Last Updated on October 11, 2025 by Christine Kaaloa
It means a lot to me that you made the effort to join me. One woman doing it all alone is a challenge but having like-minded solo travel friends make a difference! I hope that I can help inspire your solo travel goals.
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GRRRLTRAVELER is a female solo travel survival and solo adventure site and YouTube channel inspiring others to find their GRRR for solo travel. It’s about finding empowerment as a solo traveler by navigating cultural diversity while experiencing the bizarre, foreign, frightening and often times, funny. I may not always start out with the GRRR of confidence, but I film it for YouTube and have it at the end.
[ That video up there? My first YouTube trailer from 2012, back when I was still figuring out how to explain what the hell I was doing.]
Sure, I film trip and food guides. But I’m not just another tourist checking boxes. What actually makes me feel alive is cultural curiosity and diving into different ways of living. I’m all about exploring on foot and public transit, supporting sustainable community projects, and traveling as respectfully and ethically as possible.
When I started solo travel blogging in 2008, we were pioneers and not in a cute Instagram way. There were no travel apps to save my ass, no robust search engines and many of my favorite destinations barely had tourist infrastructure. I was figuring it all out in real-time.
OG travel meant walking into pitch-dark situations with outdated guidebooks, then quickly decoding how to navigate safely. It meant being flexible, adaptable, and okay with a whole lot of unknown.
Here’s the truth: I’m a nervous traveler. I’m a woman traveling alone so I’m not immune to fear and anxiety. My confidence starts from 10%-40% before each trip. But I’m also weirdly drawn to places that are raw, off-the-beaten-path and slightly uncomfortable. That tension? That’s where the magic happens and my super heroine grows from its tiny seed.
My YouTube channel exists to pull back the curtain on solo female travel fears. I film the real stuff – the uncertainties, the “wait, am I actually doing this?… Yes, I am and here’s how!” moments and I shed light on them so you don’t have to stumble through in the dark.
I’m one of the first authentically solo female travel YouTubers. While plenty of “solo travelers” were actually traveling with friends or other creators, I was out there mostly alone, figuring it out and filming it. (Yes, I do occasional influencer press trips these days, but I always carve out solo time because that’s where the real learning happens and the training wheels come off.)
Bottom line: I enjoy cracking the code of solo travel, and I want to help you do the same, minus the guesswork and with way less panic.
7. 10 Shocking Facts about Korean Schools
8. Top 16 things to Do on Jeju Island
Starting out on your first female solo adventure might not feel easy, especially if you’re new to travel. One should always expect the unexpected in travel, but even seemingly negative occurrences can be turned into a positive opportunity with the right perspective and redirection. That is where female solo adventures begin… They do not need to be epic daredevil challenges. Often they just test the inner obstacles you have about you and your independence.
How to Outsmart Pickpockets & Thieves
10 Things that Ruin Any Vacation & how to recover it.
46 Ways : How to Travel for Cheap
How to Plan your first solo trip
What you should know about Layovers & Connecting Flights
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I’ve been doing female solo travel for over six years and I don’t know if I’ll ever get over that initial reluctance of travel jumping alone. It’s all weirdly mental and for me, the trick is getting myself to leap. As a women, I’m often prone to second guessing or doubting my abilities, even if experience has proven otherwise. But the more I travel alone , the more comfortable I become with it once I’m on the road. Situations become familiar and my instincts kick in. An adventure is what I call it when you challenge your inner wall of who you think you are not… with who you discover you are.
How to Plan your FIRST Solo Trip
How to Make Friends when you travel Alone (Part 1) (Part 2)
14 Ways to Spend your Nights Alone .
The Toughest Challenges of Solo Travel .
Eating Alone
recommended trip resources for solo travelers
Is it Safe for Women to Travel Alone?
8 Safety Tips for Solo Travel (*Watch this before you travel!)
31 Street Smart Safety tips for Solo Travel
How to Eat Street Foods without getting sick
Common Scams for Female Solo Travelers to Avoid
How to Deal with Touts, Scammers and Beggars
Is it easy being a female solo traveler?.. Not!
The Good, Bad & Inevitable of Becoming a Solo Traveler (my first planned solo trip)
Is a backpack just another word for “female mid-life crisis”?
Finding my Travel G-Spot & Me-Gasms
The vacation part of each trip, only starts after you survive it. So here’s how to survive it…
How to Deal with Travel Scams
21 Ways to Outsmart Pickpockets and Thieves
Survival Tips for Vegetarian Travelers
How to Avoid Taking Airport Taxis
Toilet Guide: How to Use a Squat Toilet
SteriPen Review: When you need clean water
16 Tips for Traveling Alone by Night Bus
How to Catch the Bus in a Foreign Country (when you don’t know the language)
10 Must-Haves to pack in your backpack
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Winging solo travel adventures depends upon your comfort level with travel and self-trust.
Change is like redirecting the flow of a stream. When a running stream meets an obstacle, it doesn’t stop; instead, it redirects its course and flows around the wall.When I go with the flow, remain flexible and trust my abilities, it becomes like surfing waves. Like anything, the more you do it, the more experienced and confident you become in it.
How to survive last-minute trips | Things I did well (Part 2 )
How to survive a last-minute trip!… Things I SUCKED at (Part 3)
Tips on how to survive a last-minute trip! (Part 4)
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Quite simply, I work and save for them. No magic wand. Sorry.But seeing as I require activity and movement on a constant basis, there’s other tricks I use also. I steer my job search towards jobs/careers that allow or pay me to travel. For instance, teaching English in Korea was an all-expense paid move and my work paid me enough to travel during vacation breaks. I also base my travels on affordability, choosing the countries based on low flight costs and which are inexpensive to travel.
Art of Hobo-ing: How to Budget for long-term travel
Long-term solo travel and three mistakes I wish I avoided
7 Brutal Truths of Solo Travel & Tips for Surviving them
Download my Free Trip Budget Tracker Template
Interested in teaching in Korea? Click on the photo below for my ESL resource page, where I have links to my YouTube videos and posts on how you can teach in Korea.
Download my free Korea travel cheatsheet eguide
Yes. You can. But it’s not as easy as some travel bloggers paint it. In essence, it’s the equivalent to starting your own freelance company. Be prepared to do a lot of work and to find other ways to diversify your blog services. What’s helped me significantly is Travel Blog Success. You can read more about it here. It taught me in one month, what it took over six years to learn on my own. Still, if quick money is your aim, it’s definitely easier to get a job and get paid by the hour. The joy of travel blogging has to be your number one incentive before all else.
How to Grow a Successful Blog
How to Make Money Traveling and Living Abroad ( Travel Jobs)
How to Make Money Traveling and Living Abroad (Part 2: Location Independent)
How to Grow a YouTube Channel
Travel Vlogging Tips from a Solo Female Travel Vlogger
My Travel Vlogging Gear
How to Grow a Creator Income with Patreon
YouTube Creator e-courses
YouTube Channel & Branding Audit
37 Comments. Leave new
I would love to do what you do! Traveling the world! Did you go to school for a teaching degree? If not, how were you able to teach English abroad?
I didn’t go to school for teaching but my mother’s an elementary teacher and I’ve been raised alongside of having to tutor her kids, etc… But that doesn’t make a difference in Korea. They have their own program and we got week’s intensive about teaching in a public school. Also, we have Korean co-teachers there to help the kids with further understanding. Why not give it a try?
Just wanted to say that I’ve really enjoyed reading your blog and found it useful for my prep in coming to Korea! Thanks and keep up the awesome work! 🙂
@James: Thanks so much. Congrats on getting to Korea and not that you’re there, “fighting!”
Hi Christine
Great site! I have been enjoying reading through it. I especially like the recent Morocco articles as would love to go there and also the Korean stuff. I’ve been playing with the idea of teaching english for a while now.
@Chad: Thanks, i’m not sure how I missed your comment. Hope you play with the idea of teaching English in Korea a bit more. It’s fun. 😉
hey there.. I was blogwalking and I found your site.. nice site with lots of info.. keep it up 🙂
@Dan: Nice blog and I appreciate your comment. Am enjoying your India posts! =)
I’m loving reading your blog! I am looking to move next spring after I graduate in December and right now South Korea is in the lead of where I want to go! I’m excited to go through your past posts about Korea but I am loving reading about your new travels!
@Heather: Hey there grrrl, so you’re up for the Korean adventure, huh? Korea is only improving with time and the influx of foreigners so by the time you get there it may be ready for you! Thanks for reading my blogs and leaving your comment. Maybe I’ll see you on the other end! 😉
I am so glad to find your blog. Your articles and photos are inspirational. Can’t wait to join you on FB! Are you still in Korea?
@Eun Jang: Comments like yours are so nice to read and hope you find some of the info helpful! Thanks also for joining my FB page!
Just left Korea about a month ago but am looking to return within the next few months. Fingers crossed! I think Korea has so much to offer and though my experiences are always shifting, overall, I like Korea a lot. Are you visiting family or considering moving?
Hey I’m so amazed with your blog that I added it to my favorite internet read!! I’m traveling to Korea this fall and your blog is so encouraging and helpful. I’m a single female traveler to and this was so encouraging and interesting. Thank you so so very much 😀
Hope you are having a wonderful time travelling around the world. All the best. Just have a look at this site if you want to know the time and date zone difference between countries
@Ananya: Thanks for the link. I’m sure its helpful!
Hi! I just stumbled upon your blog and was excited to see that you’re from Hawai’i – me too! I’ve been living here for a couple of years now, but am homesick – always for the weather! haha. Just had some spam and rice for dinner tonight – great comfort food! Anyway, if you’re up for it, it would be great to meet up sometime! ^-^ I think that you should be able to see my e-mail, so let me know!
Just want to say that I stumbled upon your blog while googling “staying at jjimbilbang”. I am almost finishing my own RTW trip and you’ve been to places I’ve been but you write about it differently from me and it’s a refreshing perspective to my own so it’s fun to read.
@Kenneth: Thanks for dropping by and taking the time out to read! Good luck on your RTW– You must have some great stories to tell!
Good day Ms. Christine…I’m izce from Manila and I really find your contributions on this site helpful to my upcoming christmas trip with my parents. I would like to ask for some more help since it is my first time going to Korea during Winter. I want to make the most out of our tour. It is my parents’ first time to experience winter so i would like to know what are the places in Seoul that we must not miss during the trip. My mom is a nature lover.
Thanks in advance – izce
@izce: Thanks for dropping by. I have a couple of posts on Seoul and one more I’ll be adding in the next coming weeks– you can get them off my Destinations link under Korea/Seoul. The Korean Tourism Organization has a bunch of stuff that you can go through depending on your parents’ interests; they also have listings of monthly festivals that you may want to check out. Seoul is historical mixed with modern– palaces, temples, or hanok villages, stuff like that. For nature, you may want to check out some mountains and temples nearby if your folks are into hiking. Koreans are bigtime into that pasttime. Just a tip and it’ll be mentioned in my 5 favorite things to do in Seoul (TAKE the Seoul City Bus Tour! That’s the best recommend. I can give). Hope you and your parents enjoy! 😉
@izce: Thiis the newest post on 5 things I love to do in Seoul
Hi Christine,
So good to read your blog.
I’ve had a big crushed on Korea like ages now, and still looking best way to get there, hahaha..
Anyway, thanks for sharing your story.
You’ve picked interested parts 😉
Share more..
Best,
Anna
@Anna: I appreciate that. Hopefully your crush with Korea turns into a reality and hopefully this inspires a juggling of ideas for you. Where there’s a will, there’s ALWAYS a way. You just need to find your way,…but it’s there. Good luck. 😉
Hi,
I really like your blog!
I wondered if you’d be interested in being featured on a Korean Travel Website?
We started the site as a pilot, with just Gangwon-do, but it’s been so successful that we’re launching version two really soon with information on the whole of Korea. We have someone who has offered to help us with Daegu information but are still looking for more!
We’d love to feature some information from you or your blog if you have some you think would be suitable – we would link to you and hopefully increase traffic to your blog also…
Hope you like the website! Look forward to hearing from you!
Claire (site creator)
Hey!
Just wanted to say I came across your blog on The Korean Blog list and think its great! Loving your stories and your honesty…and your layout is awesome. Did you design it yourself?
Cheers,
Janet
I wish I could pack up my life like you did and work abroad. I love to travel. I just do not have the courage yet to say that I am leaving my comfort zone.
@Xiaosxin: We all have different comfort zones which keep our dreams within manageable boundaries. I think both boundaries and dreams are necessary! And sometimes, when boundaries want to be expanded, life gives us a little push. Don’t worry- you’ll find a way to make your dreams happen one way or another. Just apply steady pressure…. ha ha… Thanks for dropping by!