Solo female traveller Manon Raja defies odds to explore the world

French-Kashmiri woman Manon Raja has braved through health conditions and cultural norms to follow her passion to travel around the world, with 29 countries already under her belt. 

Despite being in coma for three months and almost nine months on a hospital bed due to severe health issues, nothing deterred Raja. Making an appearance on ARY News’ show Bakhabar Savera, she shared that “I was told by doctors I’m not going to have a normal life.”

“I could see a mountain from my room’s window and desperately wanted to get there considering I have been fond of exploring the world since childhood,” she continued.

During that time, she watched a lot of travel documentaries and her brother gifted her a book called ‘100 places to visit before you die’. Inspired by it, she made it her mission to travel once she gets discharged from the hospital.

Born in Saudi Arabia and raised in France, she has lived in eight countries and can speak six different languages. Raja can’t survive without taking a drip everyday.

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For the brave soul, another purpose of turning into a solo traveller was to show people that you can travel albeit being of any origin and change the mindset that prevents girls from exploring the world.

“You can travel the world solo and have a health condition which can’t stop you. I thought if I got another lifeline, I don’t want to survive but live my life to the fullest on my own terms,” she said.

Talking about if she ever thought of giving up on her dream, Raja said that although during travelling she had few unfortunate incidents concerning her unstable health, she is still in high spirits.

She said “When I went on a trip to Far East Asia last year, two incidents happened. I was stuck in a storm in Puckett Island, Malaysia. I was standing on a bridge with a fisherman, which started collapsing due to the natural disaster.”

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At another instance, the traveller’s condition deteriorated. “I went for hiking at 2 am to Adam’s Peak in Sri Lanka, my condition worsened so much that I had to immediately go to the hospital,” she shared.

Raja explained that there’s a difference between a tourist and traveller. She said that travellers avoid luxuries on a trip unlike tourists and opt for local and affordable ways to sustain. “In my eyes, travelling is not an expensive hobby, you should know how to plan your budget.”

Her most expensive trip was to Brunei because hotels are expensive and options are limited. Azerbaijan was the cheapest destination and she covered four cities in 21 days.

She has pro-tip for all the travellers out there “Try to club countries and visit four to five at at time to cut down on the travelling cost.”

Here’s wishing that women like Manon Raja inspires others to follow their dreams despite all odds!