“ANAM HAKEEM FIRST PAKISANI SOLO TRAVELER. A LOOK INTO HOW SHE OVERCAME CULTURAL CONFINES AND MET THE ADVENTURES ONE CAN EXPERIENCE IN A LIFETIME.”

By Maryem Sohail 

 April 19,2022 

Source interview with Dawn news

WHO IS ANAM? (CAREER)

known on inernet as"Girl with green passport '' is a 34 years old Solo taveler,content creator youtuber,brand strategy consultant and Ex head of leading digital agencies of Pakistan like Cocacola,TetraPak,Horlicks. She also worked in Saatchi and Burnett.Moreover, had a chance to  work in a commercial that was produced and aired on national telly and earned thousands of followers on her social media accounts.Recently featured on Pop Sugar,BBC URDU and Dawn.She has travelled around 26 countries and 9 of them were Solo till 2017.

HOW SHE OVERCAME  SOCIAL CONFINES?

Raised in a middle-class family where its considered a shame for women to wear a jeans chaps and tees and hang out with friends. She was not allowed to drive the family car even in neighorhood compared with the fact that her younger brother had that privelage.

The conscious of inequality make her an ambitious child to do more for herself. She could'nt digest the fact of gender distribution and ended up seeking inspiration from foreign role models. No one in her family had the privilage to travel abroad except her father who visited India just to met some relatives. 

And then comes a moment in life when she found out some of her friends are going to Dubai along with some teachers from university on a course trip and some fellows invited her to come along said it would an adventure. 

Adventure? once and fourth that word revolving in her head reminded her how to seek permission from Dad. She could sense the answer would be no but again she reminded herself " if you don't risk anything, you risk even more."__Erica Jong

Finally she made some use of what learnt through advertising world and packaged all the courage and layup the trip to be very important for her career, serious, safe and supervised by all the teachers, accompanying with all the peers against her father and at last her dream comes true and she could'nt believed herself writing in her journal "Never be afraid to ask no matter what the odds are".

A JOURNEY TO TRAVEL, 30 COUNTRIES ON A PAKISTANI PASSPORT

Being at airport  watching  people and imagining where they are coming from, where going the uncertainty made her curious of what was going to meet her eyes and she loved it from roaming in Emirate streets at 3am and wearing whatever she likes all of it made her addicted to the feeling and that feeling transformed her.

After her return she started making plans for her next journey but her parents won't allow her this time because it was no field trip, nothing work related. She kept making itineraries of  her goals thinking one day they'll all come true and same hapened. For two years she could'nt convinced her parents but every passing day  made her more defiant to the idea presented by her parents "what'll people say" until the 3rd year when she watched Mr. Bourdain travel show on CNN in Tokyo and decided to travel whatever the consequences will be and finally left the home after having major arguments with her parents.

On her 27th birthday she found out from a friend that the world's biggest electronic music festival          Tomorrowland was taking place in Atlanta,  Georgia. She decided to take the opportunity and applied for visa  which after a legnth of reasoning with embassy finally they agreed to give the visa.

Then in 2014, she ended up taking a three- week trip to US and traveled from California, Vegas, Texas, Atlanta  till all the way to New York and then in 2015 she knew though her parents are sad and angry for not listening to them but they can't stop her so she venture off on a solo trip for the very first time and now the journey was to Southeast Asia , Europe, Turkey, Belgium, Paris and Amsterdam and then she took some break for a cure, her heart was'nt healing and finally in 2016 she got married and finances were no longer problem yet again she had a desire to travel which she could'nt stop for long and had a heavenly treat of honeymoon from her husband to Bali and Kuala Lumpur for a 9days period and after seven months took a solo trip to Africa and so on, the journey continues till 2022 when she has completed all 30 countries.

Everytime she planned a trip was not more then  3 to 5 days in a city the idea was not because she was counting countries but counting the experiences she would've at every new place as she said '' I love being away from known and comfortable.''

TRAVELLING SOLO

Traveling alone is not always as comfortable, easygoing and fun. Being alone without any interruptions means dealing with our fears and thoughts and its scary but the idea of tasting freedom is much more comforting that it overcomes these little scary parts. 

On a solo trip one has a chance to get insight of himself or herself. She would scared about getting raped and robbed but with time she learnt being mindful, confident and independent person which stopped her doing anything stupid.

While on one hand we are scared by the harm others might bring to us, on the other hand we are afraid by the absence of others. She was aware that she appears to be younger then her age so she dressed up appropriately on solo trips to look older because looking like a teenager Indian or Mexican girl anyone can take granted for or rob. For a solo woman Amna says world can be unnerving but you have to be smart, ambitious, navigating your way and aim to earn better.

''Research on neighborhoods. I was in Uganda and one night I did'nt want to head alone for dinner to a certain area, so I asked a hostelmate to accompany me. We had a great conversation and I did'nt have to walk alone.''

Taking pictures is a challenge for a solo traveler, she admits, but she frames the shot and then asks the strangers to take a photo then rest is a magic of editing. "I'm a self taught lightroom user."