T ravel safety, especially for solo travellers, has become one of the most contested conversations in India today. Social media is crowded with reels that swing wildly between two extremes: romanticised montages of solo journeys across the country and stark warnings about harassment, discomfort and fear. Travel content creator Vaghmita Singh, in an old video, also flagged why most of her travel stories come from international destinations. She argued that many foreign countries feel safer to navigate as a woman, captioning it: “Wish my own country was this safe.” Another travel creator, Prateek Singh, shared a very different experience, this time from Europe. After spending over ₹10 lakh on his trip, Singh said he was shocked by dirty streets, poor civic management and rising crime in places often portrayed as aspirational. In his video, he questioned whether the expense and emotional toll of securing a Schengen visa were still worth it, especially when expectations of safety and order didn’t match reality.…