Women Find Fun, Flexibility and Freedom

“Wow! That’s incredible, it really does lean!” exclaimed Jamie McNeil as she gazed in awe at the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

She suddenly became aware of the puzzled looks of other nearby tourists at the Italian landmark.

“I had said it to no one in particular; in fact, I wasn’t fully aware I was speaking out loud,” she said.

And that’s one downside of traveling alone: You have no one to share the wonder with.

But topping the positive aspects of solo travel is the fact that “you can do what you want, go where you want, whenever you want, without having to consider the wishes of anyone else,” McNeil said.

McNeil, a veterinarian’s assistant who lives in Bethlehem, Pa., toured Italy alone “by accident” a dozen years ago when her traveling companion backed out shortly before the scheduled departure date. It was such a good experience, she went back--this time deliberately alone.

Thalia Zepatos, author of “A Journey of One’s Own” (Eighth Mountain Press, $16.95, 348 pp.), a book of advice for independent woman travelers, agrees that flexibility is one of the chief advantages of solo travel: “An unexpected festival, an extra seat on an excursion boat offered at half price, a town so exciting you decide to hop off the train and explore it: You’ll enjoy being able to change your plans without discussion.

“As a solo traveler, you have the flexibility to join other travelers who are going your way. As long as your interests and plans converge, you travel together. When your spirit leads you in different directions, it’s easy to say goodbye.”

That was McNeil’s experience. Among the folks she traveled with were two young Australian women “who were really naive. I ended up shepherding them around for a couple of days.”

Through her chance meeting with a journalist while traveling in Germany in 1992, Liz Sarachek, an international sales representative for Dow Jones & Co. who recently moved from New York to London, became an observer of the war in Croatia.

“The journalist, who was Croatian, invited me to accompany her,” Sarachek explained. “I called the American Embassy and asked if I could go. They said I could, although they didn’t recommend it.

“So we took a 15-hour bus ride to Split and transferred to another rinky-dink bus for the ride to the journalist’s family home.

“I was the only American tourist around, with United Nations health relief people, U.N. military people, and medical personnel. Unfortunately, I got terrible bronchitis there, but was treated by my journalist friend’s aunt. After about a week though, I realized it wasn’t a safe place and decided to leave.”

Concern for personal safety is undoubtedly the biggest deterrent to women who think about traveling alone to exotic locales. Zepatos confirms that a woman can find herself in some tricky situations:

“Remember that a woman traveling alone is already operating outside the boundaries of normal behavior in many cultures, so observe what’s going on and adopt the culturally accepted behavior, especially when it comes to interaction between women and men.

“Just looking a man directly in the eyes is considered a sexual invitation in some conservative countries. Whether from fantasy, personal experience or as a result of stories they’ve heard, some men view single female tourists as willing and adventurous sex partners. Their implicit assumption is that women travel alone to look for sex.”

McNeil said it helps not to “look like a tourist.”

She left her blue jeans and sneakers--the Americans’ uniform--at home and donned khaki pants, walking boots and layers of sweaters in order to take on the guise of “an itinerant student.” She also advised women to “travel light. If you need it, buy it.”

Sarachek also swears by khakis and neutral attire. “No bright colors or designer clothing,” she said, “and no valuable jewelry. I had a Swatch watch, small unobtrusive earrings and one ring.

Some travel agents suggest that women travelers, particularly those inexperienced in independent travel, might feel more secure in an escorted group with similar interests.

Carol Voorhees, director of physician recruiting at Lehigh Valley Hospital, Salisbury Township, near Allentown, Pa., pointed out that “you have to like being alone before you can travel alone.” Her travels have taken her to Italy, Japan, Egypt and shortly she’ll go to China. She’s learned that some places, such as Bermuda, offer little for a woman on her own. “I like to walk,” she said, “and the lone road around the island was treacherous because of all the mopeds on it.”

Voorhees advises solo travelers to stay in cities “because it’s easier to get around, and you don’t need to take a taxi or bus everywhere.” McNeil relied exclusively on trains and buses. She said that because European trains run “like clockwork,” there was never any need to consider other transportation: “Just show up at the station and guaranteed, the train will be there for you.”

But McNeil, Zepatos and Sarachek all spoke glowingly of the overwhelming kindness and protectiveness they found. McNeil told of the train conductor who moved her from a compartment full of “suspicious” people into another with a family and an older man. “It turned out the conductor was right,” she said.

“When I stepped into the passageway the next morning, one of the men from my previous compartment turned up and began to say some pretty vile things to me. Fortunately, the man from my compartment arrived. So I grabbed onto his arm and made loving eyes at him. I explained my actions to him after the bad guy went away.”

Sarachek was warned by a kindly teacher that the train she was boarding in Croatia, bound for Vienna through Slovenia, was often the target of marauders who got on at night to rob the passengers. “Don’t go to sleep!” he advised.

Women--and men--traveling without a companion often find themselves paying more for accommodations because of the single supplement,” a charge levied by hotels and cruise ships that can be considerably higher than the fare charged for double occupancy. It can sometimes be avoided on a group tour simply by offering to share a room with a stranger.

Executive Women’s Travel Network statistics indicate that by 2000, women are expected to make up 50% of business travelers, and almost 25% of women combine business trips with a vacation. That’s a lot of women striking out on their own to see the sights.

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GUIDEBOOK

Tips for Traveling Alone

Here are some resources for women considering traveling alone:

Books: Reading recommended by Thalia Zepatos’ “A Journey of One’s Own” include:

Jay Ben-Lesser’s “A Foxy Old Woman’s Guide To Traveling Alone” (The Crossing Press, $10.95).

Eleanor Berman’s “Traveling on Your Own: 250 Great Ideas for Group and Solo Vacations” (Crown Publishing Group, $12.95).

Jennifer Cecil’s “Traveling Solo” (Harper Collins, $14).

Newsletters and magazines: “Connecting: Solo Travel News,” a newsletter published six times a year: P.O. Box 29088, 1996 W. Broadway, Vancouver, BC V6J 5C2, Canada; telephone (800) 557-1757 or (604) 737-7347. A year’s subscription is $25 in the United States and includes a copy of “The Single Friendly Travel Directory.”

“Going Solo: English Spoken Here,” P.O. Box 123, Apalachicola, Fla. 32329; tel. (800) 451-5294 or (904) 653-8848. A year’s subscription is $29 for six issues.

For more information: “Women Welcome Women,” is an organization promoting friendship among women travelers in 67 countries. Contact: Joan Beyette, 11215 26th St. SW, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, T2W 5C6.

--R.J.