Well I almost got abducted this morning in Austin, Texas. I was standing outside waiting for my uber to head to a group workout with my friends, and I was looking for a black Hyundai sedan arriving in two minutes. A black Nissan sedan drove down the street and stopped in front of me and waved me to hop in. I immediately felt confused by the car being different but the timing was so close to my app that I hopped in. He tried to quickly pull up the uber app to make it look like he was a driver and I noticed the location was different. I asked why the car was different and what his name was and he tried to say he didn’t speak English but finally told me his name was Andy while my app said Prakash.

Luckily we had only made it around the block from my airbnb when I asked him to stop the car and unlock the doors. Grateful he “understood” what that meant in English because we were almost about to enter the highway. I walked back to my place and my actual uber was arriving at that moment.

I’ve been solo traveling as a female for 4 months. Have been throughout Central and South America. I let my guard down for one moment back in the US, and I could’ve ended up in a really bad situation. It saddens me that women especially have to move through this world with such caution.

I’ve noticed how much it can suck the fun and joy out of travel when you have to operate like this. I’m highly observant and never really put myself in vulnerable states.

I like to think I can trust the world and that people are inherently good, but that quickly brought me back to reality. Stay safe out there🩷