My Six Rules for Solo Female Travellers who travel by a Converted Van, Campervan or Motorhome
Travelling alone as a woman is one of the most empowering things you will ever do. The sad reality is, even today being a woman is dangerous. Every day women face multiple risks, so it is only natural that solo female travellers have to carefully consider their safety.
These are my six rules for travelling alone as a woman in a converted van, campervan or motorhome.
Trust your gut
Always. Even when logic is telling you, ‘you’re being silly, it’s fine.’ Ignore it. Trust your gut. Get out of there.
2. No city or built up wild camping spots.
Let’s face it, the one major thing a solo female traveller has to worry about is men. I’ve stayed a couple of times in towns and absolutely hated it. The risk of being broken into is higher. The risk of someone seeing you are travelling in your van alone is higher. The risk is just higher. I much prefer park ups that are more remote but ideally, has a house or a village in sight so if anything does go wrong I am not far from help.
Saying that, I do accept built up parks ups as long as I am surrounded by other campervans or caravans. Safety in numbers and all that.
If you’re curious as to how I find wild camping park ups as a solo female traveller click here!
3. The ability to leave fast.
I always park facing my exit. If the park up doesn’t have space for quick manuovering I don’t stay.
4. No camping spots with high foot traffic
Personally, I wouldn’t stay in a motorway aire for this very reason. There are too many people coming and going which makes for not only, a noisy night, but also an insecure, worrying night. I like park ups that are no through roads that cars only come down for a reason and I can hear coming.
5. Keeping keys in the same place
Whenever I’m inside the van the doors are locked. When I go to bed I keep the keys in the exact same place so if I need to move fast in the middle of the night I can grab them quickly and go.
6. Be stealthy
I have thick thermal blackout blinds that hide my lights. I don’t blare out music or watch TV loudly. I also tend not to leave the van after dark. This is a personal choice though. I just don’t like the dark!
These are my six rules to travelling alone in my campervan, but…
Remember…
Do whatever you have to do to feel safe and happy. Expect those needs to ebb and flow while you’re travelling. For example, last week I was feeling a bit lonely and vulnerable so I stayed in a lovely campsite for a week. Now, I’m back on the road wild camping. Listen to what your mind and body need, then do it.
You don’t have to wild camp everywhere to be a ‘vanlifer.’
You don’t have be ‘brave’ all the time.
My main advice would be to have a little emergency fund stashed away so you can splash out on a campsite, hotel or airbnb whenever you need to.
Be kind to yourself and safe travels!