Transcription
I come from a very small village in Chhattisgarh. Many people don't even know about that state, that it exists. They say it's Chandigarh or somewhere around, you know. Talking about in one line, what does solo traveling as a woman mean to you? It means freedom and empowerment to me. I heard a very powerful line by Pankaj Tripathi. He said, in one of his conversations, "It's very cheap to travel in this country. It's very cheap. I have traveled a lot. Everywhere you will find dharamshalas, gurdwaras where you can spend the night. And that journey, traveling this country, can make you something from nothing." A lot of Indian families and Indian parents are not willingly, or sadly, not interested in sending their daughters out for solo travel. Kind of safety conditions. So, since you have traveled so much in India across different states, so, what are the top three safest destinations that you would like to recommend to a female solo traveler? Okay, so it's really, uh, hard to, you know, name three destinations in India. Uh, the country is full of surprises. But so, if you had to recommend at least one country to a female solo traveler who is looking for traveling internationally solo. A woman traveling from India. I would say, start from.
Hello everyone, welcome to another exciting episode of The Travel Bites Podcast Series, a product by TBO Academy. I am your host, Pulkit, and I take care of the content and marketing part of The Travel Bites application. For those of you who are new here, let me tell you about The Travel Bites application. First, Travel Bites is an amazing platform for all our travel professionals and enthusiasts out there. You get the latest news related to travel and tourism updated on the app every single hour. We also host weekly quizzes, and the top three winners receive exclusive gift hampers delivered right to their doorsteps. For today's episode, we have Miss Aishwarya with us, joining us as the guest. Thank you so much, Aishwarya, for taking out some time out of your busy schedule to be with us on this podcast. Thank you so much, Pulkit. It's a pleasure to be here. I am really looking forward to a great conversation. My background has been in tourism. I specialize in tourism, and, uh, currently, I am working as an Assistant Professor in Swami Rama Himalayan University, Dehradun. And I have been into research. I have been into traveling for the past 12, 13 years. So, it has been a great journey, and we will be discussing, you know, a lot, a lot about it in, you know, in a conversation. So, I am really looking forward to it.
So, Aishwarya, since you have been traveling so much, you have a lot of expertise in traveling. So, for today's episode of the podcast, we are also going to talk about the rise of female solo travelers and how it is gaining momentum. To start with the podcast, I just wanted to ask you that what was that moment when you realized that solo traveling is not just a trend but also a movement, especially for females? Uh, so, uh, I will take it from my experience. Uh, it was not a moment when I started traveling. I was 19 years. It's, you know, 10, 11 years ago. It was not a trend also, but it was kind of a conscious decision that I took because I did not have any other choice. I come from a very small village in Chhattisgarh. Many people don't, you know, know. I have worked and studied in South India. Many people don't even know about that state, that it exists. They say it's Chandigarh or somewhere around, you know. So, uh, for me, uh, traveling, uh, solo, or, you know, traveling for study, for work, uh, was a necessity. But yes, I see now, uh, women traveling for, you know, empowerment. Women traveling for. It has become a trend now in this decade, I will say, like, uh, in the past 8, 10 years. So, it has become a movement. Yes.
Talking about in one line, what does solo traveling as a woman mean to you? It means freedom and empowerment to me. Why do you think Gen Z and Millennial women are now choosing to travel solo over family trips and over friends' trips? I think a lot of it is coming from, you know, that mindset change, that shift, that women are now taking, you know, their own decisions. They are, yeah, there is a sense of, you know, feeling that says that, yeah, I can do this alone. Because a lot of this thing is fueled by, yes, social media. It's a major contributor to it. There is no, you know, doubt about it. But, but women taking their decisions, women being, you know, fearless is something that I feel is driving it.
So, Aishwarya, out of your experience, do you really think that solo travel is a form of empowerment, or is it fueled by social media nowadays, just a type of empowerment? Uh, by my personal experience, I would say it is a great tool to feel empowered. Not only for women, I will say for any, any young boy also, it will, you know, have the same impact. And I heard a very powerful line by Pankaj Tripathi. He, he said, in one of his conversations, that "If you want to become something, then go on a journey." So, that is something. And then he talks about how he has traveled across the country and what experiences, you know, he got and how it has helped him to be doing what he is doing right now. So, I feel a lot of young generation, a lot of people now are. So, it's not only social media, uh, creates that kind of thrill. Yes, but there is so much positivity also about it.
So, let's talk about the social stigma that everybody in the Indian culture has about women traveling solo. A lot of Indian families and Indian parents are not willingly, or sadly, not interested in sending their daughters out for solo travel and solo exploration. So, what do you think are the misconceptions that all these families have in their minds? A very preliminary and important factor, I think, is, you know, the kind of safety conditions. Like, we live in a country which is still, you know, ranked amongst the countries which have the highest crime rate against women. So, that is one of the major concerns of, you know, parents and families. I come from the same background where, yes, someone will go to pick you, we pick you, someone will drop you. How will you manage? So, but I see parents changing with time. I see, you know, even my family now being, you know, more open to ideas, more open to. And they, their major concern is, yes, safety. So, when they, when they start having that confidence that my kid can manage it all, then I think parents are, you know, the biggest supporters in your journey, in, like, in whatever you want to do.
All right. So, since you have traveled so much in India across different states, so what are the top three safest destinations that you would like to recommend to a female solo traveler? For catching this podcast. Okay. So, it's really hard to, you know, name three destinations in India. The country is full of surprises. I would say Shillong is one such place, a place which made me feel very safe. And I, you know, I would recommend any woman, young woman out there who is, you know, planning to travel. So, Meghalaya, overall, the state provides that kind of infrastructure, that kind of environment. Shillong is one place. Uh, I have lived in Tamil Nadu for so long. Rameshwaram is one such place which made me feel that, you know, I would be recommending. I recommend this destination to even foreigners when I, yes. So, when they ask that, "Tell us one place to visit in India," so I say, "It's Rameshwaram. You must go and see that place." Then, third would be Dehradun, the city which I currently live in, uh, in the Indian state of Uttarakhand. So, yeah, for now, these three are my topics.
According to you, if, if a woman is traveling solo, it doesn't matter if she is traveling in the city, in India, across the country, wherever she is traveling. What are some of the red flags that she should spot instantly and she should take action from? There are certain red flags which we, you know, come across in our daily lives. That are not tangible. You cannot really explain them. Like, I, I will just give you an example. If you are, you know, traveling to a place, you, you know, got down from a bus, you are in, and it's not also like midnight, 10:30 or 11 PM at night. Maybe one, you know, a weird kind of stare can make you feel like all unsafe, uncomfortable, unsafe. It can, you know, ruin your experience of your whole journey. So, there are certain things which I think has, like, helped me. Being extremely aware about your environment. The, you know, while traveling, while, you know, going, using different modes of transport. So, being aware about your environment, about the people you are interacting with, about, you know, like. And I have been very privileged, I would say, that I don't have very, you know, bad experiences or something to recall. The people have been extremely kind to me, extremely helpful. I listen to their stories, they listen to mine. They are very supportive. So, I have been very, you know, fortunate, I would say, that I don't have any such bad experiences to count on. But yes, being aware, being, you know, uh, knowing the place you are visiting, uh, having knowledge about it. So, that, you know, takes you, that, that, that goes a long way, actually.
So, you know, like nowadays, women are more focusing on financial independence and, you know, like making their own earnings, spending on themselves. Do you think this is one of the reasons or one of the key contributors towards women traveling solo? Yes, it is. It is a major contributor because the kind of, you know, freedom that earning your own money gives you, paying your own bills gives you, that there is no substitute to it. There is no substitute. For any young man, for any man, it is something that, that fills you with a lot of confidence. Then you, you know, start taking your, uh, decisions, your life in a different manner. Then you also learn a lot about how you spend your money, where are you, you know, spending your money, like every penny, because you know how you have earned it. So, for every individual, I will say. And yes, women, why we are talking about women, because women were the ones who were, you know, taking the household responsibilities before. But now it is being shared by men also. When women go out to work, the household is, yeah, is being looked after, you know, solely. It is also, you know, making, like, people are making good partnerships out of it. So, yes, earning your own money gives you a freedom, a confidence that, you know, nothing can also.
I have realized that a rise in the trend of work from home nowadays through different corporates that is happening post-COVID. Like during COVID, we saw work from home culture getting adopted by a lot of big MNCs, big companies. I believe post-COVID also, there are few firms that are working completely on work from home remote option. Do you think? I, I personally believe on this that this is one of the concepts or one of the, you know, like facilities that has been provided by corporate which is fueling people. Not only is women solo traveler, but also male solo travelers. It doesn't matter that which gender they belong to, but this is something that is pushing them to explore different places. I mean, having a work from home culture helps the user or the, you know, like the employee to work from anywhere, anywhere. They just have to be consistent on it. They just have, they should be having a constant internet, that's all. You can work. You can sit in Himachal Pradesh or any mountain, any valley. You just need to have a good internet connection, and then you are good to go. So, adding to what you have said just now, this concept, you know, it, it started here during COVID-19. But what I feel is, and I meet like so many people, this concept doesn't work with everyone. Like, it doesn't work for me. I have been, you know, gig worker for so long. But I feel work from home thing is, you know, you get more entangled. You, like, they are not certain, you know, working hours. It, it has, you know, you cannot plan your days like that. That is my, you know, uh, take on it. But yes, I see people working from mountains. Yes. But that again depends on what kind of connectivity we have, you know, like network connectivity is a big issue in, in our country. So, but yes, working from mountains, workcations, people going on. So, that is a kind of trend. It has been fueled by work from home culture only. And it is good if, you know, if people are going with it and if it is helping them to explore the places, then it is, yeah, it's a good concept.
Also, I believe this thing depends on the company they are working for. I mean, the kind of work you are doing. Correct. I mean, I have a lot of friends who work from home completely, but they belong to two different corporates. I mean, they are working for two different entities. One entity is allowing them fixed working hours. You just have to log in at 10, you don't have to work after six. Whereas the other party, other entity might ask them to work for more working hours, maybe 10 hours, 12 hours. So, I believe this whole thing depends on the person you are working for. Also, in the company, there are different managers who prefer to have different working hours of the employee. I have seen a lot of people, a lot of employees being asked to work for more than 10 hours a day, just because they are working from home. Correct. So, they want their managers want that their whole commute time should also be used for their work only. So, I believe this thing, whole thing depends upon to whom you are working on. So, if you had to recommend at least one country to a female solo traveler who is looking for traveling internationally solo, what country will you recommend to her? A woman traveling from India. I would say, start from Southeast Asia because I have been into that, you know. So, Southeast Asia is up. You will, you will see that, you know, how people, how different cultures live together, how peaceful is their life, how clean and, uh, green their, you know, streets are. How, so that has changed me a lot. So, Southeast Asia is a place. So, I started with that. And yes, I have a long way to go. But to begin with, I would say, take, you know, this four, five hours flight, go see, be there, walk in those streets. I have done that. It's a great experience. So, yes.
So, since you have traveled to different countries now, so I believe that you are in a position to answer my next question. Do you think people from different countries are now more welcoming to solo female travelers? Or is it the women that are becoming more fearless now? I think both of these contribute to, you know, this answer. Uh, people are welcoming and they are, you know, very hospitable that we have started discovering once we started traveling. So, women becoming fearless. Fearlessness was the starting point to, you know, to start thinking about it, to start doing it. And when, when a, like, when we started reaching to those places, then we saw that what, you know, the kind of perception that we had before, that it is not safe, you know, how it is in, in ancient times. There was a saying that you should not, you cannot cross the Indian Ocean. So, we come from, you know, that background, that background, that mindset. Mindset, yes. So, we have traveled far to, to, you know, overcome that thing. So, I think people were always good. It's just that, you know, we haven't gone there. Correct. Now we have started going. So, now we see that now we are more, you know, like open to them, their culture, etcetera. Like back to 40, 50 years, people were very conservative about their culture. I mean, they were not that welcoming, to be honest. Sadly. But now, with the help of social media, you know, like gaining momentum. People can connect across borders easily. So, they know about different cultures now. We get to know a lot of things about Western countries now through social media that maybe our parents would never have noticed or would never have known, until and unless they would have traveled there. Right?
So, what do you think that how are destinations currently marketing specifically to women solo travelers? They are women-only travel groups. They are companies, you know, who are leading women-only group experiences and women from different age groups. You can see, you know, as young as a child traveling, you know, 15 years till 87 years. So, that is something that has been, yeah, curated for women-only travelers. And yes, meeting new people on the go and, you know, making new friends. So, this is something that, because there are women who are, you know, literally looking for connections outside their normal environment. So, that is something. Then there are places, accommodation units, and other service providers who market themselves as a, you know, leading in, uh, women safety, leading in the services provider. So, that, that helps. Taking a woman, take a, you know, decision. Listening to a different, like, listening to testimonials of, you know, the past travelers of the same, you know, group or company. So, that helps.
So, what do you think that are women nowadays traveling solo to find themselves or to get rid of the burden that is kept on them for so long? I mean, a lot of women must have gone through, "You can't go outside during their childhood." Sadly, but you can't go outside, you can't do this, you can't do that. So, once a woman becomes independent, once a woman is capable enough to, you know, like, hold their own expenses, spend on themselves. So, what do you think this is the burden that they are kind of getting relieved from? I think it's a mix of both. Because as a human, when we are, you know, uh, for so long, when we are told that you, you cannot do this, you cannot do this, don't do that. So, that kind of remains with us. It still, you know, I still have that thing with me. So, uh, women are, I will not say that I travel to, you know, to prove something to anyone. I travel because I love it. I travel because I want to do it. Like, there is a way that I want to live my life. With so, women are not necessarily traveling to, you know, to escape, I would say. Women are traveling to, you know, to find themselves, to experience, to learn, to explore what has, you know, not been done before in their maybe family line or something. And, yeah, it would not be really justified if we say that they are, you know, not traveling to escape from something or they are traveling to find themselves. I find it that way.
What do you think is the biggest internal barrier that is stopping women from traveling solo nowadays? Or maybe since the time you have started traveling? What is that one internal barrier that you have faced? I mean, there must be something. Even for men, we have something in us that we can't travel solo. I want to know about from the aspect of a woman. I want to know about it from the point of view of a woman, that what are the things that might stop them from solo traveling? Uh, the very preliminary, basic question, you know, a woman comes across is, "Why do you want to go? What do you want to do?" So, that is something that starts from home. That starts from her immediate environment, from her family. So, dealing with that question, okay, navigating through that is the primary thing. It's the first step towards. You have, like, you have not even started your travel, you have just thinking about it, but that kind of, you know, you are bombarded with so many questions and you have to justify it. So, I think it starts from that.
All right, guys. Now we are going forward with our rapid-fire round of questions where I am going to ask her a couple of questions, and then you have to reply to them instantly. Okay? You don't get time to think about them. All right. First destination you recommend to any female solo traveler traveling in India? Leh Ladakh. And international? Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. One thing you always carry while traveling? My smile and kindness. One myth about female solo travel? That it is unsafe all around. What is that one moment that changed everything for the moment I, you know, stepped out of the boundaries of my home state, Chhattisgarh, and I came across the world outside. That, I think, was a defining moment. I was 19 years old and, yeah, that changed my perception about life, about everything. Yes. Red flag and green flag while traveling? I always say that, you know, we have to trust our instincts. Intentions. On, you will get to know if you are, you know, grounded, if you are, you know, aligned to yourself, then you will understand if something is wrong in your surrounding or something. So, yes, being extremely aware and conscious about the place you are traveling, the kind of people you are. And then, yeah, being like, having your, you know, measures, your ability to, you know, handle difficult, difficult situations. So, for that, you have to be courageous enough to, you know, to point it out if there is something wrong. And, yeah, green flags are if people are, you know, supporting, helping to you. But yes, trusting them with, you know, caution is very important. And, yeah, we have got great people and great places. So, like, if, if you, if you, you know, take out a few bad things, uh, a country is like greenest of all.
All right. So, now we are going to move forward to our next segment, that is, what next about solo traveling? So, what do you think where is solo traveling headed right now? Do you think that it is slowly becoming a lifestyle of a lot of people nowadays? Yes, it is. And a lot of this, the credit goes to social media. I see now, you know, husbands giving that time and that space to their wives, taking care of children, you know, being at home and saying, "You, you, like, you go and go on vacation with your friends or go alone." So, that is something that I have started seeing in my family. That is something that has made me feel really happy about it. So, it is, yes, becoming like family vacations are there. Parents take their children on vacations. Children are more, you know, into traveling. They are very self-sufficient. They. So, yes, it is changing. But men supporting women in, you know, in this thing, it is something that feels very promising to me.
Do you think that India will ever become a global spot for all the women solo travelers? I mean, India becoming the top destination for all the women solo travelers who are traveling across different countries, and India becomes one of the top, you know, like, top priority for them if they want to travel solo. So, India becomes the first country they want to travel to. And how far are we from being on that stage currently? India becoming the global hotspot for, you know, for any traveler, not only for, you know, solo women traveler. I think we are doing great in numbers of outbound travel. Indian women are traveling, are, you know, contributing to global GDP a lot. People coming to India, that has to be, you know, it's a long journey. I would say we aim to be a developed nation by 2047. Viksit Bharat, we talk about. But I think we have to, you know, start working on the very basics of what a traveler requires. Any tourist, any traveler, when, you know, visits a country. We lack. We have to admit that we lack in basic, you know, cleanliness and hygiene factors when it comes to global standards. We lack in civic sense. That is, any tourist is, you know, the first interaction he or she has is with, uh, the host population. And if, if people are not, you know, equipped enough, if they are not, if they don't know the do's and don'ts of, so that is something that we have to work hard on it. And then only we can, you know, aim. And we see people, you know, responding very well to Clean India campaign. We see Swachh Bharat Abhiyan has created a lot of awareness, awareness. But there is a lot to do yet.
What do you think that India should be working like on first basis? I mean, what should be India's first priority on for travelers? Creating awareness on, you know, basic civic sense. The moment, basic civic sense. A lot. Yes, yes. We do. We see it, you know, every, like, every day in our lives. We see people from elite class, people from, you know, a very well-background education and all those throwing, you know, wrappers outside their SUVs. We see that daily. So, that is something that has to be changed. Not when I say that we lack in civic, I am not saying that, you know, a person sitting on the roadside is doing it. Sometimes a person at higher ranks, at higher positions. So, we have to be really aware and conscious of what we just have to walk the talk when we say that. Go to Singapore, see how clean their streets are, how, you know, well-behaved people are. So, we have to ask that question to ourselves. Are we doing that? Are we, are we throwing a litter, you know, to a dedicated dustbin?
Also, do you think the current situation of the whole North India, actually, the AQI that we are talking about, the air quality index. The AQI is so high that I believe, do you think that this is something that restrains travelers who are traveling from Western countries or any other country from coming to India? Yes, it has a, you know, big, big, big role to play. Because, uh, if our air is not breathable and if, if the capital of our country is, you know, not, uh, breathing properly. So, what can we expect? And Delhi is the starting point for, you know, the base point, the touchdown point for many countries, many travelers when they, you know, come to India, when they, you know, land in India. So, Delhi is the first stop. And if we cannot maintain, you know, uh, for our citizens, that AQI, it is one of the. I don't know why we are not, you know, declaring it as an epidemic. Because students or children are sitting at home. We, and then they, they are like millions of millions of people working in Delhi. They don't have any other choice. So, they are anyhow surviving. But it is taking a, you know, a stake on them. Yes, yes, it is. So, I think this is the, it. This thing comes into, you know, basic, uh, human necessity. Human necessity. Yes.
What do you think is one change that needs to be implemented by every single country in a way that all the solo travelers or all the women solo travelers feel safe to visit that country? I think happy people, happy society makes a very healthy and welcoming environment for anyone. And to learn that, we need to, I think, travel to, you know, Scandinavian countries. How Finland for the eighth straight year, you know, topping the rankings on like happiest countries in the world. Uh, Finland, then Denmark is there, Sweden. So, these countries, they, what is, I have studied their, you know, infra, their whole system. The one thing which is very prominent is they have very strong public support infrastructure. Very population is one, one of the major, you know, cause. Any government, any system can, you know, has limitations. So, I think creating a, you know, an environment from the, like, if the fundamentals are, you know, very strong, starting, starting it from the elementary education to begin the awareness and education from elementary level is what I feel is going to help us in the long run. In one line, I would say, uh, to make this world, world a better place or any country to visit to be, is creating, you know, responsible citizens. They will be your soldiers, your army for, you know, your education, your healthcare, your tourism, which is like now becoming the major contributor in GDPs. So, creating responsible citizens, creating healthy and supporting, you know, infrastructure and well-being environment for the for the host. And that is anyhow going to, you know, help the visitors in that country. So, that is something I feel. Countries should focus on. And the countries who are focusing on this, we have seen, you know, them performing well, leading well. In terms of why Europe has, you know, a lot of, a lot of people, people have fantasies about traveling to Europe once in their lifetime. So, we really need to learn from, you know, certain things from the West. By and for India, I would say, we have a lot to, you know, to explore, to portray, to tell a narrative to the world. A lot of our, you know, culture and heritage has been destroyed because of certain, you know, elements in the past. But we have to, you know, rediscover. We have to work on our strengths. And that, that will, that will help us, you know, positioning us as a major tourist destination. As a major. We see Dubai doing it. They, they don't have any natural heritage. They are, you know, relying on man-made heritage. But the kind of infrastructure they have built, the kind of system they have built. It is. We are now seeing Saudi Arabia doing it. Investing heavily on tourism, on their tourism economy. They have onboarded Ronaldo as well for some different marketing campaigns. Yes. During IPL, during IPL, we saw, you know, Saudi Arabia doing their marketing campaign. So, these things. And then a country like Saudi Arabia, who is, you know, who was totally dependent on crude oil and petroleum products, is now thinking about diversifying its economy, saying, "We do not want to." Yes, yes. "We do not want to be a, you know, totally dependent on this crude oil." Yeah. So, they are saying tourism is the new oil. So, that talks a lot about the kind of potential that tourism as an industry has. So, I think if a country, you know, realizes the potential and they are like, "We are taking certain actions, we are, you know, progressing." Anyhow, the number of World Heritage Sites we have, it is so. We just have to work on the basic infrastructure.
I think Aishwarya, you have recently published a book as well. So, can you tell us more about the book and what all content does it have to all our viewers? So, the book is about my experiences. I have recorded it. I got a chance to work with the Ministry of Tourism during G20 Presidency. So, I was in the G20 cell and Ministry of Tourism hosted four G20 meetings, and I was a part of it. So, I recorded my experiences visiting to different places during G20. How India, the book talks about how India made it a, you know, people's movement. How India, India is the first country who have conducted, you know, G20 meetings in more than 60 cities. None other country has done it before. So, that is kind of, uh, uh, New Delhi Declaration was signed, you know, with, uh, uh, like, uh, with full consensus. So, so there are certain milestones, the number of outcome documents that we produced, none other G20 Presidency has done it before. So, uh, I had to do it. Like, there were certain things that, you know, we did very right, and it will be remembered, you know, for generations to come. So, I wanted to record it. I wanted to record, you know, the expressions of people from West Bengal when we, when we went to, you know, uh, to a G20 meeting to Siliguri and Darjeeling, the emotions that, like, those people carried. We went to Srinagar for a meeting. So, how Jammu and Kashmir welcomed us, how it welcomed delegates from across the world. How Goa hosted it. How Rann of Kutch, you know, you know, turned into something else for that. So, all these experiences, I wanted to record. And it's there in that book. And how I got into it. So, it is a memoir, I would say. How a country displayed its soft power potentials using, you know, G20. That is what I explained about in my book.
All right, guys. That's all for today's episode. Thank you so much, Aishwarya, for talking a lot about women solo travel and safety and informing our users about how to travel. And we talked a lot about safety, women's safety. We also got to know a recent publication that you have published. That's all from my end, guys. I hope that you all enjoyed this podcast. I will be dropping down the social media handles of Aishwarya. You guys can go and check her out. Also, I am going to put the link of her newly published book. So, if you guys are interested, you can go and check the book out as well. And I would recommend you all to buy that out. Thank you so much for watching this whole podcast, viewers. I hope you had a great time. And I will see you in the next one. Till then, like, share, and subscribe to our TBO Academy channel and download The Travel Bites application. Goodbye. Download Travel Bites now, available on the App Store [Music] and Play Store, or just scan the QR code.