Things Female Travelers Should Keep in Mind in India
When you are a female and a solo traveler, you need to be more careful than men about your safety anywhere in the world. Yes, the conservative countries in Asia, including India, do require more precautions on the part of women, it certainly does not mean that these countries are not safe. You can be safe at all hours of the day anywhere in India, provided that you do not forget a few things. It is necessary to keep the following tips in mind and trust your instinct whenever it says no to anything.
Find out the safe places
In every country, there are safe and unsafe zones, and so is the case with India. You cannot generalize an immensely diverse country based on a few biased media reports. South India, for example, is a generally protected the region for solo women travel. A few cities in North India are absolutely not suitable for visibly foreigner women, especially when they are alone. That is why; you need to research a few places that may host you well and you don't find yourself panicking at any time of the day.
Pick safe hotels
You might have heard a few horror stories of women complaining about the hotel staff that misbehaved with them. Most part of these narratives can be certainly true, but it is also a fact that when you are alone, you must not pick shady hotels. Even when you are traveling to the capital city of Delhi, you need to book reputed hotels and Airport taxi services in Delhi so that you can be safe in a reliable locality. It is better to spend a few more bucks on a trustworthy hotel than to save money and be worried about your security at all times.
Speak up when you have to
There is no need to tolerate men staring at you or touching you. It is your right to speak up against anything that violates your private space. If someone is staring at you for a long time, you must go up to him and ask about the matter with him. Such men often get pissed off when someone objects to their deed and turn their face away. If someone touches you inappropriately, you can slap him back and threaten to call the police. You can also shout out loud to attract the attention of the people around you; it will definitely scare your offender away.
Research about the place
You must know something about every place that you plan to visit, though you don't need to over-plan the itinerary. Being spontaneous is fine, but you must be careful when it comes to going alone to places.
Choose your clothes carefully
Since India is a diverse country, you cannot judge in a single attempt about your clothing. You can either ask your host about the best clothing for the city or village or observe the local women for their dressing. When you are in the metropolitans, you can wear almost all kinds of western clothes, though they must not be too much skin-revealing. If you are in India, for example, you can hire an Outstation taxi from Delhi and Golden Triangle Tour from Delhi whatever you like. However, you need to be careful while using public transport. When you are in small towns, you must be fully-clad at almost all places, though a few hill stations are an exception to it. Towns where there is a huge footfall of western tourists, women often wear shorts and spaghetti as the locals also get used to it.
India is not a scary nation at all. On the other hand, the entire nation is so vast that you will fall in love with it. It is just that you need to be careful at most places while you are on your solo vacation.
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