{"id":7035689,"date":"2026-08-09T21:44:23","date_gmt":"2026-08-09T21:44:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/uncategorized\/on-losing-my-nerve-with-remote-travel\/"},"modified":"2026-08-09T21:44:23","modified_gmt":"2026-08-09T21:44:23","slug":"on-losing-my-nerve-with-remote-travel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7035689","title":{"rendered":"On losing my nerve with remote travel"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

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As a solo female traveller, Kia no longer ventures to remote places. Here, she reckons with the loss of the world\u2019s wildest corners<\/p>\n

\u201cKia, you have a pilot\u2019s license, right?\u201d asks Reena, my eldest sister, in our family group chat.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, but I like that as part of my lore,\u201d I reply.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s nice to have lived the sort of life that leads my own sister to believe that I know how to fly a plane. It\u2019s been a full life with plenty of adventure. I have indeed flown a plane (but only once) and jumped out<\/a> of a couple of others. I\u2019ve dived with sharks<\/a>, crossed a landslide<\/a> and bungy jumped<\/a> into a chasm.\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Kia, the family\u2019s would-be pilot<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n
\n

I\u2019ve also travelled to some wildly remote places. I\u2019ve camped by the caldera of Erta Ale<\/a> in the Danakil Depression<\/a> of Ethiopia<\/a>. I\u2019ve slept in Lac Abb\u00e9<\/a>, a nowhere land at the eastern reach of Djibouti<\/a>. I\u2019ve spent time on Mafana Island in Tonga<\/a> and Tanna Island<\/a> in Vanuatu<\/a>, mere specks in the Pacific Ocean.<\/p>\n

Throughout it all, there has been one constant: Peter.<\/p>\n

I love adventure travel \u2013 I\u2019ve written before about why it\u2019s sexist to assume that I don\u2019t<\/a> \u2013 but I also recognise that I wouldn\u2019t have visited these remote places without a man by my side. It\u2019s not that I wouldn\u2019t want to; it\u2019s that I feel I couldn\u2019t<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Kia in Lac Abb\u00e9 in Djibouti<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tour operators like G Adventures<\/a> and Intrepid Travel<\/a> which offer safety in numbers don\u2019t go to places like the Danakil Depression. Would I, as an independent sole female traveller, be safe in a place like that? I can\u2019t say for sure, but I wouldn\u2019t take the risk.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I wouldn\u2019t camp in Lac Abb\u00e9 or venture to Mafana. Nor would I have done a \u201cday trip\u201d to Honduras<\/a> during a month in Central America<\/a> or an \u201covernight stay\u201d in Belarus while travelling through Europe<\/a>, like I did with Peter.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Kia at Dallol in the Danakil Depression<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The fact is travelling with a man allowed me access to wild, remote or putatively dangerous places in which I wouldn\u2019t feel safe alone.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After Peter and I went our separate ways<\/a> in 2024, I have only been to well-plumbed places. Think Greece<\/a>, Spain<\/a>, Egypt<\/a>. My only long-haul trip \u2013 15 days in China<\/a> \u2013 was on a group tour.\u00a0<\/p>\n

My next big trip will also likely be on a group tour. The fact that large swathes of the world are now closed to me saddens me deeply. I won\u2019t take the iron ore train in Mauritania alone. I won\u2019t self-drive across Mongolia<\/a> like on one trip that was offered to me. I likely won\u2019t go trekking in Mali<\/a>. I may get to these countries, but I\u2019m unlikely to venture anywhere truly remote.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Kia<\/a>
Kia\u2019s trip to China was on a group tour<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Some operators do offer truly off-the-beaten-path experiences, but most affordable tours stick to popular routes thanks to established infrastructure and economies of scale.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Braver women may think I\u2019m weak but, for me, it just isn\u2019t worth the risk. I have been harassed on past solo trips to busy urban areas (e.g. followed to my hotel in Berlin, had a frightening experience with a man in Miami). And it\u2019s not just unwanted sexual attention that\u2019s a problem.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Countries<\/a>
Kia is unlikely to self-drive across Mongolia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As I say in On travelling solo as a small brown woman<\/a>, my size (and likely my ethnicity) makes people think they can bully me. When this happens in busy public places like airports and planes, I dread to think how I might be treated when there\u2019s no accountability.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For some of my friends, travel just isn\u2019t worth it. They hate queuing and crowds and prefer their creature comforts. That\u2019s not me. I love travel. In particular, I love wild, remote places. I may come back to them in time but, for now, sadly, I\u2019ll stick to the beaten path.<\/p>\n

\n

Enjoyed this post? pin it for later\u2026<\/h4>\n
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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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Lead image: Atlas & Boots<\/h6>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a solo female traveller, Kia no longer ventures to remote places. Here, she reckons with the loss of the world\u2019s wildest corners \u201cKia, you have a pilot\u2019s license, right?\u201d asks Reena, my eldest sister, in our family group chat.\u00a0 \u201cNo, but I like that as part of my lore,\u201d I reply.\u00a0 It\u2019s nice to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7035691,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[198570,126927,2,172353,121157,97219,99195],"tags":[8920,4731,142179,3911,40966,1140,1809,542],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-7035689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ethiopia","category-explorer","category-featured","category-female-travel","category-mongolia","category-personal","category-uncategorised","tag-explorer","tag-featured","tag-female-travel","tag-losing","tag-nerve","tag-personal","tag-remote","tag-travel"],"yoast_head":"\nOn losing my nerve with remote travel - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7035689\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"On losing my nerve with remote travel - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As a solo female traveller, Kia no longer ventures to remote places. Here, she reckons with the loss of the world\u2019s wildest corners \u201cKia, you have a pilot\u2019s license, right?\u201d asks Reena, my eldest sister, in our family group chat.\u00a0 \u201cNo, but I like that as part of my lore,\u201d I reply.\u00a0 It\u2019s nice to […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7035689\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-09T21:44:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Kia-founders-sossusvlei.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"667\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7035689#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7035689\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371\"},\"headline\":\"On losing my nerve with remote travel\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-09T21:44:23+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7035689\"},\"wordCount\":711,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7035689#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Kia-founders-sossusvlei.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Explorer\",\"featured\",\"female travel\",\"Losing\",\"NERVE\",\"Personal\",\"Remote\",\"Travel\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Ethiopia\",\"Explorer\",\"Featured\",\"Female Travel\",\"Mongolia\",\"personal\",\"Uncategorised\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7035689#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7035689\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7035689\",\"name\":\"On losing my nerve with remote travel - 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