A soaked day at Iguazú Falls reminded me that delight is a real reason to choose a trip. I talk about waterfalls, fried manioc, small wants, and what happens when we stop shrinking what we want into the most sensible version.
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Most of us say “I can’t afford it” about a trip before we’ve ever worked out what it would actually cost. Jillian Johnsrud, author of Retire Often, has taken more than a dozen mini retirements, and she shows how pricing a trip line by line turns a someday into a real decision, whether you have a month or a week.
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A family trip to Nigeria showed me that the self-trust I built through solo travel doesn’t disappear when other people are around. It came with me into family rhythms, an Uber grocery run with my sister, and one bottle of water I ordered when I meant to order twelve.
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A lot of us have a list of places that all sound lovely, and not one of them is an obvious yes, so we keep researching and keep not choosing. I don’t think the problem is that you don’t know what you want. This episode is about the question to ask before you pick a destination, the one that gets you off the list.
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People often ask me if I get lonely when I travel on my own. On a Saturday night in London, I took myself to see The Devil Wears Prada musical with empty seats on either side of me, and I wasn’t even sure it was a good idea. This episode is about what that evening showed me about being alone and being lonely.
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There isn’t one right trip to find. The best afternoon I ever had in Osaka was a walk I chose and a table by a garden, nothing that would make a list. Planning a solo trip you’ll actually enjoy is less about logistics than design, and the key move is subtraction: take the shoulds off and build the trip around the woman who is actually going.
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I walked out of a travel agency in Sapa, Vietnam, with the wrong tour booked because forty dollars less felt like real value. I knew exactly what I wanted, and I overrode it anyway. This episode is about what’s actually different when you travel solo at 40, and why the advantage is the clarity you already have.
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On a Sunday morning in Olomouc, I had three hours before my train and three real choices, and I sat at a table with purple chairs and realized this was the practice. Between where you are now and the solo trip you keep thinking about, there are hundreds of small decisions you haven’t been making for yourself. This episode is about those decisions.
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A Sufi teacher in India told me in my mid-twenties that I was watching my life pass by from a train window. Kellie Stirling of Talking About Midlife interviewed me, and we started from the very beginning, long before I was a solo traveller. We also talk about the difference between searching for yourself and meeting yourself.
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If your definition of solo travel means handling every unknown by yourself and eating every meal in silence, of course you’re not booking. Gina Cambridge has led over 30 solo travel retreats in places like New Zealand, Bali and Cuba. We talk about why a group tour still counts as solo and the hostel bunk bed that led her to Bali.
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