Hi, I’m Amy. I’m a woman in my sixties, widowed, full of curiosity, and determined to see the world solo. Going solo as an older woman takes courage, but it also builds courage. Some research, planning, willingness to experience new and different things, and a spirit of adventure can take you anywhere you want to go…
My husband and I loved to travel. We lived and worked together in Japan and Spain and traveled throughout Western Europe, all the while talking about the places we would explore when we retired, our daughters were on their own, and we were free to make traveling the world “what we did”
We would rent out our home in the San Francisco Bay Area and begin exploring the world. We’d live in a place as long as we wanted, then move on to another. That was our dream.
But just as the best-planned vacation can go wrong, life doesn’t always deliver dreams. My husband died in 2013 on our wedding anniversary, and that unexpected tragedy promptly put to rest our shared dreams.
Now, instead of sharing all the wonders of travel with my husband, I am doing it all solo. I made a promise to myself, my husband, and the universe to continue our dream. Every year since 2013 on that September 14 anniversary date, I’ve been in a different country—one that he and I had wanted to visit. And on that day, wherever I am and whatever I’m doing, I raise a glass of wine or beer or whatever paper umbrella-topped local concoction there might be—to love, life, and pursuing dreams.
Some of my friends say, “Oh, Amy, I can’t imagine doing what you’re doing alone. Aren’t you afraid? How do you know where to stay? What if you don’t know the language?” Yes, travel can be daunting, but for me many other things in life are harder–like keeping off weight I’ve lost, exercising faithfully, or keeping the house spotless!
When some might throw up their hands in frustration at all the things to consider when planning a solo trip, I rub my hands together gleefully and start creating those spreadsheets! I love the planning process almost as much as the actual travel: the research, the itinerary building, and the search for that elusive ‘best and cheapest’ flight or perfect accommodation. For me, the process joins the actual adventures to deliver an unbeatable reward: opening the mind and heart to the lives of people and the wonder of places all over the world that make up this crazy human experience.
This blog is for making sure those experiences are written down—not just in my scribbled notes in multiple notebooks with worn covers and torn pages that I tuck away after returning from my adventures—but in a way that hopefully will recreate all the wonder of those places, people, and feelings. I truly believe travel is the best education one can get, whether you do it with someone you love, a best buddy, or solo.
Yes, going solo–as a woman, and especially as an older woman, takes courage, but it also builds courage.
I hope that through this blog you’ll find yourselves right there with me wherever I travel, AND that I can plant a bug in your mind that you can travel solo, too.