Travel is the purest form of rebellion, you break out of your comfort zone to be at places you’ve never been to. You meet people you’ve never known and you take the untrodden path with the sheer faith that it will all work out well.

Traveling like everything else that is unconventional and daring, did not come easily to women, but for ages there have been some daring lasses who with their undying spirit and persistence paved the way for their wanderlust.

We tell you stories of such women in our history who are quite an inspiration, so that you can stop procrastinating, pack those bags, leave behind the doubts and start your own travel sojourn.

1. Jeanne Baret (1740-1803)

As they say where there’s a will there’s a way, this stands true for Jeanne who in the 16th century dared to travel worldwide on a cruise dressed up as a boy, since women were banned on French naval ships then. She could travel the whole world with the help of chest bandages and extreme wit without being identified for long, till her cover was finally blown in Tahiti. On her way she had also collected samples of exotic plants and rare herbs since she was also a talented botanist.

2. Nellie Bly (1864 -1922)

Nellie Bly was a daredevil in every sense, she got so inspired by the fictional piece - Around The World in Eighty Days that this audacious journalist set out to create an adventure of her own across the world. She travelled her way through Suez Canal, Colombo visited a Chinese leper colony and brought a monkey back home. She could do it all in just 72 days, even better!

3. Alexandra David Neel (1868-1969)

A time in which it was forbidden for women to travel, this lady traveled to places where foreigners were forbidden. It was quite an attempt, isn’t it?! Alexandra had a gypsy spirit with a strong desire for freedom, so much so that by the time she was eighteen years old, she had already visited Switzerland, Spain and England on her own. On her spiritual quest, she visited Tibet at a time when foreigners were strictly prohibited there. Thus, she ended up in the country disguised as a pilgrim, lived in a cave for two years, adopted a monk, wrote vivid stories of her travel. Her travel journey didn’t seem to end there, she also widely explored Japan, India, Lhasa and Tibetan highlands during her spiritual odyssey.

4. Annie Londonderry (1870-1947)

This woman was a silent spectacle of change in the orthodox Victorian times she lived in. She travelled across the world on her two wheeler so confidently, you can never believe that this paddling wonder had never ridden a bike before all her life. She and her bicycle were so inseparable that the placard of the brand ‘the Londonderry’, she carried on her bicycle got her christened as Annie Londonderry.

5. Van Buren Sisters

Back then we were quite literally under the man’s thumb, with no rights to choose the government. Buren sisters of New York had an absurd dream to prove a point that women can ride and serve as motorcycle dispatch, while men can do more serious combat. So these high-society girls wearing attire reserved for men (military-style leggings and leather riding breeches) crossed 5,500 miles in 60 days through dusty, unpaved country roads on the most powerful and popular bikes - The Indian with 1000cc twin engine. They were charged for wearing clothing meant for men at places but they made their way through it. They were eventually titled the first women to reach the summit at Pikes Peak.

6. Junko Tabei (May 16,2021)

One of the famous quotes by this lady mountaineer and adventure seeker is “I can’t understand why men make all this fuss about Everest”. Now one can imagine the sheer scale of her capacities, when she says something like this. Junko Tabei was the first woman to climb the Mount Everest despite facing limited options of training for women. She struggled her way through the adversities and managed to climb all major peaks of Japan and then the seven summits (seven major peaks of seven continents).

7. Laura Dekker (September 20,2021)

This little girl seems to be born to sail, to be out on the sea. It runs in her blood. She was born while her parents were away in some foreign land, on a six-year-long trip! She got her first boat at the age of six and by the time she was sixteen, she declared to navigate the seven seas on her own. With careful planning and excellent inborn sailing skills, she completed the feat in two years straight. This bright young sailor’s education was facilitated by the world school system of learning.

Women who chose not to be limited by anything in their life, not even their own fear and insecurities have accomplished things that people never even imagined in their wildest dreams. As some wise explorer rightly said, “A woman can, if she will”, so my lovely ladies go out, the world is calling!

 

Shilpa Ahuja

A young lass, even younger at heart who's into all finer things of life - travel, food, luxury. A PR person by profession, trying to make it big in the field of writing for the love of it.

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