Traveling alone as a black woman is not just a simple thrill seek or a healing act. This is an empowering and challenging movement that overcomes the layered fears of racism and society that have constrained us for so long.
Traveling alone as a woman is generally a scary undertaking, but black women have to think beyond their gender due to the immediate fear of how they will be treated once their skin color is noticed. The presence of a black woman will trigger a variety of reactions, from harmless but charged stares that make them feel unwelcome, to racially motivated attacks.
London-based travel content creator Pelumi Nubi, who has been on a transcontinental road trip from London to Lagos, Nigeria, since January, says traveling alone as a black woman is a “triple whammy.” “I’m traveling alone, I’m black and I’m a woman. “It doesn’t get any harder than this,” she adds.
Along with his backpack, he carries the constant fear of not knowing how he will be treated every time he crosses a new border. But these moments are temporary, she says, because she doesn’t want to be “ruled by this fear.” Sometimes his worries were forgotten and he was surprised by the “kindness of people”.
Nubi, who until recently earned a biomedical degree before giving up travelling, describes herself as a “traveller at heart.” His passport is already worn out because he has visited 80 countries so far. “I was trying to connect these two places that I consider home,” he says from his latest stop in Guinea Bissau, West Africa’s sunny tropical paradise. “It’s very quiet here,” he says. There’s less hustle and bustle compared to Dakar, Senegal, where he was a few days ago.
When he’s not driving or exploring, he sleeps in his Peugeot 107 parked at the campsite. From riding an iron train across the Sahara Desert to walking tours in Chefchaouen to watching the sunrise in the Atlas Mountains, Nubi’s journey has been extraordinary.
Her trip was inspired by Nigerian motorcyclist Kunle Adeyanju, who cycled from London to Lagos in 2022, and her incredible feat sparked the notion that no black woman had ever made a similar journey before and that she would be the first. Nubi not only takes in the sights, but also makes history along the way.
Black women are forced to think beyond their gender for fear of how they will be treated if their skin color is noticed
“I wondered if other black female travelers had done this before,” asked the 29-year-old, Nigerian-born, London-raised. “I felt like there wasn’t enough representation. “I know black women… they do different types of research, but I don’t think the media shows that or they’re represented enough,” she adds. After a year of preparation, it arrived in Lagos in January, passing through 17 countries via France, Spain, Morocco and then Western Sahara.
The visibility of black travelers has long been a glaring issue, resulting in the birth of the Black Travel Movement, a global campaign that began in 2013 and focuses on uplifting black travelers and representing them authentically. The movement is this generation’s version of the Green Book, a travel guide first published by Victor Hugo Green between 1936 and 1966 and later used as a guide for African American travelers during the Jim Crow and “sunset towns” era. A joint study by Women in Travel CIC and the University of Surrey School of Hospitality and Tourism Management has revealed the issue of diversity and inclusion in tourism marketing in the UK; This prevents many people of color from vacationing in certain countries. The report also found that concerns about safety and racism are among the conflicting factors for ethnic travelers.
Although unfortunately no longer published due to financial constraints, Nubi co-founded The Black Explorer, a print magazine that was started to revive black travel and is often missing from the media. “The vision for us was to empower black travel, to show that we travel, too, and we take our place, and we put our stories out there, too,” he says. “People want to do these types of trips, but they don’t see themselves or anyone like them doing it,” Nubi says. Her goal has always been to empower solo black female travelers “in a society that constantly tells us we can’t.”
“So we need to make a conscious decision to challenge the norms. “I refuse to live a normal life,” he adds. Nubi documents her journey of more than 6,000 miles towards her growing 16,000 followers on Instagram. She says countless women have already commented in their comments about how motivated they are to pursue their own adventures.
Safety is always a concern for many women who want to travel alone. A survey conducted by online travel agency Tourlane found that almost 50 percent of women considering traveling alone avoid the trip due to safety concerns. Despite this, there is an increase in the number of women traveling alone, and female-led tours are rapidly growing in popularity. According to Condor Ferries, 73 percent of travel agents found that female travelers take more solo trips than men. Booking.com’s research, which surveyed 27,000 travelers in 33 countries, predicted a potential increase in the number of women traveling alone this year, with 54 percent saying they plan to travel solo in 2024.
I burst into tears when I crossed into Morocco
To the naysayers, Nubi says: “I want people to see that I did this by the end of this trip. And then maybe they can question what else they thought was impossible in their lives.”
“I burst into tears when I crossed over to Morocco, because I had such high expectations, I really felt like I wasn’t going to make it, almost like I was more worried about a public failure than a personal failure. And when I did it it was like ‘wow, if I had listened to people I wouldn’t have made it this far.’ It was like.”
An avid solo traveler, Nubi is full of sage advice for those looking to dive and travel solo. Here are Nubi’s five tips and advice for solo travel.
Make up your mind
Nubi’s first piece of advice before embarking on a solo journey is to make up your mind completely. If there is any room for doubt or concern, quell it before taking the step of traveling alone across continents. Nubi says it’s important for you to decide for yourself. This way you won’t have to step back later when “the noise comes”.
Do more solo activities before you go
If the thought of sitting in a restaurant alone or going to the movies alone fills you with indescribable dread, then it’s important to try to instill in yourself the idea of spending time alone outside. Nubi says it’s like a muscle you have to tense. After a while, he adds, “it’s less foreign because you’ve done it in your own comfort zone.”
start local
Nubi started by exploring the countries and cities neighboring the UK before embarking on a solo travel experience, bravely crossing six continents. “I think people think travel has to happen across oceans. “In my early days, I was just exploring Europe,” he says. Even getting to the other side of the country for the weekend is a huge accomplishment and will better prepare you for a solo trip out of the country.
Prepare yourself to meet new people
It is not an experience to be experienced entirely alone. When traveling around a country, you’re bound to connect with locals and other solo travelers. “I think people feel like they’re going to be very lonely when they leave. But this is not the case,” says Nubi. Locals have a wealth of knowledge and talking to them can give you information you won’t find in a travel brochure.
“Take walking tours, stay in hostels where you can meet people, or do shared activities like cooking classes… these are things that will naturally bring in other travelers and give you the opportunity to meet new people as you travel,” she says.
Stay connected
This is one of the most vital things when you set foot in a new country. You may get lost in the excitement of your travels, but it’s important to stay in touch if something goes wrong.
“Having that connectedness or constant connection with loved ones and people you trust gives you that extra boost of confidence that if something goes wrong, I can ask for help,” Nubi says.
Take other precautions when traveling alone as a woman, such as never revealing that you’re alone or posting in real time on social media, Nubi adds.
An oft-repeated hack for solo female travelers that Nubi highlights is wearing a “fake wedding ring” to ward off unwanted attention, especially at immigration offices or border controls where “mostly men are present.”
Nubi’s final advice is not to live in regret and not to embark on great adventures, whether near or far.