Gap year tales of an Indian solo female backpacker in Latin America with Manisha Singh

What it's like being a solo female backpacker from India in Latin America, scares and scams at the borders,  travelling in India (which is more like a continent rather than a country), and living in the experimental community of Auroville with Manisha Singh.


A few years ago, Manisha realised that working in the corporate world in Mumbai wasn't for her. Dissatisfaction with her job combined with  a serious relationship coming to an end led Manisha to believing she needed to do something to get her out of her funk.


Manisha tried everything to get her mental health back on track and find her mojo again, but after nothing worked, she decided she needed to do something "drastic": travel half-way across the world to Latin America.


On day one, she landed in Brazil with just her first night's stay booked and the money she'd saved up.


Manisha tells Laura what it’s like to travel as not only a female, and a solo female at that, but an Indian backpacker in a part of the world which isn’t used to seeing Indian travellers. 

Get ready to laugh at some of the questions she’s been asked by locals about her culture as she reflects upon the highs and lows of her journey. 


There were also some frightening moments at border crossings, which highlight the issues surrounding passport privilege and partly answers why there aren’t many people from India travelling in Latin America.

Manisha also talks about her travels in her home country, which she says should be a continent in itself, with hundreds of unofficial languages and such contrasting landscapes.

Finally, she explains how people in India are beginning to look further afield to travel and how it’s no longer exclusive to the upper classes there. India has been a backpacking haven for years, but now Indian people are beginning to embrace this travel style themselves.


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Twitter: @thesolespeaks
Blog: thesolespeaks.com

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