Why Solo Travelers Get Tired of People Saying “Be Safe” While Traveling Abroad
One thing that has irritated me since I started traveling full-time is how quickly people project danger onto other countries while acting like the United States is automatically safer by default. It’s honestly exhausting sometimes, especially as a solo female traveler. The moment you mention countries in Latin America, Africa, or parts of Asia, somebody suddenly becomes a geopolitical expert on “what could happen to you.” Meanwhile, many of these same people barely leave their own neighborhoods, let alone their country.
Today, I had to block someone on Threads because they started insinuating that I would somehow automatically become a target in Guatemala because I’m not fluent in Spanish yet. They went into this long dramatic speech about danger and people targeting foreigners and all this extra fear-based nonsense, and honestly… I’m tired of people projecting their personal fears onto me.
I’ve been traveling throughout South America solo for months now. I navigate airports, Ubers, housing, grocery stores, beaches, aerial classes, restaurants, and entire cities by myself. I’ve learned how to move intentionally, how to pay attention to my surroundings, how to read energy, how to trust my intuition, and how to prepare before entering a country. People assume solo travelers are just blindly wandering around with no awareness when in reality many of us become more observant than the average person living comfortably in their hometown.
The funny part is, I personally feel less safe in the United States than I do in many places abroad.
People hate hearing that, but it’s true for me.
In the United States, mass shootings have become so normalized that people barely react anymore. You can’t even go to a grocery store, school, concert, movie theater, mall, or nightclub without hearing about another tragedy somewhere. The level of aggression, road rage, hyper-individualism, and emotional instability I experienced there honestly weighed on me mentally. There’s a constant tension in the air that I stopped noticing until I left.
Meanwhile, while living abroad, I’ve experienced people walking outside late at night with families, communities sitting together outside talking, children playing in public spaces, and slower ways of living that actually made my nervous system relax. That doesn’t mean danger magically disappears overseas because danger exists everywhere. Every country has crime. Every country has areas you should avoid. Every country has risks. The difference is that I don’t romanticize the United States as if it’s some untouchable safety bubble because it isn’t.
What also bothers me is how some people treat travelers like we’re naive simply because we choose to experience the world differently. I’m not moving through these countries recklessly. For Guatemala specifically, I literally plan to stay with a local family while attending Spanish school during my first month there. That is probably safer and more culturally immersive than many situations people place themselves in back home every single weekend without thinking twice.
Many solo travelers get irritated by this constant projection because after a while it stops sounding like concern and starts sounding like fear disguised as advice.
You can always tell when someone is speaking from actual travel experience versus internet headlines and assumptions. People who truly travel usually understand nuance. They understand cultural differences. They understand that safety often comes down to awareness, preparation, respect for local customs, and decision-making, not just “foreign country equals danger.”
Sometimes I wish people would just say, “That sounds exciting, be safe and enjoy yourself,” and move on.
That’s it.
You don’t have to transfer every fear you personally carry onto somebody else’s life choices. Everybody does not want the same life. Everybody does not feel emotionally fulfilled staying in one place forever. Some of us genuinely feel more alive exploring the world, learning new languages, meeting people from different cultures, and building lives outside of what society told us was the “safe” route.
Ironically, the people who tend to say the most about danger abroad are usually the people who don’t travel anyway.
They’re often speaking from imagination instead of experience. From media narratives instead of reality. From fear instead of curiosity.
Traveling solo has honestly taught me how capable I actually am. It has sharpened my intuition, strengthened my discernment, and forced me to trust myself in ways I never had to before. That doesn’t mean I ignore safety. It means I respect it without allowing fear to run my life.
Because if fear becomes the foundation for every decision you make, eventually your entire world becomes small.