A journey of a thousand kilometers starts with just one step. Rahma Arafah has surpassed thousands of kilometers and her milestone is still far away. A young, talented woman is set on a journey to become the first Egyptian female under the age of 30 to travel across the globe. Currently, she’s sharing all her experiences and expertise on her travel blog: Rahma Traveler to inspire thousands of Egyptians, and millions across the world to overcome the existing challenges of traveling at a young age, traveling alone and the beauty that comes with it. In our interview with her, Rahma tells us all about her ongoing journey.
Meet Rahma the travel blogger and adventurer
Rahma’s traveling journey started at the age of 19, but the story goes way back. She lived in Saudi Arabia for over 9 years and living in a foreign country as an expat for several years during her upbringing, has contributed to her tolerance. Since she had already established this tolerance towards other people and cultures, she was ready to explore more. However, it was not an easy start to the journey, she explains:
It was a very difficult task for a youngster at the age of 19 to travel on her own to numerous countries due to many risks and restrictions, but here I am surpassing obstacles.
Traveling has matured Rahma beyond thought. She explains how traveling aspects do not need to appear from one country to another. Even within a country’s borders, if you go from one city to another, you realize that the attitude and sometimes cultural changes, the way you behave changes, and your inception of multiple ideologies expands. Of course, there are some areas which you want to avoid because of their reputation or the stories you hear about it from elsewhere. However, in Rahma’s case, many of the places she’s been to have been completely re-designed after she went there. It was one of the reasons why she decided to open her blog and share advice with other travelers and give them insights into her journey.
Don’t hold prejudice. Go there, explore, then make your judgment.
Traveling Solo
Thinking that you’re alone while traveling solo is one of the biggest misconceptions holding people from doing it. Rahma is never alone when she travels. She always finds locals, other solo travelers, same nationality expats and encounters many more people in her journeys. She says:
When I arrive to a new country, I’m usually empty-handed, but I leave full handed, with experiences, memories and friends.
On top of that, today’s world is run by the internet. By using the internet, Rahma can decide on many things, even during the current pandemic. Firstly, knowing which countries have their borders open, how to obtain visas, what airlines go there, the cost-of-living expenses, etc. Furthermore, knowing where to go, how to go there, when to go, and whether it is suggested by locals or other travelers to waste time going to this place and alternatives to all the latter questions have so far been found online.
Luckily, Rahma’s travel blog provides many answers based on her experiences.
Related: Women in business: Overview of female entrepreneurship in the Middle East
Explore the travel blog
Rahma started her online presence by creating pages on Instagram and Facebook to cover her travel journeys. Within these channels, a community was being built and she started gaining many followers including many who faced the same problems she’s been facing. In a short period of time, Rahma’s pages had over 20 thousand followers which was a huge surprise. Due to some technicalities, Rahma lost her Instagram page and wasn’t able to regain access to it. Hence, it was when she decided she’ll create her own blog to publish all important information there instead of using social media platforms as the main communication channels. She explains why she started a travel blog:
I decided to create my own website that would function as the core of my travel blog and have it actually be called RahmaTraveler.com
Rahma managed to build her community there. Posting pictures, sharing products, publishing blog stories and articles, etc. That was when Rahma went for GoDaddy’s expertise and later on, she realized that it is much more practical and convenient to have one’s own website for a private business.
Opting for the Arabic Website builder to divert the focus onto a whole new demographic in this sector was Rahma’s choice. Like many other entrepreneurs, her first thoughts on building a website was “It is too difficult, too expensive, and beyond my reach now”.
I am nowhere near a tech proficient user, let alone being an expert and building my own website. Then, I discovered GoDaddy.
Her research led her to GoDaddy and there she found all she needed. She managed to establish her domain, build her website, design and add everything she needed there and then publish the website within hours.
To build rahmatraveler.com, she used the GoDaddy Arabic Website Builder, domain name, and the SSL certificates.
Check out Rahma’s blog to see what she has prepared for Arab travelers across the MENA region.
Related article: How to start the process of reopening your small business
Start your adventure
Traveling is not expensive!
Start your journey. Set your destinations and start, traveling is different from one person to another. Don’t let other’s experiences shape or halt yours. Like many other preventive stories, Rahma’s tips intend to break these boundaries, including the great risks of traveling alone as a female.
I wish to put aside all these assumptions that Eastern females are unable to travel solo and explore the world. I am doing so and will continue to do so in my journey!
If you’re looking for tips as a youngster to convince your parents to travel solo, or if you are a holder of an Egyptian passport and are looking for tips regarding visa processes and visa applications, you’ll find them on Rahma’s blog along with many more stories, advice, and pictures from Rahma’s trips.
For more inspiring stories, check our blog.
