By Benjamin Parker Editor
I’m a female solo traveller who’s been to 39 countries – here’s the common mistake almost everyone makes
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By BENJAMIN PARKER
Published: 14:02 BST, 1 July 2025 | Updated: 14:07 BST, 1 July 2025
A solo traveller who has been to almost 40 countries across five continents has been sharing her opinions on travelling 鈥 warning that some may be 鈥榰npopular鈥.
Karina Henry, who runs the @karinaworldwide Instagram account and has over 131,000 followers on the site, shared 15 of her strongest views.
She starts by addressing the mistake people make when they rush to visit as many countries as possible, writing: 鈥楾ravel isn鈥檛 a race 鈥 no one cares about your passport stamp.鈥
Instead of the number of nations visited, people should instead impress with their experiences.
鈥楲et鈥檚 swap 鈥渨hew, I鈥檇 definitely go back there鈥 stories, not just border-crossing bingo.鈥
Among the comments agreeing with her, a user wrote: 鈥業’m more impressed with someone who has visited only 5 countries but spent a longer time there than with someone who has visited 10 in 3 weeks.鈥
She warns against 鈥榰sing Africans as props in your travel photos鈥, stating: 鈥楶overty is not an aesthetic.鈥
鈥業f you wouldn鈥檛 take that photo in Paris or Tokyo, ask yourself why it feels acceptable in Ghana or Kenya,鈥 she added.
Karina Henry, who runs the @karinaworldwide Instagram account and has over 131,000 followers on the site, shared 15 of her strongest views
She addressed using poverty as an aesthetic: ‘If you wouldn鈥檛 take that photo in Paris or Tokyo, ask yourself why it feels acceptable in Ghana or Kenya’ (pictured: the French capital)
鈥榊our trip shouldn鈥檛 come at the cost of someone鈥檚 dignity.鈥
One of the most popular responses agreed with this point in particular.
鈥業 HATE SEEING kids in villages in Southeast Asia in people鈥檚 photo carousels. If you wouldn鈥檛 take a picture of less fortunate American, don鈥檛 do it in another country,鈥 wrote @jadethetraveler.
However, one person questions this opinion.
鈥榊ou have pics posing with a local in very traditional, simple dress, while you are decked out to the nines. ??,鈥 wrote Katie Mendon莽a.
鈥業 don鈥檛 get the difference? Loved a lot of what you shared鈥ut this one seems hypocritical.鈥
Another viewpoint that people disagreed with was around tipping, which Karina believes 鈥榮houldn鈥檛 be optional just because you鈥檙e abroad鈥.
鈥楾he tipping culture is very different (give or not, how much, or actually bargain), I think it is best to study beforehand how they do and accommodate that instead of bringing your own tipping culture鈥, said @cskmtrsztsz
There’s some disagreement over whether tipping should take place wherever you go 鈥 or if you should respect local culture
I’m a female solo traveller – where I felt most unsafe is a European bucket-list destination
Another, who identified themselves as Australian, wrote: 鈥楾ipping can actually be seen as extremely rude in many countries- particularly places like Japan – so it鈥檚 always best to actually research the tipping culture.鈥
Karina also shared her stance on how solo travel isn鈥檛 a personality trait, why there鈥檚 no shame in dating abroad, and how travel doesn鈥檛 have to be transformational.
Most of the responses were positive, though one Instagram user wrote: 鈥業 get where she鈥檚 coming from, but many of these come from an odd, rather judgey place.鈥
The travel content creator, who has over 300,000 followers on TikTok, previously opened up about her most terrifying experiences abroad, ranging from a tourist scam to a parasitic infection she got from eating cat meat.
‘In China, I was physically assaulted by a drunk man who said he didn’t like me simply because I was American,’ she shared.
The footage showed a man yelling at her in Chinese while she begged him to leave her alone, saying, ‘I didn’t do anything. I just want to go home.’
Karina then shared that she ‘got an incurable parasitic infection after eating cat meat in Ghana,’ but she didn’t go into detail about her health scare.
‘In Egypt, I was lured into a shop by a “tour guide” and then trapped inside until I agreed to pay for a belly dancer outfit I “broke” 鈥 only to later realize it was a scam,’ she continued.
The content creator previously shared her most terrifying moments abroad
Another solo travel content creator recently shared her honest views on where she feels unsafe as a woman 鈥 and one of her picks is a hugely popular European destination.
Savanna Crowell, in a video that has been viewed almost 500,000 times, the New York-based traveller revealed three places where she didn鈥檛 feel safe.
She told her 54,000 followers that she鈥檇 鈥榟ad a few uncomfortable situations鈥 in one of the countries
Another she claimed was where she experienced the most catcalling.
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I’m a female solo traveller who’s been to 39 countries – here’s the common mistake almost everyone makes
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