Solo travel is all the rage these days, hailed as a surefire way to boost independence, confidence, and self-reliance. You can’t flip through a travel magazine without stumbling upon a slew of tips and tricks tailored for solo adventurers, especially women. They’ve got everything from safety advice to lists of the safest places to go solo, making it easier than ever to hit the road alone.
But back in the day, solo female travel was practically unheard of. However, that didn’t stop the American journalist Nellie Bly from taking on the world solo. At a time when the mere idea of a woman travelling without a chaperone was scandalous, Nellie set out to beat the record set by the fictional Phileas Fogg from Jules Verne’s Around the World in 80 Days (1873), all while documenting her incredible journey.
