How Traveling Pointed Me To the Right Direction

Just do it! Book the ticket, start planning and packing and turn those nerves into ones of excitement. Travelling solo is addictive and once you’ve done it once, you’ll soon want to do it again and again.

That’s what I will say to someone who ask for my advice about traveling solo – for the first time.

Who am I?

I am a thirty-something divorcee who has changed her life and left everything for a life back on the road. I’m a freelance writer and I also run a website called Girl about the Globe, a travel resource site for solo female travelers, promoting responsible and ethical travel. My aim is to show that solo travel isn’t as scary as people think. I’m from a small seaside town in the south of England but I’ve been travelling and living in different places since I was 21 years old. I’ve now been lucky enough to have travelled to 100 countries and 60 of these alone.

Why did I wanted to travel the World?

Since the age of 21, I have been travelling and living abroad. I’ve always wanted to travel and made a collage of all the places I wanted to travel to when I was a teenager. I never went abroad with my family as we always had caravan holidays in the UK so the first time I even went on a place was at the age of 17 when I went to Spain with a friend. But my first solo trip was to France to work as a chalet girl and I missed home so much that I only lasted a week. Then I worked on a cruise ship and the fear and homesickness set in again and I lasted 2 months. I gradually built up my confidence until I was away for a year. I was so shy and unsure of myself back then but each time I came back to the UK, I knew that I should have stayed longer so I went away again. I set a bucket list and I’ve been travelling ever since.

What makes traveling solo a great experience?

I love figuring it all out by myself and going to countries where I can’t speak much of the language and meeting the local people. When you’re travelling solo you have so many more adventures and more interaction with people than you do as part of a group or a couple. For me, it gives me the best experiences. I’ve been travelling so long by myself now that I find it hard to adapt to travelling with someone else for a long period of time. I am so used to my independence, plus I work on the road and that’s difficult when you’re travelling with others who just want to sight-see and be on a permanent holiday.

Travelling solo gives you…