them. Also walking in the Brussels tourist area I once had someone shouting at me and following me but I ignored them. He continued to follow me up to the metro station where I eventually got lost in a packed tube station. I was once walking in Palermo and there was a fight with 2 men throwing empty glass beer bottles to each other and shouting. So I turned back and got a different route for my way back to the centre. I've never thought of couchsurfing just because I prefer to avoid surprises. You need to be extra careful if you decide to stay in a stranger's house so I always [...]

20+1 Italy facts you need to know

Italy facts you need to know I just got back from an 8-day holiday trip, travelling in Northern Italy (Venice, Verona, Como and Milan) and made a list with some things you should know about Italy. So here’s a list of a some Italy facts you need to know. 1. You pay a city tax per night to stay in a hotel. The price is based on the star rating of the hotel. 2. Avoid eating or having coffee near touristic attractions. You’ll get ripped off. 3. Aperitivo is a tradition that you may find in some bars. You pay a fixed price e.g. €10, and you can get a drink and eat as much as you can from the buffet (Which includes chips, pizzas, potatoes, meatballs, desserts - it depends where you go). 4. As soon as you sit in a restaurant they will bring you bread-sticks and bread - no butter, no olive oil. See the next point. 5. You are obliged to pay for the service; this is called Coperto (they charge you to sit down and they bring the bread), which is around €1.50 - €3 (it depends where you go). 6. Order house wine since it’s much cheaper than bottled wine. 7. Pizza Margherita is the cheapest pizza you can eat. 8. Italians do not serve tap water, only bottled. 9. You are not required to leave tips at the restaurant. 10. You are not obliged to order all courses e.g. antipasti, first course, second course, and dessert. Even with the first (usually pasta, risotto) you will feel full. 11. Standing in a bar is cheaper than sitting down. 12. You have to pay to enter the toilet in public places. 13. Buy your public transportation tickets before, you cannot buy them on the bus or tram. 14. Validate your ticket before you board otherwise you’ll get in trouble. 15. You can't pay with a card if the total is less than €10 so always make sure you have cash with you. 16. Some stores and restaurants have a day off during the week (usually Monday) so [...]