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Topics: Travel, Holiday, World News
Rhianna Benson
For many women, taking a solo trip across the globe is an ultimate bucket list item.
Luckily for 28-year-old Odette Ford Brierley, this dream became a reality, and for the last 13 months, the New Zealander has travelled to some of the further corners of the earth with only herself for company.
Despite having enjoyed a series of awe-inspiring highs, however - including visits to locations like Europe, Latin America, and even Antarctica - Brierley has learned the hard way that it's not always easy for women to globe-trot by themselves.
As such, she's issuing several pieces of vital advice to solo female travellers hoping to follow in her footsteps.
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"You do get a lot of questions about [women's safety], especially coming back from Latin America," she told The Daily Express. "People have a misconception about safety there."
Brierley went on to admit that she thinks women 'feel unsafe everywhere' and 'rightfully so', adding: "I think you're more aware of your lack of safety when you're solo traveling, particularly if you feel you look different to the locals because you will get stared at, and if you come from a country where that's not normal, that will make you feel more uncomfortable."
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With this in mind, she believes it absolutely essential for female travellers to be at least marginally clued up on the language of the country they're visiting - as much as to ensure safety in any possibly dangerous scenarios.
"You don't need fluency - just learn a level where you can communicate what you need." she said.
In understanding the basics of the lingo, she believes it's easier to gain an insight into the culture of the country, as well as a deeper understanding of its history, locality and legislation.
When it comes to her more general advice, Brierley believes it's quite simple - to avoid landing yourself in unnerving or uncomfortable predicaments, 'just don't be stupid, like, genuinely'.
On avoiding trouble more generally, she added: "Just making really dumb decisions and really dumb choices, that's what more frequently gets you in trouble."
She went on to emphasise that adhering to the basic principles of safety is key.
"Don't go off with random people in the middle of the night, unless you know who they are," she continued. "But I don't think anything more unsafe happened to me travelling than has happened in my day to day life."
Thankfully, however, the travel-lover concluded her life lessons by emphasising that 'nothing in life that's good is not scary or is easy'.
Of globetrotting in general, Brierley continued: "Just do it. Go and travel and go outside of your comfort zone, because even if you end up going home early or late or whatever, you've still done something really special.
"You've gone and experienced a different culture, a different place, and that can only be beneficial.
"That can only broaden your horizons, and even though it's scary sometimes, we have to do the scary things. We benefit from the scary things.
"We build resilience, and it's great."