Women's Travel Tips

Saturday August 19, 2006

During my first bit of student travel, one of the other, and older, unmarried travelers along on the group tour told me she was wearing a wedding ring to deflect unwanted attention. Having just graduated from a small town high school, I couldn't imagine unwanted attention (much less wearing a wedding ring under any circumstances, including being married). Then I traveled.

After enough travel experience, we ended up including that wedding ring tip in a women's travel tips article two years ago partly because we've seen a trick we once thought ludicrous allow women to sit undisturbed in a pub or coffeehouse, and that can be huge if you need a few minutes alone (it's interesting to what lengths we'll go to get some privacy in the hubbub of everyday travel life). Some friends believe a wedding ring will protect them from malicious attention, and wear a ring on both ring fingers because local custom can vary. And, of course, some regard taking such precautions as ridiculous and contrary to the meeting-people spirit of traveling.

Most unwanted attention you'll get in international travel is indeed, at most, annoying and at worst, frightening. However, it's a fact that women need to travel with a little special care; horror stories do exist and women, taught to have a care in life in general, can toss cares to the wind on vacation (like all travelers can) and lose that finely tuned caution edge that they keep honed on their own city streets.

Stay safe, but don't stay home!