Solo Travel Safety: Trusting Your Gut While Travelling Alone

In this episode, I’m sharing a moment that truly tested my instincts while travelling solo.

Alone at a remote campsite with no reception, I found myself in a situation that for most might not have felt right… and I had to decide whether to stay or trust my gut and leave.

Solo travel is often seen as freeing and empowering, and it is but there are also moments that challenge your sense of safety.

This episode isn’t about fear, it’s about awareness.

 Learning to read situations, trust yourself, and make decisions that keep you safe on the road.

If you’ve ever questioned your instincts while travelling, this one’s for you.

Head to www.sarahrosefoster.com.au to download my FREE Solo but Safe Ebook for more practical tips I've learnt in my solo travels. 

🎧 New episodes of The Solo Experience Podcast drop every Monday.

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Hosted by Sarah Rose Foster

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

And this is a really important story because some people would look at this situation and they would be like, no bloody way, biker looking dude, tattoos, beard, no reception, six guys, guns, I'm like, okay, still analysing the situation. Yes, it'd be good to have those things, but if you are carrying a weapon of any form, just remember that that can also be used as a weapon against you. When I think about unwanted attention, it's always been in caravan parks. Guys, welcome back to the solo experience podcast. Today's episode is one that has been very highly requested, especially from women sliding into my DMs about this, and it is all about safety, whether or not I am safe traveling solo, what I do to stay safe. It's something that I've definitely covered in some of my YouTube episodes, but I really wanted this space that you could come back to, save, and just use this as a point of reference as often as you need to. I'll be very transparent. I haven't really had any questionable moments throughout my travels. Definitely moments that I've had to trust my own judgment and intuition, which I think in different contexts, maybe these situations could have been deemed as dangerous. But I like to think that I am pretty in tuned with my gut feeling and my gut instinct on situations so I can sort of read what I'm walking into and decide whether or not that is the space that I want to stay in. So yeah, hopefully I can give you guys some really useful tips that you can put into practice, whether you're doing a weekend adventure, traveling full-time, or just literally getting out day-to-day, because I think we all have to, you know, really take into consideration our personal safety because at the end of the day, like that is our number one priority. So in this episode, I will go through, yeah, my practical tips, things I carry on me at all times, some of my personal experiences, and once again, this is something that you can take as a grain of salt of whether or not you would feel comfortable in this situation and really reflect on if you were in that situation, what would you do? So let's get straight into it. So I've been traveling solo for almost three years now. It's been a long time, but even before I started full-time solo traveling, I was still doing solo trips by myself even before then. So I've got a lot of experience. Now I'm gonna share some of my own personal stories before we kick things off. Now, if we sort of go back, I'm gonna say like four years now, I did my very first trip up to North Queensland. This was before the BT, before the Suzuki Gymney, this was in my Suzuki Vatara. My very first extended trip solo, and I was terrified. I think I've spoken about this before. I was so scared of literally everything. Because I was living in Brisbane at the time, I traveled up North Queensland and got to see some really incredible places. Being quite new to it, I was not stealth camping. I decided to book into a lot of caravan parks and a lot of hip camps. So if you don't know what a hip camp is, it's pretty much like where you can book into someone's private property. So you're, I would say, in a pretty secure space. That's effectively how I decided to travel. I had my rooftop tent at the time, and because I was quite new to it, everything scared me. It didn't matter what it was. Like there was this one property that I stayed on, and there was this beautiful lady that came out and greeted me. She had like dreadlocks, like she was just a whole vibe. But even though she came and greeted me, even though I sort of had an idea about my surroundings, as soon as the sun went down, I was just freaking out for no reason. I didn't sleep all night. But as I got, you know, through my trip, every single day got better and better, and that's where I think a lot of the time how we feel safety-wise is more our mental blocks and our mental barriers. So that's definitely something to consider. But the more you expose yourself to solo travel, I think you start to understand what's fear and what's something that truly is something you like need to get out of that situation. So just learning to trust that gut instinct. Honestly, I would probably say like to date. I typically avoid caravan parks myself these days because when I think about unwanted attention, it's always been in caravan parks. I don't know if that is because I'm a solo female traveler or what it might be, but I've typically found unwanted male attention in caravan parks, and I think it's because you're so exposed, like you don't really have a space to hide out. You kind of just in this section, there's people all around you, so people can see that you're by yourself. I guess that's my take on it. So I just typically avoid that at all costs. But then, even fast forward to you know, up until last year, I was in Western Australia in the Pilbara region, and this is quite a remote space. I went out to this campsite, which was on this like dried up uh river system. It was a four-drive location. I drove in there as the sun was setting, like I was pushing it really far, which is something I typically don't do. We'll get into some tips a little bit later on. But I got out to this campsite, I did throw the drone up. There was literally nothing around me for like hundreds of yards. It was crazy. Nothing around me. And I think I woke up at 1am and I heard, because the ground was like pebbles, I heard something walking. And don't get me wrong, like you can obviously understand like the the sound of kangaroos and the sound of cows or whatever it might be, and it just it sounded in my brain like two feet, like two feet stepping, and so 1am, I'm freaking out. I was like truly fight or flight mode, being like, what is about to happen? I don't think I went back to sleep, and in the end, I don't know what it was. I don't think it was anything, no one attacked me, so that's once again it's just coming back to more mindset. Maybe it was something, but I was so far away from anything. The chances of it actually being a person is very unlikely, and like I said, I'm telling you all these stories because we all have these moments where something will terrify us, will get into our own head, and it can be a very quick and slippery slope into spiraling, but I think we need these moments to once again trust and build that relationship with ourselves and our own gut instinct. Now, one of the funniest stories that I probably have to share, and this is a really important story because some people would look at this situation and they would be like, no bloody way, get me the hell out of there. So I was in the Victorian High Country. So here in Australia, Victoria, there is this place called Vic High Country, it's this beautiful alpine region of Australia, it's stunning. I went out to this campsite that was quite remote. It was like more of like I wouldn't say a four-wheel drive track to get in, but it was a very steep incline, quite deep in the forest. Anyway, got out there, nobody was there. I had this entire campsite to myself, it was on the river, it was beautiful, so calming. Anyway, I picked a campsite I hadn't set up at this time, and this four-wheel drive comes down, and I was like, Okay, fine, someone else is here, that's gonna happen. The guy drove straight up to my campsite, he's this like like credits to him, still friends with him to this day, but he's this like biker-looking dude, tattoos, beard, the whole thing. And straight up, he's like, Hey, I've got like six mates coming down. Is that cool? And I was like, Okay, cool. Six guys coming down, I'm down here by myself, there's no reception, I'm pretty far from anything. I was like, let's just read the situation. I was sort of in the main part of the camp, and I just said to him, like, look, I'm gonna move off to the side and you guys can have this spot. And at first he was like, No, no, don't be silly, but for me, I'm gonna put in a little tip here. For me, as a solo female traveller, I probably don't want to be in an exposed campsite. So if I was there by myself, great, because like no one's around, but if there was like six other guys there and I'm just in this main open area, everyone can see me from all angles, I was like, nah, I'd rather be tucked off to the corner. So I moved off to a campsite a little off to the side. That guy set up, his friends hadn't arrived yet, and I would probably say like maybe 20 minutes later, he walked over to me and he's like, Hey, just want to let you know as well, I've got guns, and I'm just gonna go off and fire some. And I was like, Okay, cool, cool, cool, cool. No reception, guys, well, six guys, guns. I'm like, okay, still analyzing the situation. I'm still just reading the room, like, so far I'm feeling okay. Like, this guy's not giving me any bad vibes. He was like super chatty, really lovely. So he's gone off, shot his guns. Keep in mind I have Starlink. So the whole time I'm sending my family Snapchats of this situation, and they're all like, what the hell is wrong with you? And I don't know how it ended up to be this way, but the whole situation evolved into he'd gone and shot his guns, we started chatting again, he's like, Oh, do you want to have a go? And so within an hour of meeting this guy, after all of these like potential red flags, I am at his campsite, literally doing target practice with this gun. And it just it proves that even on paper, if things sound questionable, sometimes they're okay. Sometimes people are truly harmless. I did decide to stay at that campsite. Once again, I hadn't set up camp, I was really just reading the situation, and his friends did end up coming, they were all so lovely, like truly, they were the most lovely people. They had a campfire, I went over, had a drink, had a chat with them, they're all lovely. I went off, went to bed, and I stayed there for four days. I think they were there for three. By the end of the third day when they were leaving, thank god they were there because my car actually didn't start, so they actually had to help jump start my car. But moral of the story is like you just have to read the situation. Any person could look at that and be like, hell no, Sarah, get me the hell out of there. But I don't know, just in that moment, I I trusted the situation, and if I didn't trust the situation, I think a lot of people can get into this mindset where they almost feel what's the word for it? Not bad, but they almost feel like they're trying to be polite and they can't leave because that would be impolite. And I think we have to really push past that. If you feel comfortable, great, stay, create those boundaries, create that space. If you don't feel comfortable, don't feel like you are offending anybody by packing up and leaving. If in that moment I felt unsafe, I'd be like, yeah, cool man, like I'm gonna go and find somewhere else to camp. Thanks so much for giving me a heads up. And I think that's the most important thing about that situation. You can look at that situation however you want, but that's how I read and analyzed the situation, and it's things like that, which is why I think I've never had a questionable switch situation because like I said, I just I read it and I make a decision. There's definitely been times where I can't relate it into a story because it was just a vibe. I driven into campsites and straight away, like it wasn't even an intention, it was just I don't like this spot, and I've left. No judgment on what made me feel uncomfortable about that situation, it was just something that I felt. So I was like, cool, I'm out, there's other campsites around because that's the thing, there's always other options in most cases, and I'd always like to really encourage people to make sure you've got options on hand, and that's where we'll jump into some practical tips because I think the tip side of it can be really handy to know what your options are in those situations. So, as far as practical tips, I've made a lot of notes here because there's a few categories we're gonna go through here. So the first one is gear and technology. So this is things such as Starlink. We live in a world where Starlink is so easy to get. I've got a Starlink Mini, this is all properly wired up through my 12-volt system, but in saying that Starlink these days you can get converters that are like a cigarette plug, you can get them for an Anderson plug, so you don't have to have an entire 12-volt inverter system in your vehicle. You can literally have just like a battery pack, like there's so many of them out there. Get the converter for your Starlink Mini, plug it in via cigarette port. So Starlink is a huge one. I think Starlink is almost outdoing a lot of other safety devices, but the only thing with Starlink that I would really emphasize is that if there is a lot of tree cover, your Starlink isn't going to be as reliable, and there is definitely some areas that I don't think get as much coverage. But here in Australia we've got incredible coverage. You can go onto the Starlink website and I think it shows you a map, so definitely suss that out. Be mindful of tree coverage. But yeah, Starlink is my number one must-have personally. And obviously, you've got your mobile as well, but mobile internet reception can be so scattered. Like I'm with Telstra, and I'll go places where you think that you'll have reception, like right near towns, and there'll be nothing. And then obviously, some other mobile carriers like Optus, they might have reception or Vodafine where Telstra won't, so it can just be a little bit unreliable. So I wouldn't solely rely on your mobile reception. I have spoken in the past that I have an app called Emergency Plus on my phone. It's a really good app because it not only shows you your exact location, so coordinates, you can call emergency services only if there is a satellite to ping off. So if you're a Telstra but there's no Telstra reception but there's Optus, it can rely off of that, but don't rely on that solely. That's just my biggest take there. Then of course, you've got emergency personal beacons, so PLBs or GPS trackers. These are really good, especially if you're hiking. They are typically quite small, which means that they're mobile. So even though I've got Starlink in my car, as soon as I walk away from my car, that's no longer an option. So having something like a PLB is really, really good. I don't personally have one, which I know that's very irresponsible of me. It's something that is on the cars of something I really do have to purchase, but especially, yeah, going out and hiking. I know that New South Wales, this is a really good one. Um, if you go into the Blue Mountains and you are going in to do hiking, I'm pretty sure you can go see the ranges and you can actually hire a PLB, which I think is such a good idea. So that's a little handy trick. Maybe just check your local area, see if there is something like that that you can just either hire one, borrow one, or purchase one. I think they're don't quote me on this, I think they're anywhere from like three to five hundred. So it is an investment and it's an investment in something that you hope you'll never have to use. But yeah, PLB, emergency beacon, definitely put that on your list, especially if you are going to be doing a lot of hiking and being away from your vehicle or Starlink if that's what you've got. Then from there, little things I think you know, having portal battery packs, solar charges on hikes, like there's a lot of battery packs that you can get these days that do have a solar charger on it. So once again, if you get lost and let's say you've already used up that charge, at least if there's a solar option on it, you can just pop it in the sun and like get more charge into your phone that way. One thing that I do as well is like try to share your location with friends and family as much as you possibly can. I use Snapchat quite a lot for my family in the sense that I find that when I'm sharing my location, I'm not going to update every single person every time I go to a new location. That would just be a lot. So instead, I typically send a Snapchat pretty much to everyone. It's just an easy way to stay in contact with my friends and family, but then I'm also being like, oh hey, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here. And that works really well for me. But then even I've got an Apple phone and you've got like the option to share your location with friends and family, like find my friends, I use that as well. So that way my friends like I think I always forget about it, but I think that's a great way that they can see where you are. You've got the option of air tags, I've got air tags on literally everything, and then there's other apps that you can use that you can share locations with family. So if you don't have an Apple iPhone or whatever it might be, there is apps that you can use that shares locations. So sharing locations, please do that regardless. I think everyone should be doing that. You just never know what's gonna happen. Obviously, first aid kits, these are a must. I've never had to use my first aid kit outside of band-aids, but just making sure that you've got access to be able to treat a snake bite, a sprain, a bleed, a cut, any of those things that you might encounter, carry it with you when you go on hikes, carry it with you in your vehicle. First aid kit's an absolute must, and also know how to use it. I've done years of first aid training with like my personal training jobs, so I'm pretty well equipped when it comes to first aid and you know being able to deliver that. But I think, yeah, just having basic knowledge of how to treat a spider bite or whatever it might be. We're in Australia and we've got a lot of deadly animals, so just knowing how to treat things like that is so good. Next up, this isn't really gear, but I think having self-defense training is really good. So whether you have got proper self-defense classes that you've attended, that's great. I've dabbled in a lot of boxing and MMA style training, so look, I'm hoping that I never have to use those kind of skills, but it gives you a bit more confidence being out by yourself, knowing that you have some level of skills just to be able to defend yourself. So if you are going out on a lot of like solo adventures or hiking, even if you're going out with friends, you never know what's gonna happen. Just maybe go and do a couple of fun classes, like do it with your friends, make it a fun fitness-related thing, but at least that way you'll feel a lot more secure. Then other things, as far as like my personal setup, I don't have these, but I really want to invest in them. So sensor lights and sensor video recording. I don't even know if that's a thing, but I feel like it should be. So I'm actually considering getting some sensor lights put around the back of my Ute, and I figure at nighttime, if someone was to walk up close to my car, even an animal, the sensor light would go off, and that way, if I have the balls to do so, I can open up my tent. And I have done this before, I've heard some crazy noises, knew it wasn't human, so I opened up my tent, shown a torch out to see what it was, and it was kangaroos. But at least you'll have a bit more peace of mind knowing that if you were to look outside of your tent, you have visibility. There's nothing more terrifying than not being able to see anything, and I think it gives you the upper hand when you can physically see the surroundings around you. You see it, sensor lights, and then yeah, videos. I thought this would be really good. I got the idea because you see a lot of um video footage from people's dash cams. And I was like, imagine if you had something like that on your vehicle where it was almost like a sensor video that would start recording if there was movement. I think that's a really handy tip because once again, if you don't feel like you've got the courage to open up your tent and have a look outside, maybe you can just jump onto your phone and be like, okay, well, what's on the video? Like, is there actually anything out there? So I'm gonna look into that. I think that's such a good idea. Alright, next category is full driving specifically. So I still think this falls under safety because you've got to be prepared for any situation regardless of what comes up. So if you're going off-roading, things like recovery gear are a must. The amount of times that I've been out on tracks and I've had to help other people who don't have any recovery gear. And it does piss me off a little bit because I'm like, why should I have to pay hundreds of dollars for all this gear only to have it break because I've got to get you out of a situation that you weren't prepared for. So have recovery gear even for your own peace of mind. Having a UHF is a must. Honestly, I've never used my UHF outside of just listening into other people's conversations, to be brutally honest with you. But having a UHF is really good because you can obviously listen into trucks along the road, you can chat with trucks if you need to overtake them, if you're convoying with friends or family, obviously you can chat between them safely, or if you happen to get stuck in the sand. I once again I would use Stunlink for this, but if you're by yourself and you get stuck in the sand, there is a radius on the UHF, so you might be able to find someone local to you that can just come and give you a hand. So that's another really handy tip there. My UHF, I had it wired up so that if my I'm trying to think of how, oh if my car won't start, as long as it's charging my battery, I can use my UHF. So a lot of UHFs are wired up so that your car has to be turned on to use it. Mine's not. I decided to bypass that and do it a bit different just to be on the safe side. Then just having basic mechanical knowledge, knowing how to change your own tire, knowing how to top up oil. I have got, you know, multimeters in my setup. So sometimes I don't particularly know how to use it, but once again, we live in such a world where we've got the internet Starlink, you know, you can just Google things, or even in the multimeter pack, there's like instructions. So multimeters are great if you just need to check a fuse or check your battery, things like that. So you can do a little bit of self-diagnosing. That's something I would definitely recommend having on you. Downloaded offline maps. This is huge. Google Maps do it. I'm pretty sure a lot of four-wheel driving tracks do it as well. So if you're in an area where there's no reception, you can just download a map whilst you're in reception, and that way that you can still get directions regardless of where you are. So HEMA maps, new tracks, these are some really good ones for four-wheel driving. But yeah, Google Maps itself does have offline maps. And then that also goes for hiking as well. I personally use and pay for all trails. I don't know if you can do this on the free version, so I think I pay like$30. It's really not much, but all trails, you can download a track before you go, and that's really handy because once again, if there's no reception, At least you've got the track details there, so that's a really good one. And then last couple is just carry spare fuel, especially in remote areas. That's probably a no-brainer, like you don't want to get stuck out in the middle of nowhere. It has happened to me a few times. Luckily, I've never been stuck, but when I was over in Western Australia, everything is just so remote, and I think I just underestimated how far I had to travel. Anyway, I had no fuel. My fuel light was on, but I was still like 30, I thought it was like 30 kilometers from our fuel station. My fuel light had been on for ages and I just I had to stop and camp because I couldn't keep driving. The next morning I woke up at 4 am just to drive to this fuel station because my theory was I'm like, if I'm gonna run out of fuel, I'd rather run out of fuel before the sun comes up because it's so hot over there. I was like, if I have to walk to go get fuel, at least I can do it before it gets sweltering hot. Me being stubborn, I was at a campsite, I could have asked someone to help me, but I was like, nope, I can do this myself. That's my own error. But yeah, just making sure you've got like spare fuel or just know the limitations of your vehicle when it comes to how much fuel you can get out of a tank as well. There's one thing that I do really want to start a conversation on. Let me know what you guys think because I have mixed feelings about this. This could be different if you are by yourself, if you're a female, if you're a male, if you're traveling as a group, but when it comes to pulling over and helping people, I don't know. I'm gonna be a little bit rude here and say that more often than not I will not pull over and help people. And I know that I might cop a little bit of hate from saying that, but as a solo female traveller, it's not to say that I don't see if people need help, but for example, I have driven past people before where they've had their bonnet up, it's like a guy, whatever, and I'll slow down and I'll put my thumb up, like I'll just be like, hey, are you okay? Most times, like they've always been like, yep, yep, we're cool. But the thing is, is that as a solo female traveller, if I was to pull over, get out of my car and help them, the risk to my safety is so high. Yes, you can read the situation, you can judge the person, and just sort of gauge that and see if it's safe, but in more cases, like if I ever felt off about something like that, I would see if they're okay, I would jump on the radio or I would call someone. I don't know if I would get out of my car and help them if I thought the situation was unsafe, and that's that's a that's a case by case. I'm not saying that's always going to be the thing where I'm like just drive on past and leave them because you wouldn't want that to happen to you, but please be safe, please be careful if you are pulling over and helping people. There's definitely some remote areas in you know Western Australia, Northern Territory where you're pretty much told not to pull over and help people, so just judge the situation. But let me know what you guys think because I'm really curious if I'm alone on that. Maybe it's just something that solo females have to think about a little bit more carefully, but yeah, let me know your thoughts. But the next one that I want to talk about in regards to safety is actually weather specific. I think a lot of people don't consider weather and safety as much as they should, but things like cyclones, flooding, even like thunderstorms and wind can really put you in a very unsafe situation. So the best advice I can say is just check the weather on a regular basis. Know your setup. I don't know about everyone else, but in a rooftop tent, I find, especially like lightning storms and really aggressive wind, I would sleep in my car. I would not put my rooftop tent up, that's just me. I have been caught in situations like, for example, over in Fraser, the only time that I was ever in a really bad storm, I didn't check the weather, and this is why I'm like, I've been here, I've done this, and I want to make sure that everyone else is aware of this. But I didn't check the weather, I didn't know that there was a severe storm warm coming over. At the time, I didn't have Starlink back then, and that's probably the big factor of why. And yeah, it was the middle of the night, the storm came over. I was terrified, I was camping around trees, and I just pushed through it because on Fraser Allen there's dingos, and I was so scared of the dingos that I didn't even want to get out of my car and pack up and get in my car, so I just dealt with it, but that really scared me. So, yeah, make sure you just check your surroundings. Recently, I over here in WA I had to plan for Cyclo Narel coming down the coast, and there was a big flood risk. So, what I did is like I had to figure out where was best for me to be. So I actually checked flood maps just to see where I could safely park up for a couple of days, knowing that I'm not going to get flooded in, making sure that I'm not, you know, going to be in any sort of unsafe situation. So yeah, check the weather, know the area you're in. If there is a flood risk or if there's no way for you to get out of a situation, just see if you can have a backup plan. Although it's not ideal, if you're traveling in a vehicle, I would rather lose my car than lose my life. So that's the real really important thing. Don't drive through floodwater, just really just think about situations before you get yourself into them. That's the biggest thing there. Now, as far as like things to keep on you as a safety precaution, I do want to really emphasize here that I think once again I'm speaking from a point of view of being a solo female traveller, but there's definitely times that I wish I could have access to more safety devices that I could carry on me legally. Unfortunately, we can't do that. And you've got to look at it from both sides. Like, yes, it'd be good to have those things, but if you are carrying a weapon of any form, just remember that that can also be used as a weapon against you. So there is a trade-off. But in some cases, I'm really glad that we don't live in America because even though people have peace of mind to carry guns, I sure as hell wouldn't want to have someone else having a gun. So it's just coming back to that. It's just if you have a weapon on you, just know that if you don't have the strength, it could be taken off you and used against you. So just please remember that. But things that you can carry on you. So personal alarms. There are these little battery operal alarms you can have. I carry one with me all the time. Funnily enough, I did do need to check it because I've never used it before. I don't even know if the batteries work, so I feel like that is my reminder to check to see if it actually works. But yeah, these personal alarms, safety keychains, these are legal everywhere. There are companies out there doing it and they do hit all of the legal compliances. So check those out. Like they make them in really cool keychains that you can carry around with you. I think they've got like uh glass um breakers on there, they've got whistles. So, like, just suss those out. Over here in WA, pepper spray is actually legal, which I think should be the case everywhere. I, you know, once again, like you don't want to be using these things, you're not running around pepper spraying every single person because they look at you the wrong way. It's just nice to know that you can go on a hike and there is an easy way for you to defend yourself that's not in a way of causing quite unjust bodily harm to someone, that you can just use it and it gives you an escape plan. So, WA, it's legal. Every other state, it is illegal. Keep that in mind. Knives, blades, anything like this, it is illegal to use it as self-defense. And once again, I said if you're carrying something like this, just know that it can't be used against you, so just food for thought. Then, you know, other legal self-defense accessories. So, um, yeah, whistles. Whistles are great. Like, once again, it's not gonna be able to defend yourself, but a lot of the time, statistically, they say that if someone is trying to attack you and there is a lot of commotion or a lot of noise, that's a deterrent. So the more noise you can make, the better. So whistles and then of course those personal alarms, uh, and then multi-ch multi-purpose keychains. But yeah, what I probably recommend there is just check state-by-state laws and just make sure that you are doing what is comfortable within your own constraints. But I do emphasize try to keep safety as legal as possible, preferably. And then yeah, just coming back to the self-defense, like even if you don't go and take self-defense classes, just know what you can do to defend yourself. You know, I'll be on hike sometimes, and once again, I might just be overthinking this, but I will be walking and I'm paying attention. I'm like, okay, look, there's a rock there, oh there's a stick there, oh there's this here, and it's just this mental catalogue of like, if I were to defend myself, what is around me that I can use? Whether or not that's legal advice, I don't know. But that's just what I personally do. And I don't think this is a female only problem. Yes, statistically, unfortunately, females seem to be the ones that get targeted a lot more when it comes to attacks, but I have spoken with my male friends to get a bit of understanding as to their situation, and I'll explain a couple of ways that my friends keep themselves safe as well. But men specifically, I've spoken with them, and you know, they will literally say to me, like, I don't know how you go out and camp by yourself, I could never, or I carry a machete with me, or I do this, and I'm like, that's crazy that we are all out here to defend ourselves, and I'm like, it shouldn't be like that. I really wish it wasn't, but yeah, it's definitely harder to be a solo female traveller, but just know that men out there do feel the same. So if that gives us any bit of comfort, but it's all just about being aware of your surroundings, understanding your own fears, and making sure that you know, is it a gut instinct? Is it just a fear that you're working through? Is it genuine danger that you're around? All these things can help keep you safe. But self-confidence, I think, is built through these experiences. Positive or negative, I think the best way that you can push through your own insecurities just to get out there and do it. And I really want to say, even though I'm talking about self-defense, I've never had to defend myself, and I really want to emphasize that I don't want anyone to be too scared to go out and live their life because let's be honest, you can live in the same house for 40 years and you can go on a run that you do every day, and you're probably at more risk of being harmed than you are traveling around the country living in a four-wheel drive, and that's the unfortunate truth. No matter what you do in life, there is risk. You just have to choose the level of risk that you want to deal with on a day-to-day basis. But please just don't say no to experiences because you're scared. I promise you. It's never worth it. But I do want to share some ways that friends of mine have kept themselves safe because as I said, I'm speaking for my own experience, but you know, friends, whether it be couples, males, whatever it is, they've all given me a few really cool tips which I think a lot of people can use as examples. So, so the first one here, my friend Tom, he is actually doing his lap of Australia with his partner at the moment, which is really exciting. But he has lived on a farm pretty much his entire life, so his experience is very different. I wanted to make a point to not always speak to just solo travel, but given that he lives on a farm, he actually does a lot of hunting, so he'll go out and do solo hunts by himself. And he is someone I'd love to get on the podcast just to have a bit of a chat about this. Before Starlink, he would have a GPS device called Find My Spot. It would have pre-programmed messages, but not only this, it would send off a location beacon to his contacts so that they would know if he'd become unresponsive as a location would be standstill. I thought this is a really cool one. I can't say I've heard of that device, but it sounds very similar to like a PLB, but yeah, being able to, I guess, program who it sends your location off to, and something like hunting where you're always on the move. It's like if you're all standstill for a long period of time, something's obviously gone wrong. So I thought that was a really cool one. And what else have we got? Couples I've spoken with. They they were a little bit more laid back, they just said they trust their gut instinct, they don't go into campsites after dark. Maybe they just rely on each other to judge the situation. I think if I had someone else with me, if I felt a little bit uneasy, but they were just like, no, this is fine, I think I would feel a lot more confident knowing that there was that second opinion. So I could see why couples would be a little bit more laid back in that sense. But yeah, as an overarching, I think everyone takes their own safety precautions. And look, you're gonna find that happy medium for yourself and just judge the situation. But the more you get out and the more you do things, I think the more that confidence will build, and that's the most important thing. You know, in Australia, we are so lucky to have such a beautiful country to explore, but we're also quite safe, in my opinion. I have never known anyone to have anything truly bad happen to them in that situation, which I'm so glad for. It's not to say that it doesn't happen, it's not to say that there's not a chance of it, it's just the chances of it are so slim, and I don't want anyone to stop living their life because they are scared of something like that. So I don't know, judge the situation, do a bit of self-development, learn self-defense, find ways that you can build confidence in yourself because not living your life is the worst thing you could possibly do for yourself. But if you have any of your own stories that you want to share or maybe opinions on ways that you keep yourself safe, I would love to hear all of them. So please send me a message, send me a DM. Some of them I might share, but I can keep it completely anonymous. But yeah, really curious to see how everyone else does it. But yeah, please get out there, live your life, and thank you so much for listening. Hopefully, someone's found something helpful with this episode. And if there's any subjects or topics that you'd love to, you know, really unpack in this podcast, please let me know as well. I'm always open for suggestions. So, whatever platform you are listening on or watching on, please make sure you do give this video and audio a thumbs up and subscribe, and I will see you guys all in the next one.