India is a middle-of-the-road country, where women's safety is often a massive concern. Many women aren't allowed to or are afraid to leave their own homes, and the very idea of solo women travelers is absurd in Indian society.
However, we do have proof that we live in a slowly progressing country. More and more people are choosing to travel full time than rather sit at a desk day in and day out. The best part is that many of these people are strong, independent women who will not let the patriarchy hold them down.
Right from backpacking across India to hitchhiking in another country altogether, here are 10 solo women travel influencers from India who will inspire you to give up your fears and live every day like it were your last.
Shivya Nath is a small-town girl who always dreamt of traveling. She grew up in a protective family who were cautious to let her travel. After high school, she studied in Singapore for her graduation and then got a job at the Singapore Tourism Board.
The work taught her so much about travel, but she was tired of the corporate environment. After quitting her job at the age of 23, she starts traveling around the world for over 2 years.
Today, she has lived with a Mayan community in Guatemala, swam with sharks off the East Coast of Malaysia, and has even been featured by travel giants, BBC and NationalGeographic Traveller India
Lakshmi is a notable writer, content specialist, photographer, and media professional, who has made quite a name for herself in the media circle. She worked hard for over 15 years when she realized she wanted to travel and discover the world.
She did just that and has covered over 25 countries and several of India's most well-kept secrets in the last few years. She began her blog "Travel with Lakshmi" in 2005, which has gone on to win many accolades including India's best travel blog of the year from Indibloggies.
Anuradha is another example of how you can break away from the monotony of corporate life to live the way you'd like to. She worked in IT for over 12 years but then decided to give it all up and travel the world.
It's been 10 years since she gave up her job and she's covered 15 countries all over the globe. Her blog has gotten plenty of attention from the media and she doesn't plan on stopping anytime soon.
After 7 long years of working in the hospitality industry, RutaviMehta decided to take a break and went backpacking around Europe. That's when she was bitten by the travel bug and it changed her life.
She started her travel blog "Photo Katha", where she puts up her best photographs and stories of her travels.
She loves adventure and recently trekked up to Everest Base Camp and went on a 'Rickshaw Run', where she raced an auto rickshaw from Jaisalmer to Shillong. She also believes in making a change, which is why she volunteers to teach children for about 2 months a year in Ladakh.
Mridula is one of the more experienced travelers on this list with over 18 years of travel under her belt. She started her own blog "Travel Tales from India and Abroad" way back in 2005 and never stopped traveling.
She did a Ph.D. from IIT, Kanpur, and worked as a professor, until May 2016 when she quit to travel full time. In her many years, she has covered 26 countries and hopes to one day visit them again.
Some of her favorite travel memories, photographs, and her love for metro travel can be seen on her blog. The website has garnered quite a lot of attention, even being featured by BBC and the Guardian.
Parnashree describes herself as a curious girl who first fell in love with travel as a child watching the television. She worked as a photo editor for years with the thirst to travel growing in her every day.
It was2009 when she took her trip to Mukteshwar in Uttarakhand that everything changed. Today she's traveled across 14 states and over 10 countries and has even participated in the show "Nano Drive With MTV", where she covered five states in 21 days across 5000 km in a Tata Nano.
Based out of Mumbai, Arti loves traveling with her role model, her dad. She considers herself to be a spiritual person and believes in inspiring fellow travelers like herself.
Her descriptive stories have won several awards and have been featured in several massive publications. This has helped her visit the countries of her dreams, including Japan and Australia.
Archana is as interesting as they come! She was a Brand Strategist, who decided to break away and become a travel journalist. She fell in love with travel in 2014, when she took a trip to Ladakh, where she traveled alone after the trip she signed up for was canceled.
Today loves traveling to offbeat destinations and becoming an award-winning public speaker and writer.
Deepika was a communications professional who gave up her job in 2015 to travel full-time. Today, she works as a consultant to fund her numerous trips around the country and the globe.
She has traveled to five countries and numerous destinations in India in the last five years. She dreams of one day quitting her career full time, so she can become a vagabond.
Ruby Singh is a full-time engineer, based out of Lucknow who's been sharing her stories with the world from the moment she began traveling.
It's been around 2 years since she began her blog "Life And It's Experiments", where she shares all of her favorite stories. Her favorite stories include her trek to the Valley of Flowers and her visit to the Rann of Kutch.
