Solo Travel Adventures: Safe Travel for Women, Preparing for a Trip, Overcoming Fear, Travel Tips
Equipping Women over 50 to Safely Travel in Confidence
Is fear holding you back from traveling because you don’t have anyone to go with? Are you concerned about being a woman traveling alone? Not sure how to prepare for a solo trip? Do family and friends think you are crazy for even considering solo travel in this day and age?
In this podcast, you will become equipped to travel safely by yourself. You’ll learn things like tactical travel tips and how to prepare for a trip, and how to overcome the fear so you can discover the transformation that travel can bring. My mission is to see more women over 50, empty-nesters, discover how travel can empower them. If you want to enjoy your next travel adventure solo, then start your journey here.
Hi Sister Travelers, I’m Cheryl, solo travel advocate and coach. I spent nearly 20 years putting my family/children first and felt guilty about even considering solo travel at the time. After my divorce and transitioning to an empty nest, I began to rediscover my passion for travel, built confidence in myself, and started to explore again. I have experienced life-changing adventures through travel and I want the same for you.
If you are ready to find freedom through travel and build your confidence while safely navigating new places, then this podcast is for you!
Pack your bags, grab your plane tickets and check one more time for that passport. It’s time to explore the world!
Email: adventuresredheadrambler@gmail.com
Solo Travel Adventures: Safe Travel for Women, Preparing for a Trip, Overcoming Fear, Travel Tips
Balancing Plans and Surprises: A Guide to Spontaneous Travel for Women
Unlock the secrets to making your travels more thrilling and unforgettable, even if you love detailed itineraries! Through a mix of personal anecdotes and expert advice, Cheryl explores everything from last-minute road trips to surprise vacations planned by companies like Pack Up and Go, Surprise Me Trips, and Journee. You’ll learn practical tips to strike a perfect balance between planning and embracing the unexpected, ensuring your travels are both well-organized and delightfully unpredictable.
Imagine the joy of discovering a hidden gem on an unplanned detour or savoring a spontaneous local experience that wasn’t on your itinerary. Cheryl dives into the art of leaving room for "white space" in your travel schedule, helping you enjoy slow travel and the magic of the unknown. This episode promises to change how you view spontaneous travel, offering valuable insights on maintaining an open mindset and creating memorable moments that you’ll cherish forever. Get ready to transform your travel experiences and embrace the unknown with confidence and excitement!
Facebook community: Solo Travel for Women Over 50
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https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/solo-travel-adventures-safe-travel-for-women-preparing-for-a-trip-overcoming-fear-travel-tips/id1650161410
Hi, sister travelers, are you a planner? You plan everything for your trips to the T, you have spreadsheets, you do tons of research, or are you one that just likes to wing it? Well, I'm actually here to talk about how we all could benefit from doing a little of what I call spontaneous travel. Welcome to Solo Travel Adventures for women 50 and older. I'm Cheryl S, your host, solo travel advocate, freedom traveler and coach. This is your passport to adventure. This is your passport to adventure, pretty obvious, but there could be different degrees of it. For sure, it could be literally a last minute, just within hours. Maybe you jump in your car and you go somewhere and do a little quick road trip somewhere. Maybe you do something again spur of the moment. You see a good flight and it's like in two weeks, right, and you just you pack and go. It could also mean, while you're at your destination, which you had planned, you allow for some spontaneous activities or things to happen unplanned while you are there. Or, to the furthest degree, you have someone else do the planning and you are surprised by where you're going and you may even not find out until you get to the airport. So those are kind of the extremes, different types of spontaneous travel. But I want to say that spontaneous travel, as I'm calling that, is just any opportunity that you take that is not planned right and you know what are the benefits of that and you know what are the downfalls to that. But I think mostly it is very beneficial. And if you are a what we call downfalls to that but I think mostly it is very beneficial and if you are a what we call a control freak here in the US, this will be a hard thing for you to let go.
Speaker 1:And I have to be honest, I used to be, because some of my jobs required me to, you know, be a very organized. I am a planner. I've planned events, I've organized departments. So you know, being organized and planning things and plan workshops and conferences, you kind of have to be right. So I used I brought that into some of my travel. But if I recall a lot of my travel, the most memorable times are actually the times where I just allowed things to happen. I was more spontaneous in doing things, like maybe I threw the plan out the window and just went with the flow. That happened a lot when I backpacked Europe, although we had plans, kind of loosely based plans. You know, when we ran into some people that we connected with and we weren't planning to do, you know, certain trips, we ended up going with them to. You know, we made it very spontaneous, decided to do certain things, so, and it's certainly made for a very memorable trip, memorable experience in my mind, and that has happened in almost all my trips.
Speaker 1:And nowadays what I like to do is, even though I will plan a trip, I will, you know, obviously get your flights arranged, do some research on the location, you know, maybe set up your accommodations, although there have been times where I have not done that beforehand and it's a little bit of a gamble sometimes because you could get stuck with no accommodations, but I've always been able to adapt. But what I love to do now a lot is, you know, spontaneous road trips, which have always been I mean, I can go back and think about that has always been my nature, almost to a fault in that, even in college, when I was finally given a car which I think my parents regret because I would literally just take off and go somewhere and many times not tell them, and one time it kind of got me in trouble I went to surprise my friend in Cleveland and unfortunately I didn't. I think that's where my parents thought I was going. But I didn't end up there, you know, because when I got to Cleveland, I drove there, just decided a weekend I was going to go. She was actually headed out of town herself and wasn't going to be around, so I headed somewhere else, but I didn't tell my parents. But anyways, uh, I've always had that in my nature, to be honest, and even when I was in college, I would often take my car so I could get to know an area and I would intentionally get lost and drive around. This is way before GPS. So it actually helped me because I actually had a pretty good sense of direction. But it also just helped me to keep that skill fine-tuned, because you really had to rely on your own personal sense of direction, remembering landmarks, possibly so that you could get back.
Speaker 1:But I digress. So we're talking about spontaneous travel and how we can maybe incorporate that into some of your planned travel to make it more exhilarating, make it more fun, because spontaneous travel can be exhilarating. It definitely, as I mentioned, it provides a memorable experience. But you know how do I do this if I am a total control freak, right, and you just have a hard time really letting go of all that. One thing, first thing. I would recommend, if that is you and you find you over plan, right, and you have every hour planned of your trip, I would strongly encourage you to keep some of those plans but allow what I call some white space, just free time Things.
Speaker 1:Downtime is what I like to call it Buffer time. You know, give yourself lots of extra time to, whether it's just traveling from place to place, make sure you're allowing enough time there. Make sure you're allowing enough time there. Or, once you get to a place, to really start to embrace the idea of what is called slow travel, in which you're not running around and trying to see everything. You're not going to be able to see everything. I hate to tell you that. So, enjoying the little bit you are going to see and creating some buffer time between some of those things, whether it's just time to meander in a walk in a city or sit at a cafe, um, or sit in a park and just reflect, I love those kinds of space, um. So when I travel, I make sure I have that kind of space. Otherwise, to me, the trip becomes more about getting things done or seeing things, and it stresses me out and I'm sure it stresses other people out when you're trying to go, go, go and then you feel you're like you're late for this thing and then it puts you behind on something else. So that's why I say just create buffers, create time between things, don't rush. Maybe even have a day as a hiker they call it a zero day where you don't do anything but just enjoy. So that would be my first recommendation.
Speaker 1:If you tend to be someone that likes to control every little detail and you plan every little detail of your trip, okay. So that would be one. Number two, I say be flexible, even with your destinations, even with your destinations, and just be opened to any kind of last minute changes. So I believe this is actually more of a mindset I'm going into. Any trip we do want to have that open mindset where we are open to allowing things to change, that, knowing that things are not always going to work out as we planned, and kind of going with the flow. I also like to look at these unexpected changes as sort of the silver lining I always like to look at in a positive way and they always end up usually being positive. Or, as I look back, they definitely, you know, I can reflect and go oh yeah, because that happened, I was able to do this or whatever. But being open, so being flexible, open-minded to things not maybe going as expected, right, so being open-minded.
Speaker 1:Third thing is I would definitely pack light because as a spontaneous traveler, you may have to just quickly pick up and go somewhere as an opportunity might arise. So that happened a lot when I was in Europe. Both times, both in my twenties and then when I was there last year, I did have a backpack like thing that I could easily, especially when you're hopping on and off trains, possibly. So packing light allows that to happen. It also just makes you ready, right, ready for any kind of changes, correct, and I also another a little tip here is because I do a lot of spontaneous travel and I do a lot of house sits and sometimes those could be last minute. I personally always have an overnight bag ready to go, so, for example, if I want to take a road trip, I don't have to really worry about packing too much. Packing Packing my food yes, that'll be more last minute, but as far as like my overnight stuff, like my facial cream, my makeup, shampoo, all that stuff I have like socks and underwear packed and, you know, maybe a change of clothes. Sometimes I have to add stuff, but it's ready. It's ready for me to go at any moment. And because I am doing a lot of that, especially right now I'm going from house to house and all these dog sits I'm doing, I have to be ready. So I have that ready. I've always had my overnight bag ready and ready to go. So that was one thing I would also recommend. If that's something you want to try and you kind of get hung up with the packing idea, maybe already have that taken care of.
Speaker 1:One less thing to think about. The other thing you could do to make spontaneous travel a little more, you know, beneficial is just think about going locally, as I mentioned, using or just using local transportation wherever you are. So that does allow you to get around a lot quicker. If you have a car and you want to take a road trip, obviously you don't have to worry about renting a car. It's available to you to worry about renting a car. It's available to you. But if you're in another country, using local transportation, buses, trains, ride shares, those kind of things locally will help you get around a little more freely instead of having to be sort of pigeoned into oh I have this flight or I have to take a flight. So thinking more um locally. So if you are somewhere, um in another country and there's other things around that you want to see, um just be spontaneous and, you know, using some of that local transportation to get there.
Speaker 1:Uh, something else you may want to do is because, if you're thinking about spontaneous travel, even internationally well, actually, even in the US now we have what's called the real ID. That's gone into place, meaning we are required to have what's called the real ID or your passport. So I've actually started carrying my passport in my purse. Now I have a, uh, one of those safe purses, uh, crossbody purses that has, um, they recommend it for travel. Anyways, I have one of those on my daily purse and I keep my passport in it. Now you think, oh well, that's just not safe and some people will disagree. You shouldn't be carrying it with you like that all the time. Part of the reason is I am nomadic pretty much right now, so normally that would be something I would keep in a safe at my home but I have. Most of my stuff is all in storage and so it's just inconvenient to run to my storage unit and pull out my passport from my save. So I just keep it with me and I even use it for local travel instead of my driver's license. So you could have something like that ready, making sure, if you have or need travel insurance, that you also have that available and ready and on you.
Speaker 1:I'd say, just be open would be kind of my big, big recommendation. As I mentioned in the beginning, you know the mindset being open to any new experiences but also having that sense of being prepared. So you know, just being open to that and enjoying it, because lots of great things happen through spontaneous travel. You will be surprised. You'll end up in a place you never dreamed you'd be in, that just lit you up and it was such a great experience. Or you might meet people that you might not have met if you hadn't opened yourself up to being spontaneous and you know, just being open to new experiences.
Speaker 1:Now, if you really want to be surprised and do a true spontaneous trip, there are a couple companies out there. Now I have not been bold enough to do this, although I'm considering it. But I also like to have a little bit of a say in where I go and I'm a budget traveler. So I also, you know, I am selective about accommodations and I again like to have some freedom. So I don't like to have a packed itinerary. But if you really want to be surprised, there are a couple companies out there and one of them is becoming very popular. You may have even seen some ads for them and they're called Journey. Now, I'm not affiliated with them. There's a couple others I will mention, but Journey obviously is kind of number one in the in the SEO search right in Google.
Speaker 1:But it is a company that that will plan your trip for you and you give them some basic information. Maybe you provide them with places you've already been and maybe places that you want to go. You kind of give them a budget too, and then you can decide they're going to plan this whole trip for you, right? They're going to even you know plan your flights and everything. Some people wait till they get to the airport. They'll tell you what to pack, by the way. So don't be like, well, what do I, how do I know where I'm going? They will tell you what kind of clothes to pack, all right, so some people like to wait till they get to the airport and pull out this envelope where it reveals where you're going. I have known some people that maybe did it the week before, so they kind of had an idea. It's called Journey, two E's at the end, so that's one big company that, if you really want to take that leap and you really want to be surprised and also let someone else take care of all the planning, yes, yes, sign me up, right, but I will say, if you tend to want that control a little bit, like I do, then start small, like I mentioned in sort of the first idea, you know, creating some buffers, some free time in your current planned travel.
Speaker 1:There's other companies out there. There is one for the US only. It's called Pack Up and Go, so they only do US trips, like Journey. Well, they will plan it for you, it'll be a surprise for you. There is it's called surprise me trips. Um, their website is surprise it with no E, uh, but they do only us. Or Caribbean, but they also do road trips, so they can surprise you with a road trip. Um, there was another one that came up but, uh, I noticed their website had expired so I'm not sure, uh, what's going on there. But those three Journey is, of course, international they do all over, so that's most popular because it does allow for every country that opportunity for them to plan a trip, whereas the other two that I mentioned are US, and then the surprise me is the US and Caribbean areas. So those are some ideas. If you are, you know, ready to take a leap, ready to be spontaneous and let someone else do that planning and be surprised when you get to the airport, you can try one of those companies and allow them to do your planning. But if you still want to hold on, to maintain just a little bit of control, then try to implement some of those other ideas that I presented.
Speaker 1:But the bottom line, bottom line, sisters, is that in order to really see the benefits of spontaneous travel, to really embrace it, I'll say, is we have to change our mindset of what we're expecting. Expectations can really, you know, make or break a trip. Honestly, if we have these huge expectations of all the stuff we plan to see and do and what it's like, and we get hung up, maybe on the Instagram, you know, kind of worthy post or reels that people are posting of different spots. That's not reality and I truly like to you know, be upfront about you. Know really what is travel like, and it's not all, as I've heard another travel couple say, it's not unicorns and rainbows all the time.
Speaker 1:And having that open mind to go with the flow, allow some spontaneity, having the expectations, um, I guess not so high, but just that you are open to change, I think, is going to be key, and I want you just to get out there, because some of my best memories, as I mentioned, are when I've gone off this, you know, when I've not followed my itinerary, when I've done something random, you know off the beaten path, so to speak, and or allowed that space to be spontaneous.
Speaker 1:Because if we're, you know, stuck on following this itinerary, that we've spent hours and hours and days planning, yeah, there's going to be a disappointment that, oh my gosh, I spent all this time, or even money, to plan this and now I have to change it, and so it becomes again that openness, that mindset. I can't reiterate it enough. But I want you to be open to new experiences, meeting new people in your travels, because that's really really what you will remember. So, sisters, I encourage you, implement, or just sprinkle, a little spontaneity into your next trip and you will be pleasantly surprised or, like I mentioned, those companies, let someone else do that planning and be ultimately surprised with where you're going. So let's get out there, sisters, take that leap and go on an adventure.
