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Opinion: Why solo travel is still safe, no matter what happened in Istanbul


Skift Take

Author Laura Bly is right: The unfortunate death of an American traveler in Istanbul isn't an indictment of solo travel, it's a reminder about what keeps us safe and how travel can change us.

... I was saddened when I heard that Sarai Sierra, a 33-year-old American on her first vacation outside the USA, had been found dead in Istanbul, Turkey — and shocked when I read the subsequent reactions condemning journeys by solo women as naive, misguided or both.

The circumstances surrounding the budding photographer's death, including reports that she met a Turkish man with whom she'd been chatting online for months, remain murky.

But these facts are clear: Millions of solo women, American and otherwise, travel happily and safely around the globe — including Turkey.

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