Traveling women of history: their bravery motivates us to travel!
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| Traveling alone is possible. Take a look at the solidarity travel from Tumaini! |
They broke prejudices, avoided dangers and sometimes even had to pose as men. With only one goal: to travel the world. We introduce you to four brave women who traveled at a time when everything was forbidden. Their stories invite us to grab the backpack and... fly!
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| The world with too many things to discover, make a solidarity trip! |
1 Egeria, the first traveler in history?
It was the year 382 AD. C. when Egeria made the decision: she wanted to visit several Holy Places and write a book with her experiences. She was Galician. At that time there were no nuns yet, but she was a woman consecrated to God. I travel to France, Italy, Constantinople, Jerusalem, Palestine, Egypt, Syria, Mesopotamia and Asia Minor for three years. In his book, Itinerarium ad Loca Sancta, he recounts how he traveled through the network of roads of the Roman legions, how difficult it was to cross inhospitable landscapes, and how he stayed in post houses and monasteries.
Egeria is considered the first Spanish-speaking pilgrim and traveler in history. An account of the time relates: "wherever the monks, priests and bishops went they received, guided and accompanied her as if she were a celebrity. She did not lack facilities to move freely and when she entered places that could be dangerous, she was escorted by soldiers. Christian pilgrims like Egeria were able to travel to such distant lands thanks to the pax romana and the road network of the Roman Empire”.
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| Image by Isabelle Eberhardt. |
2 Isabelle Eberhardt, dressed as a man to be free
She was a Swiss explorer and writer of the late s. XIX who lived and traveled in North Africa. He studied several languages, including Arabic, and converted to Islam. Since she was little, she preferred to dress like a man to enjoy more freedom. At the age of 22, when her father and brother died, Isabelle decided to spend the rest of his life in Africaa, exploring the desert and making northern Algeria his new home.
During her trip, Isabelle dressed as a man, calling herself Si Mahmoud Essadi and immersing herself in Arab culture. From Algeria he went to Tunisia and from there he traveled to the Sahara, where he bought a horse and rode across the desert as a fervent young Tunisian on a spiritual quest. From that moment on, the horse will be your best friend, your eternal travel companion.
«I was a nomad when I was little I dreamed contemplating the roads; nomad I will remain all my life, in love with the changing horizons, with the distances still unexplored, because every trip, even in the most frequented and best-known regions, is an exploration”, wrote Isabelle.
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| The journalist Nellie Bly went around the world in record time. |
3 Nellie Bly, around the world
In 1888, at the age of twenty-four, the journalist Nellie Bly proposed to her editor that he send her around the world. His goal was to replicate the journey of Phileas Fogg, the protagonist of the book Around the World in Eighty Days, by Jules Verne, and to do it in less time than him. Bly recounts in his book what happened when he told the magazine's business manager his plan: "It's impossible for you to do it," it was the terrible verdict. "First of all you are a woman and you would need a bodyguard, and even if you went alone you would have to carry so much luggage that it would be impossible for you to make quick movements”. "Very good," she replied. "Send the man, I will leave the same day from another newspaper and I will beat him."
On November 14, 1889, Nellie boarded a ship and began her 25,000-mile journey around the Earth. His luggage was minimal: She brought the dress she was wearing, a coat, some changes of underwear and a first-aid kit. His budget was two hundred pounds which he carried in a little bag tied around his neck. During the trip he passed through England, met Jules Verne in France, crossed the Suez Canal, and passed through Singapore, Hong Kong, China and Japan. She made most of the trip alone and broke a world record: she returned to New York seventy-two days after leaving.
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| Alexandra was the first European to enter Tibet. |
4 Alexandra David Neel, the first European in Tibet
She was a Franco-Belgian writer born in 1868. During her adolescence she had already made several trips alone: to Italy, crossing the Alps, to Spain by bicycle, etc. After a trip to India and Tunisia, he began to study Islam and Eastern cultures. This passion led her to return several times to the Asian continent, where she met the Dalai Lama, in 1912. She was the first European woman to do so. In 1924, he visited Lhasa, the Tibetan capital forbidden to foreigners.
He lived to be 100 years old and wrote more than 30 books about Eastern religions, philosophy, and his travels.
And you, do you dare?
If they did it, so do you! Dare to travel alone in solidarity. From Tumaini we accompany you! During the experience, you will volunteer with an NGO from a southern country, you will learn about another culture and you will meet other people who also decided to dedicate part of their trip to improving the world.