I only care about travel and issues a girl who travels has

I don’t care about your feelings

Who cares about your sexual orientation in a “girls who travel” group?

Go somewhere else to talk about racial issues, this is a travel group…

Now I ask myself, where’s the empathy at?

When I started to travel, I knew I would have to start to look at life from different perspectives. Maybe all I’ve learned until that moment was not exactly right. I knew I was going to see a lot of new things and meet many new people from different backgrounds. It looks like maybe social media, and us, travel bloggers, have made this topic somehow a frivolous one. People have just turned into their own selfishness when it has to do with travel issues. Sadly, it seems like the very first who do this are the girls who travel.

As I’ve written before, I am a girl who travels on her own. It’s been almost five years since I started to travel and collect experiences. There is one thing that traveling has made pretty clear to me since ten: Even though my experience is individual, what I am looking forward from it is to learn and to set an example. I look forward to learning more about people, having my mind open, and discovering different ways of living life. Even if I have my own selfish moments (Newsflash: Everyone has them!), I avoid them coming out when I try to live and share those experiences. I believe that was one of the main reasons why I started to blog.

That time in Italy that every girl who travels wouldn’t like to experience…

During my trips, I’ve met different people: different religions, ideas, some a little more close-minded, others who are understanding and caring. Some time ago, a guy in Italy told me that he really liked Latinas because we all believe in family values, we wanted to be beauty queens, and we didn’t have stupid ideas about feminism on our minds. WTF!? I must confess I almost cried when I heard that. The frustration was big. Latin women come with different mindsets and we are all unique. Some of us might be how this man described us, some of us, not even a bit.

Let’s talk in-depth about girls who travel…

There’s another thing that we need to understand from this example: As we, Latin women are all not equal, not all the girls who travel are as well. There are girls who travel that even dreaming of getting to know the world, suffer anxiety. These girls need to deal with that to make their dreams come true. There are some others who are scared of facing a language barrier. Some other women who travel dream to find love during their trips. And also, there are women who are part of a minority group and have their own set of challenges when they travel.

The LGBT girls who travel have their own particular challenges. When you are an LGBT traveler, you have to choose wisely the destination you are visiting, because there are a few on which you will not be well received, and dealing with negativity while traveling is absurd. The women of color have also their own challenges. As I’ve already mentioned, we, Latinas, have our own as well.

That’s why I truly believe we need to create communities and spaces, to educate and to be empathetic to one another when it comes to these topics.

The worst enemy that every girl who travels face is not any of those I just mentioned.

Our worst enemy is…

Our worst enemy is the lack of empathy among one another. Some girls who travel lately are so into themselves that traveling is not making them aware of society’s collective issues. Even when you travel on your own, you’re impacting a destination one way or another. It’s not an individual issue anymore.

Why don’t we let other girls –who are travelers like us– talk about emotional issues while they travel? Why we insist on keeping them silent by saying that “those issues have nothing to do with travel” when they have a lot to do?

To share in communities and/or Facebook groups for girls who travel should help you to understand that all these things, are the firsts that you should bring with you in your luggage. I am frustrated that many of these groups are the places I have found the least empathy possible. I am sick and tired that many think that travel only consists of packing bags, catching planes, arriving at your destination, and take selfies. It makes me exhausted, that girls don’t respect one another. Period.

Emotional baggage…

From the moment we were born, we, women, carry huge emotional baggage, even if we are travelers or not. That is why we need to talk, we need to have each other back when we face different situations, traveling or in our daily routines. Many of us join a group of girls looking for a bit of empathy because we think that what we all have in common is our passion for travel. It saddens me to see that girls who travel are the first ones to insult a fellow girl who is only looking for a bit of comprehension, a bit of empathy.

My biggest wish

My wish is that travel keeps on helping us grow. I hope it teaches us that the world is a big place and that it’s pretty diverse. This teaches us that even if we don’t agree with someone else, we tolerate and respect them. I dream of a world where every girl who travels can be a lot more empathetic to one another.

We give the example by supporting each other. If there’s something that you can’t feel identified with or is not exactly what you’re looking forward to while traveling, skip it, ignore it. Are you conscious of the struggles other girls who travel goes through? I would say this also apply to both genders’ travel groups.

What really saddens me is that at least 97% of the time, the least empathetic and comprehensive acts come from girls who travel. Those are the girls I would expect to be more empathetic to each other. Maybe, that same person you insulted today, is the one who can help you to find cheap tickets or show you how to pack your bag.

It’s up to us to be the example that this world is pretty big and diverse and that it is exactly what we would like to find while traveling. Let’s begin with something as simple as respect.

Do you also wish for more empathy among girls who travel? Pin this so more girls will know our worst enemy!