Ultimate Guide to Being a Lady Nomad

In the past 2.5 years I have been to 47 cities across 3 continents. Some of these tricks apply specifically to women, but a lot are just helpful for anyone who likes to travel. Here’s a massive brain-dump, so let’s do this!

1. FIND YOUR PEOPLE

Problem: I was scared to travel alone as a lady, especially late at night. I heard horror stories of women getting abducted or assaulted while traveling.

Solution: Join communities online and in person and use the buddy system. Cough up the extra bucks to take taxis home late at night. I always do research right before I land to check which taxi cabs are the least sketchy (this is particularly necessary in SE Asia). I also save the emergency numbers for police and ambulance in my contacts.

Join Online Communities

• #Nomads- a massive community of over 3,000 nomads from around the world. One of my favorite groups is the #ladies channel, where women are actively discussing the highs and lows of wanderlust.
• Solo Women Travelers- these chatty cathy’s are incredible supportive. If you are having cold feet about a trip, post there and you will have 40 women encouraging you to do it!
• Digital Nomad Community- not quite as active, but still about 1,000 nomads posting about their travels.
• Under 30 Nomads- this is for the people under 30 years old, often post about flight deals, and tips.
• Ladies Storm Hackathons- Join this group. They have meetups at hackathons primarily in the U.S.

• Hackathon Hackers- If you are a developer, this a great place to post questions or join an extremely active community.

Join Communities (in real life)

• Hacker Paradise- I may be biased since I worked for them, but we have curated a community of developers and creatives from around the world to travel together.

Hacker Paradise group trip. Photo Credit: Matthew Bergman

• Remote Year- Applications are closed right now, but they are a traveling community that goes around the world for 1 year commitments.
• Meetup- great way to find hiking, hacking, or fun groups of like minded people.
• Eventbrite- I love to go to these events alone. I always feel safe because they are in public spaces and the people usually are quite friendly.
• DNX (Digital Nomad Conference)- I went to the most recent conf in Berlin and it was fantastic. The next one is in Bangkok
• Sosh- hipstery events in Chicago, NY, SF, Seattle and DC
• YPlan- tons of events & concerts in Europe, but expanding to the States
• Hackathons- MLH & AngelHack, Startup Weekend: a fun and free way to meet other technical people around the world

Learn the language: I feel more comfortable instantly when I can say hello and thank you. I google these my first day and memorize them.

• Duolingo- great app for gamifying new languages
• Memrise- I personally prefer Memrise to Duolingo, they have mneuomics for every vocab word

• Quizlet
• StudyBlue
• Take a course locally
• Rosetta Stone- a classic, but much pricier than the free apps available

Volunteer- this is a personal favorite. I love to give back to the city I am staying in, because it gives me so much. I have met many friends through volunteering as I travel.

• Do research on local nonprofits and cold email them

Try coworking- I always feel safe at coworking spaces. Usually you can make friends there and this is great way to have a local buddy.

• Copass- a membership service that gives you access to coworking spaces around the world.
• Sharedesk
• Coworking Wiki- a list of coworking spaces around the world

Find Trustworthy Accommodation- For accommodation, check the reviews diligently. I would recommend staying with families, couples, or female hosts.

• Airbnb- Having a private room with a family is like having a host family, it is a nice way to feel settled quickly.
• Wimdu- european version of Airbnb
• Trusted Housesitters
• Mind my House
• Workaway.info- only go to ones that have at least a few positive reviews and stories. I personally do not like to stay with a single man, but rather a couple or female host.
• Couchsurfing- as a lady, I would recommend only staying with women. I have had some friends have negative experiences with men hosts trying to sleep with them.
• Craigslist or localized versions
• Hotel Tonight- last minute deals on hotel rooms
• Wwoof- free accommidation for local farming exchange

2. PRIORITIZE YOUR HEALTH

Problem: Sometimes I like to cry. But when I travel, I don’t have my best friend or family next door.

Solution: Joining communities like I spoke about above or Skyping my family/friends. There are also options such as talking to active listeners or even therapists that will Skype you.

Mental health or therapy: Traveling alone is not easy. It may look glamorous on Instagram, but sometimes you just want a big hug from your best friend or mom. Some people think traveling is therapy, but sometimes that is not the case.

• Lemonaid- a project I am working on to create a Slack group for women talking openly about the sweet & sour parts of life.
• 7 Cups of Tea- get connected with an active listener for free
• Talkspace- remote therapy

Keep in touch with friends from home

• Calendly: Because time zones are hard.
• TimeZone.io

Mindfulness/Meditation: I get anxious, medidation and yoga and my ways of calming my crazy inner voice that may tell me to stop

• Headspace: First 10 days are free
• Podcasts: The Meditation Podcast, Do Yoga With Me , Fragrant Heart, UCLA Guided Meditations

Routines

• Healthy Habits for Nomads
• Read the Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
• Set weekly goals

Value Ergonomics

• Nomad Ergonomics
• Roost: still on pre-order through kickstarter.
• Old-school high school locker shelf: a makeshift portable laptop stand- save $40 bucks and available at Staples
• Logitech mouse: It may look old fashioned, but it’s pretty light and makes a big difference.
• Bluetooth keyboard: I use a Zagg bluetooth keyboard that has a phone stand built in

Insurance

• Worldnomads — Travel insurance made for nomads
• Geoblue- good for shorter term travel if you are American

Treat yo’self

• Get massages or manicures every once in a while. Particularly if you are going to Asia since they will be less than $5.

3. MANAGE YOUR MONEY

Problem: Traveling costs money.

Solution: Find a remote job, creating a travel blog or service, and tracking my expenses diligently.

How to find a remote job

• Remote ok
• Rework remote
• Remotive
• Angelist
• Jobbatical- shorter term contracts in ideal locations.
• Toptal
• Elance
• Dave’s ESL Cafe: find a job teaching english abroad.

Tracking your expenses

• Trail Wallet

• Mint-my personal favorite. Great for setting budgets and alerts.

4. TRAVEL SMART

Problem: Planning takes a lot of logistics and time. It also stresses me out when I don’t have my flights or next locations booked (aka right now). I also don’t know which countries are safe for women.

Solution: Have travel goals for the next month, create a budget, and travel hack. Most of the resources below are non-gender specific so I also do research on safety indexes and the perception of women in local cultures before booking flights. Another way I feel safe is by being super aware. My personal rule is I don’t drink when I am alone.

Learn How to Travel Hack

• Secret Flying- absurdly cheap flight deals from around the world
• The Flight Deal- subscribe to this. You will not regret it
• Oyster Chat- slack community to talk about flight hacks
• How to fly for free every 3 months
• Nomadic Matt
• Paradise Pack
• Nomadlist- scope out potential living locations and see cost of living
• Teleport- compare cost and quality of living

Booking flights

• Google flights- my personal favorite, you can see when the cheapest days are in a graph form for every search.
• Hipmunk: They have a great visualizer for flight options

• Skyscanner
• Adioso- better than Google Flights for Asian airlines

Eurail Pass/Train/bus

• Rome2Rio- This site is a life saver. It can pull information from flights, buses, trains, ridesharing and more to compare the best route.

• Seat61-train travel advice
• Sign in to Google Maps and star your favorite places before you leave wifi. I usually look up local restaurants, attractions and bars right when I arrive. This is by far my best travel hack, especially if you don’t have a phone with a global data plan.

First search, then click save. They will be available offline, and so will your magic blue dot.

5. STAY INSPIRED

Problem: Travel can be exhausting. No one really talks about the downsides, but they do exist, I swear.

Solution: I keep my wanderlust alive by following beautiful Instagram accounts and blogs to inspire my next travels.

Blogs

• The Blonde Abroad
• Nomadic Matt
• Adventurous Kate

• Suitcase Entrepreneur
• Almost Fearless
• Workfrom
• Nomad Spirit
• A Life a Blue
• NYT 36 hours in …

Instagrams to follow

• C’est Christine
• Airbnb
• Cole Rise
• Murad Ossman

@MuradOssmann

• Young Adventuress
• Legal Nomads
• Alex in Wanderland
• The Blond Abroad
• Paris in 4 Months

6. PACKING 101

Problem: I can’t lift my suitcase…

Solution: Pack half of what you think you need. You’re going to want to buy stuff when you’re there. I carry a backpack and a carry-on suitcase now. I always test if I can carry my suitcase up the stairs in my house before I leave for the airport.

Gear: cute gear is often hard to find. I am still on the hunt for the perfect backpack, but I like the Thule one I have for now.

• Tortuga bags

Tortuga Backpacks

• Elephant Wallet- for the minimalists
• SmartPurse- I design these myself so I make them to my own needs. The most recent one I made fits my passport, cash, and has coin pockets.
• Thule Backpack- I have beat up this backpack for 2 years and you cannot even tell. It can be small or it can fit an absurd amount of things. I love it dearly.

7. DON’T GIVE UP ON DATING

Problem: I still want to date, but I don’t trust strangers.

Solution: Do things you like. Those are where the people you may like are hiding. Go to events, play sports, go dancing, just do your thang.

Dating

• Single Digital Nomads
• Tinder- a great way to see a new town is ask locals on Tinder for tips, even if you don’t meet them
• OkCupid
• Date A Nomad
• Networking events/parties at coworking spaces

8. UPDATE YOUR TOOLKIT

Problem: I want to stay productive while traveling. Distractions are very easy.

Solution: Track your time, get in consistent routines, and iterate.

Tools

• Toggl- time tracking software
• Evernote- I organize my itineraries here
• Week cal- I’ve been using this app for years to have a more visual display of my calendar
• Flux- your computer adjusts the brightness by the time of day. great for your biological clock and eyes
• Rescuetime-get a weekly productivity report

The stats from this morning while I researched this article

• Spotify premium- offline mode is super great for long flights
• Elly- record a 1 second video everyday
• Viber, Whatsapp and Facebook- for making calls and texts
• Moo.do- like Trello but syncs with Google Drive
• Foursquare & Yelp
• Audible- First month is free. This is my favorite way to wander around a city, accompanied by a fantastic book. It also comes with a NTY audio digest that I listen to daily to keep informed while I travel.
• IFTTT- you can do nIFTTTy things like get a text with the weather each morning. It’s totally customizable and free.
• Feedly- personalize a news source
• Hola- a VPN that is a Google Chrome plugin. Go ahead, binge on Netflix.
• Tripadvisor app- normally I just use the mobile browser version, but the app has a “near me now” setting which is wonderful. Tripadvisor is consistent around the world, where some countries may not use Foursquare or Yelp.
• Wifi Map- lists of local wifi cafes and their password info

I hope this hasn’t been too overwhelming, but rather a hefty toolkit to prep you for a safe and exciting adventure. Feel free to say hi to me here if you have any questions!