About SWBT

Rudyard Kipling had said, “He travels the fastest who travels alone”

But, not many women travel alone. The world has known many great travellers and adventure explorers but how many of them were female? And how many in India?

Most women travel with their better halves, friends, families or groups of likeminded traveller but never alone. Women are advised not to, because the roads are not safe, the space outside the home is not safe.

Ever wondered, just how unsafe? Is it possible that it is only a perception?

While traveling is never as easy to implement as it is to contemplate or theorise it is particularly difficult for ‘single woman traveling alone on a low budget in India’

The mission:

Time for me to find out, first hand, just how difficult is it for a woman to travel alone? Is India really that unsafe? Are some cities or towns or states more unsafe than others? Are the locals friendlier to a white skinned foreigner than to an Indian woman? Do they judge you for being single? I will be traveling to the lesser known places on a shoestring budget myself to find out answers to these questions and have a first-hand experience in traveling alone.

The rules

The most important rule of this mission is to make sure that this is really a journey to explore the unknown on a low budget, so I will be going to lesser known places rather than the tourist hotspots, I’ll travel on public transport instead of private cabs etc. For more details read the Mission Rules.

The documentary

It is important that I document every step of this mission. So my experiences on this journey shall be documented here on this live travel blog on a day to day basis as long as I can find internet connectivity. I would keep notes of every minute details of the journey from start to end, including what hotels I am staying to where I am eating.

In addition there would be a photo documentary to find out

How gender-balanced are the roads? How much outdoor space do women occupy?
How many women do we see on the road and during which hours?

So the photos would be not only of the beautiful places I am going to visit but also the ordinary roads, railway stations, bus stops, roadside dhabas, toilets etc.