Solo Female Travel with a Toddler

Last Updated: July 9, 2022

When my eldest was three years old, the two of us embarked on a trip for two weeks around Morocco on our first backpacking adventure! I was 23, had just finished community college, was working part time in a supermarket and was due to start university as a busy full time nursing student. My son was also attending nursery part-time. So I thought I would push myself out of my comfort zone and book the trip for us to spend quality time together before studies and work got in the way.

Many people were terrified at the thought and tried to put me off, thinking it was crazy to take a child travelling… “he would be too hot”, “it would be unsafe”, “he needs routine”, “it’s unfair to expect him to travel in vehicles for long periods of time” were just some of the reasons given for people’s protests at me taking him on the trip. But in the end, after some considerations and second guessing myself, I decided to go anyway. And was so glad that I didn’t let other people’s fears and reservations stop us from going on our beautiful adventure.

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Pushing our Boundaries

We took no electronics apart from our camera (not even a phone!) which helped us stay present and enjoy the moment. Another beauty of not having a phone also meant relying on speaking to local people and fellow travellers. And using maps and guide books to find out directions and advice because I had no Wi-Fi to fall back on. We were also pushed to speak Arabic regularly (a second language I have been brought up with, but by no means fluent in) as it is the official language in Morocco and was also a great part of the trip for both of us.

Not having any electronics or time apart meant that we had so many conversations and learning opportunities with each other all day every day. When we got home, his nursery commented on how much his vocabulary had widened from our trip. Which got me thinking if that can happen with two weeks of travel, the possibilities of what knowledge can be absorbed during longer periods are endless.

We spent the majority of our time in Marrakech. Hanging out, bumbling from café to café, haggling in souks, speaking in rusty broken Arabic and making friends. We had no commitments or plans for a lot of our time there and I allowed many of our days to be led by my toddler at his own pace.

Keeping a Routine

I wanted to maintain a relaxed version of our routine still for my son so we tended to wake early around 7am and go to bed early (with him going to bed at 8pm and myself going to sleep around 9pm). We stayed in the old town in riads (B&B style accommodation) away from tourist spots and would normally have breakfast included in our accommodations.

Later on in the evenings, after the souks had closed up, it could get a little quiet, dark and confusing as to which street you were on because of the maze like labyrinth of streets that I would normally be able to navigate based on what market stall was where would suddenly be bare.

These streets in the old town are only accessible by foot or motorbike so it was not possible to just get a taxi. So to avoid getting lost at night, we would normally make sure we were back by 6/7pm and have our breakfast leftovers or snacks from a local shop, for dinner in our accommodation.

As well as keeping a morning/bedtime routine, we also threw in a couple of day trips for good measure. We took a bus to Essouira, which I would not recommend as a day trip from Marrakesh. It took around 10 hours for the round journey on the bus, meaning the majority of our day was spent on a bus and we only spent three hours there! But he really wanted to go the beach and we didn’t have anywhere to be so we went and he loved it. That night we did get back late and I did get lost in the dark while carrying a sleeping 3 year old through the medina’s deserted winding backstreets and alleyways (not my best idea!). Thankfully, I bumped into a local man that knew the street that I was looking for and he walked me back to my accommodation.

Finding a Community

One thing I did plan for our trip was for us to join an 8 day family adventure tour in the middle of our time there. I wanted that safety net for my first time backpacking solo with a child. It worked out really well as we made friends with the other two families on the tour and enjoyed hanging out with each other. In our free time we would go for meals, camel rides and beach trips together.

I definitely found myself more at ease travelling as part of a group. In a group, I didn’t have as many responsibilities and planning to do which meant that I could chill more and enjoy our time better. Also, as part of a group, we were able to lean on each other for support which was nice, to have that back-up of a temporary community.

Safety and Security

As a woman travelling alone with a small child, I made plans to ensure that I felt confident to protect us and since this trip I now always travel with a few items for added safety:

• Travel Axe – It comes in really handy for day to day living as it has lots of tools that come of it eg. a pen knife to cut fruit, bottle opener for your beer! But also doubles up as a pretty good weapon to use in a self defence situation.
• Whistle – I take it along for hiking. If we were to get lost to alert someone nearby we needed help. But also it doubles as an alarm to alert people you need assistance in any situation.
• Door Wedge Alarm – This alarm allowed me to feel safe in whatever accommodation room I was staying. In that no one would be able to open my door without the door alarm alerting me.
• Wrist Harness – This was particularly useful. It attaches to both mine and my son’s wrist, stopping him from wandering off. I did experience a bit of a worrying incident in a busy souk market, where one man tried to untie my son’s end of the harness from around his wrist. It was unclear why he wanted to and it was probably just to show my son something he was trying to sell in his stall, but I was very thankful to have this safety measure with me as it stopped this stranger’s attempt at separating us.

To see some more of our security and safety items that we take travelling you can head to our packing list page to see our full comprehensive list.

An Experience I won’t Forget

When my toddler’s father came to meet us at the airport after the two weeks were over, I allowed my son to run up ahead of me to greet him. I realised that that those 20 meters were the furthest I’d been away from him in weeks. It felt as though I had been carrying him in the womb again for the past few weeks, so conscious of the responsibility to keep him safe whilst we were on our own in a new place, which was both delightful and overwhelming at times.

Even with the heightened sense of responsibility, it was an amazing experience that I would recommend every parent do with their child/children. Sharing these adventures was such a special time to spend one on one with my son and made our bond became so much stronger. We met beautiful people and saw beautiful places in Marrakech, Atlas Mountains and Essaouira and this is where my eldest son’s travel passion was born.