Phoebe Lee ♡ Solo Travel Vlogger Exploring the world & inspiring wanderlust! I post a new travel video every Sunday. Subscribe to join the adventure. Love ya! Phoebe x
India is really a tough place to be for western solo traveler, its really unfortunate what happened to you. I Had a similar experience during Holi festival a couple of yrs back and I was with my fiancé’ during those times..I’m glad you made it out in one piece Phoebe..
I suggest you to visit ladakh Leh, kashmir, Shimla, Manali, Rishikesh, udaipur, jodhpur, Jaisalmer, pushkar, Goa, Kerala, Bangalore, hampi, meghalaya, Darjeeling, Sikkim, Andaman and Nicobar islands in India 🇮🇳❤️
Really sad to hear this unpleasant and terrible experience. But it's not an anomaly unfortunately. Hope you recover well from the trip. My experiences as a native Indian: (note: The average north indian is the most hospitable person you can get and are really friendly and helpful. So not dissing the average person. I may not be the most adventurous person) The rest of India is simply more calm and far less overwhelming than the North. The cities are less populated than the north. The ppl are a lot less aggressive and pushy. The scams are lesser than the north (not zero. There's a lot here too. Just lesser). This is something my north indian peers say too. Our family's personal experience in Rajasthan: We stayed at reputed 4 star hotels throughout the trip. The staff at the hotels were very good. The forts are epic. The Udaipur cruise was awesome. The Rajasthani food is good. The problems: We Indians know the art of bargaining and knowing when to spot scams like Pashmina etc etc. We know that tourism guys like cab drivers can be pushy. But even for us it was getting overwhelming. We hired a driver via the hotel from Jodhpur to Jaipur. He was nice at first, but highly aggressive later. He wasn't listening to our parents request to drive calmly. His conduct at petrol stations was shady as heck. We were relieved when we reached Jaipur. The agency associated with the Jodhpur hotel that gave the driver apologized and gave us other drivers for Jaipur. The hotel was wonderful. But the first Jaipur driver was highly pushy. He wasn't wanting us to go to Bapu Bazaar which is a beautiful Bazaar. He was pushing us to go to a mall which we weren't interested. We had to be assertive. The 2nd driver wasn't pushy but he was unfriendly. At Udaipur, the drivers were quite aggressive. This sullied our trip there a bit. It gave a bitter taste. The mistake we made: hiring drivers at the airport in Udaipur, and continuing with the agency from Jodhpur. My tips when visiting India: Stay at reputed hotel chains like Taj, Ibis, Fortune etc. Don't go to unknown hotels. Use guides/drivers from the hotels. Don't use unknown agencies. Even though they maybe more expensive, it helps Do thorough research. Put your foot down when the driver doesn't want to take you to places you want to visit. Don't let the drivers dictate how the trip should go. Inform the hotels if you feel uncomfortable. Don't fall for scams. If you want to do shopping, shop at places you've researched and feel comfortable. Don't indulge in too many conversations outside of the travel related stuff. It can easily get dicey. Don't allow auto/cab guys to bring others into the vehicle. Be vigilant throughout the journey. Observe the drivers conduct. Walk out if unsafe after pending money settlements. Keep cash. It helps. Also keep food poisoning medicines ready.
Oh noPhoebe how absolutely horrifying and appalling 🥺 I said it all in your video a few weeks back. I’m so sorry you had to experience this, take care of yourself 😢😔
Hey phoebe can you please post those videos tagging how indian men treated you on your trip? Revealing Those faces of men will really help people to identify them. We are sorry for the harrasment you have to face. Men who harassed female foreigners will have to face a similar situation with their own wife and sisters one day. KARMA will hit back for sure.
Hi @travelforphoebe , A long time subscriber of your videos …. I enjoyed every bit of Indian vlog … I am so happy you were able to explore India … being from foreign land. I feel sorry you took back such bad nuggets of experience with you. Somehow India is still living in Stone Age when it comes to Travel experiences locally. You are a brave heart …. ♥️ All the love . Don’t shy away …. India is a such a big mix bag …. If you do your research and try to come back again…. Actually everywhere everyone gets to have different experiences when it comes to race/ gender / ethnicity and every country has variety of different reactions . But yes …. India is one of those Asian countries behind … Where travel experiences are still growing …. Specially after Singapore , Bali , Thailand …..
As an Indian Aussie, its this gross behaviour like this that gives us a bad rep all over the world. People should feel safe from all this crap no matter where you are in the world.
We went on an intrepid tour and our tour and guide was amazing so we avoided most of the scams. But I had an incident on the metro where I was felt up and other times I didn’t feel safe. And I was on a group tour. And my husband was with me!
As an Indian, apologies , u just experienced a nightmare, yes it sometimes gets. Tricky with men in certain parts of country but believe me such cases are very less , I am sad that that u had such a horrific expereince in my country, believe me India isn't all about such expereince, hope to see u in Mumbai and India Again to enhance ur expereince. 🎉
Oh my goodness you poor thing! That’s awful. What disgusting behaviour and how scary for you. I’m so sorry you were and still are dealing with this. I would have been terrified too. I think you are doing the right thing sharing that side with viewers. Sending much love and peace your way 🩷
That is some greasy behaviour. To think what some of these creeps can do with a photo with some of that deep fake stuff is simply awful. I can't imagine how scary that would have been. I once saw a scene from a Bollywood film being shot (in Lyon of all places). It involved a pretty woman on a bicycle being pursued by a number of men. Everyone smiling. Hearing your story it just seems so wrong. I hope all your travels are happy from now on.
Oh I am so sorry you had to go through this and it sounds horrible. I think I would have been on the first plane I can get out of there. Thanks for sharing at least now I know its not somewhere I will ever visit.
I wonder if I’d been with someone else if I might’ve left? Having someone else there with you to talk to about it can really help see the situation more clearly, you know?
As an Indian 90% of them are obsessed with white skin blue eyes that's why they want to take photos..I feel very bad 😞 I don't why they are so obsessed😒 many Russians live in Goa.. Goa is second home for Russian..🇮🇳❤️🇷🇺
@@travelforphoebe they are from small towns and villages..they have never seen a foreign either white or black before but few of them may have bad intentions 😕 if a foreigner of brown skin like Latin Americans/Arabs then they are not so interested..it is just the attraction of skin colour wheather a female or a male and thanks for visiting India🙏🏼 next time if you come to India then please visit North East India and North India like kashmir, Leh, Ladakh and Himachal Pradesh
I am sorry for your bad experience that you had it's becoming really big problem this days i think just other foreign tourist allowed them to click pictures of the tourist come to visit India are bloggers or independent travel bloggers people to click pictures birthday thought they can click a picture with a blonde girl and and I hope that you will the good experiences that you had and I am really sorry for your inconvenience experience
Thank you for being so kind, I really appreciate it 🙏🏼 it’s okay for people to ask for a photo, I think the hard part for me came when I said no and men didn’t accept that. They kept pushing and took photos anyway. Those moments made me feel very unsafe and scared. Still, I met many wonderful, kind and genuine men in India who were respectful and welcoming. I’m thankful to have met them and had those great experiences!
Safest places for women to travel solo in india?! Dress casual? 1)northeast india(women even camp and hitchhike there solo) 2)kerala(gods own country) and remaining part of south india to some extent banglore hyd etc Rest are safe if u take prepare and do ur due diligence .. Many places like bihar and chattisgargh u wont wanna be be unless u know someone or has company .even then u need to dress accordingly ....dont visit golden quad if possible ..i repeat again and again ..ul either be harrassed , scammed or ur impression of india scarred
I recommend visiting kerala ..also called gods own country ...safe for solo women travellers , one of the 100 must visit places before u die by national geography. Educated well behaved local populace ...many many videos by solo female travellers online u can get reference too ..india gets so much hate bcz of how these north indians treat solo women ...please dont judge our entire country based on a strip of land thats called the dirtiest strip of india by indians thats used to dupe foreigners
Golden triangle is the dirtiest ,crowded and overpopulated and creepiest zone in india ..its the place good value indians tourist avoid most ..if u know what i mean ...its the stereotyped india .the sepia overtones.dirty roads , plastics , creepy men , honking cars...south india like kerala ,northeast india and north himalyan areas of shimla , gulmarg , leh ladakh etc are the places to be ..
They dont hog ur space like they do in north, they dont care what u dress as ..ul see more women about around u dressed like u , ul see women to men ratio more , ul see more educated modern locals with a smaller population and hence lesser crowd and pollution and no roadside trashes , good hygiene , clean roads and streets with minimal plastic
Especially for solo travelling women south india and northeast india are the safest places in india and more beautiful and diverse than north india ..please dont visit north india..visit south india .... even more so dont visit north india during HOLI ..thats a mass excuse for public molestation ..avoid at all cost if not escorted by huge guy friends on either side
Amazing video. Not just a surface observation or narrative, but you have gone deep into what the Sri Lankan experience is all about. And your words and tone are just soothing to the ear. Thank you very much ❤
Golden triangle is the dirtiest ,crowded and overpopulated and creepiest zone in india ..its the place good value indians tourist avoid most ..if u know what i mean ...its the stereotyped india .the sepia overtones.dirty roads , plastics , creepy men , honking cars...south india like kerala ,northeast india and north himalyan areas of shimla , gulmarg , leh ladakh etc are the places to be ..
What a beautiful video you made of my native Copenhagen. I know it is expensive to come here, but that’s mostly if you don’t know the cheaper places to go. That is true for many capital cities, Paris included. and especially for Copenhagen. The average monthly income in Copenhagen is actually not very high, still people manage to balance the budget and are able to go out and enjoy the many cheap eats on a regular basis 🎉
Honestly, I really like the respectful way that you talk about India. A lot of youtubers just go to India to critique. It's just a different culture, and once you go there, you have to be respectful, and you did! Love your videos❤
This video reminds me of my trip to Vietnam 🥹🫶🏻✨really looking forward to go their again,the people over there are so sweet and hardworking,I mean Vietnam is literally a place where you want to go to rejuvenate yourself 🌸🤍✨
As indian i can say there is more beautiful cities then agra delhi.....pls visit leh ladakh..kerala northeast india...uttrakhand himachal goa many more
You're a beautiful soul ...and you have a beautiful heart ❤ be the best you can for yourself ..it sux but time is on your side ...cause I can relate to your pain ... don't punish yourself because you cant change what is ...I believe in you
This was actually very helpful and informative, thank you very much!! This is the type of travel content I want to see, honest, relatable, and with little nods to us lady introverts who hate crowded places 😅
