So You Want To Hit The Road

(above: video of the one time I thought it was a good idea to go to Yemen.. alone. It was a great idea.)

Travel is a powerful thing. It inspires, it educates; it distills important experiences from your travels and stays with you, beyond the length of your journeys. 

The act of traveling solo is a fundamentally empowering one. It empowers the traveler with freedom, control, spontaneity: freedom from the tyranny of other people's plans, control of your itinerary and schedule, and the spontaneity to roll with it and take in whatever the road throws at you.

For single female travelers, this is not so much a right as it is a privilege: the odds have always been stacked against us.

• Why should I travel solo?
• How should I keep myself safe from harm?
• What should I do when sh*t happens?

As a single female traveler, you will also experience certain places in a very different way from others. 

Can I Travel India Alone As A Woman?

Traveling alone in India as a female has its pros and cons. 

I have been traveling alone in India for the past 8 years, clocking in over 55 trips. I've criss-crossed the subcontinent alone by bus, train, car, even by auto-rickshaw. 

My experiences won't always be yours, but I want to share what I know and love about India with the world, especially with women.

The Book

For more than 8 years I have written about India (and the rest of the world) on my website, Popagandhi.com. There is a lot I haven't written about it, as well. 

I've written about traversing the lengths and breadth of South India by driving an autorickshaw, train journeys, the terrorist attacks on Mumbai, cycling around Sweden, and other solo travel tales on my website. 

Now, I'd like to distill everything I have learned almost a decade of solo traveling into a fun, easy-to-read book with great stories and practical information for other women travelers. 

We'll start with India before fanning out into Southeast Asian countries. 

Here's what you can expect:

• Real, practical information about where to go in India from an insider's perspective
• A LOT of talk about food. When you eat from the street, convincingly and with confidence, everybody wins, especially your tummy (srsly)
• No bullshit: you need to know how you are perceived when you travel alone through this amazing country, before you can deal with it in the best way possible
• Tips in self-defense — yes!
• What to do when sh*t hits the fan

E-book or Dead Tree Book?

I love dead tree books too. But right now, this is going to be an e-book. 

• Read on Kindle
• Read on iPad
• Read on PDF

If we hit really amazing numbers, we can look into a print run. Any other questions? Email me: skinnylatte [at] gmail.com.