What I Wish I Knew Before Solo Traveling After 50

Are you letting other people's fears hold you back from experiencing the world on your own terms? After six years of intentional solo traveling that began in my 50s, I've discovered that the biggest obstacle isn't the outside world—it's the voices of those who've never actually done it themselves.

Solo travel transformed my life in ways I never expected, teaching me valuable lessons I wish I'd known sooner. The world isn't nearly as frightening as many would have you believe, especially when you walk with confidence and purpose. There's a remarkable power in carrying yourself with your head held high, projecting an energy that says you won't be an easy target. This simple practice has kept me safer than any gadget could during my adventures.

One surprising discovery was the freedom that comes from imperfect planning. Those meticulously crafted itineraries I once created? They never went according to plan and only added stress to my journeys. Now I build in breathing room, allowing space for those magical serendipitous moments that often become the highlight of any trip. But perhaps the most profound revelation was how solo travel rewires your brain—creating mental and emotional changes that extend far beyond simply seeing new places. The autonomy, problem-solving, and fresh experiences literally transform how you see yourself and the world. What began as trips I took because no one could join me has become my preferred way to travel, offering a unique joy I never anticipated finding in my own company.

Ready to discover what solo travel might reveal about you? Start small with destinations known to be safe, and you might just find yourself, as I did, falling in love with the freedom of charting your own course through the world. What adventure are you putting off because of someone else's unfounded fears?

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Have you ever looked back on something you did in
your life and thought, oh, Iwould do this differently next
time around?
And I'm not talking aboutregrets, I'm talking about
something that maybe you enjoyed, or just something if you had
to do it again, you would do itdifferently.
For example, I feel like thereare a couple parenting things

(00:21):
I'd probably do differently, somaybe as I get some
grandchildren someday, thiscould be something I would do
for them.
For example, you know wishing Ihad taught my children at a
young age another language andso getting maybe a redo with my
grandchildren.
But I thought about how thisrelates to solo travel and there

(00:46):
are a couple things that I wishI knew before I started solo
traveling and then I could sharewith you so you can get out
there and do it differently orbetter than I did the first time
around.
Welcome to Solo TravelAdventures.
I'm Cheryl Esch.
You're a certified travel coachand advocate for solo travel,

(01:07):
so I had to think about how longhave I been solo traveling?
I've been actually doing it.
I mean even going back to my20s.
I did some solo travel.
Mostly it was road trips atthat point in my life and you
know, my thirties, fortiesprobably did some solo travel.
Mostly during that time offrame of my life it was maybe,

(01:31):
maybe, to visit family orfriends.
I would often go to a lot offitness conferences or workshops
, uh, solo.
So, yes, there I would be alone.
But I didn't start trulyintentionally solo traveling
until my 50s and so I'm 57.
And so about six years ago iswhen I recall kind of really

(01:55):
intentionally planning an actualsolo travel.
Now I wanted to do a littlesolo travel before that and I'll
get to kind of what happenedthere.
So solo travel has become apart of every year.
I make sure I plan more thanone these days, solo trip
usually.
And I just have some thingsthat through these past six

(02:18):
years that I may pass on to you,things I wish I knew before I
started solo traveling.
And then the first one isreally something that a lot of
people perceive and I'm here todebunk that.
And the one thing I wish I knewis it's not as scary as people
perceive and we often believeand even listen to those voices

(02:43):
of other people.
We often believe and evenlisten to those voices of other
people.
I like to refer to a quote thatis often used by Brene Brown.
She uses it a lot, but it'sactually by Theodore Roosevelt
and you may be familiar.
It's called the man in theArena.
I'll read a little bit of it itis not the critic who counts,

(03:03):
not the man who points out howthe strong man stumbles or where
the doer of deeds could havedone them better.
Isn't that what we're talkingabout here?
The credit belongs to the manwho is actually in the arena,
whose face is marred by dust andsweat and blood, who strives
valiantly, who errs, who comesup short again and again.

(03:26):
Now there's a lot more, butessentially from this quote, and
what Brene Brown often says isdon't listen to anybody's advice
.
Who hasn't been there,anybody's advice who hasn't been
there, and so a lot of peoplethat would tell me that I

(03:47):
shouldn't solo travel, it'sscary and I shouldn't do it.
There's crazy people out thereand all that stuff.
Actually, I look back and Ithink, well, they've never solo
traveled, so they can't reallyspeak from experience, and so
that's really one thing.
I wish I hadn't listened tothose people, because the bottom

(04:09):
line is and just so you know,if you have never solo traveled
and I've been doing it six yearsat least, periodically earlier
than in my 50s.
But these are things I wish Iknew, as I started to
intentionally solo travel afterI turned 50.
But you're going to listen tothe people that have actually
done it, and so it is not asscary as the world makes it out

(04:33):
to be is number one thing I wishI knew, and before 2019, I
actually missed out on a trip ortwo because I was listening to
those naysayers in my closecircle and I just wish I had not
listened to them because Icould have been experiencing
more solo travel and moreexperiences prior to 2019.

(04:58):
The second thing I wish I knewbefore I started solo traveling
and again it's a sort of safetyissue that many people would
assume.
Again, as a woman solo travelinggosh, you're gonna you know
you're gonna be a target.
You're gonna be harassed.
What I found You're going to beharassed what I found was

(05:21):
walking confidently, with yourhead held high, I believe, has
kept me from any harm.
There is something to be saidfor that.
As you walk confidently, I liketo say no one's going to mess
with you, because you look likeyou're not going to put up with
crap, right, and so I believethat has played into sort of why

(05:42):
I have been fortunate enough tobe kept from any harm Now I'm
not saying that and I have neverbeen pickpocketed, but there's
that could still happen, right.
But if you're walkingconfidently with your head held
high, not in your phone, thenyou're going to be safer in your

(06:03):
solo travels when you'rewalking around.
Third thing I wish I knew beforeI started solo traveling is a
perfectly planned itinerarynever goes as planned.
So I guess the bottom line thatI learned from this is to not
plan so systematically and toallow space for free time.

(06:28):
To allow space, because thingswill go wrong and so you will
have to learn to pivot.
Plus, a perfectly planneditinerary caused me to really
rush around trying to get oh, Igot to be here at this time,
here at this time, and it reallycreated some stress for me.

(06:48):
That was in my early years andI don't do that anymore, but I
felt it.
Also, it limits you as well,because if you have exactly
planned what you're going to seeor do, it doesn't allow for you
to actually see or experiencesomething you weren't planning

(07:09):
on and you miss what I call theserendipitous moments that occur
when you solo travel.
So if you are new to solotravel.
I encourage you to.
Yes, planning an itinerary isgoing to make you feel safer and
more confident, but within thatplan, please allow some gaps.

(07:33):
Give yourself extra time, evenfor your travel getting from one
place to the other, and thatway it will be less stressful
for you.
And the other thing I learned isthat solo travel is more than
seeing new places.
There's actually, I discoveredthere's a mental and emotional

(07:55):
change that happens when yousolo travel and you may not
notice it at first, but it'svery remarkable.
You might even come back andfeel changed and not really
understand what it was thatchanged you.
There's so much that happenswhen you do solo travel and
there is some science behindsome of it too.

(08:17):
But in general, the idea of youknow, making your own decisions
, problem solving on your own,having that freedom, the
autonomy of yourself and justseeing new things will rewire
your brain and experiencing newthings For me that was the

(08:38):
biggest thing is having newexperiences really sort of
changed me mentally, myperspective, and just that whole
idea of kind of an adventurewas also something that pulls us
out of our mundane, and so thatagain will cause a change in us

(09:02):
and we might even crave it.
Which gets me to my final point,and I really wish someone who
had solo traveled had beenadamant or shared with me the
beauty and the joy of solotravel, because one thing I
didn't plan on and I wish I knewis how much I would love solo

(09:23):
travel.
Because one thing I didn't planon and I wish I knew is how
much I would love solo traveland that often we may initially
go for other reasons, maybebecause no one could go with us.
Maybe that was timing, maybe itwas finances, or maybe the
place you wanted to go was not apopular place to visit, so no
one really wanted to join you.

(09:43):
Or maybe you went as sort of anescape.
Of course, you know a vacationfrom your daily life, but what I
have learned is I really lovesolo travel.
I actually hate to say this,but I love solo travel more than
going with other people, eventhough I will do that from time
to time.

(10:04):
There's just something about andyou will learn this as you
begin solo traveling there'ssomething beautiful about being
with yourself, even, and gettingto know and love yourself, and
so those are some things I wishI knew before I started solo
traveling after age 50.

(10:25):
I hope that's inspired you toget out there and solo travel on
your own and maybe experiencesome of these things or take
them to heart and know don't youknow?
For example, don't take theadvice of someone who's never
been there.
You may have people that are,you know, good intentions.
They are watching out for you.

(10:45):
But if you start small, pick aplace that is known to be safe
for women travelers, you will beabsolutely fine, and you will.
My hope is that you will comeback feeling the same way I did,
that you love solo travel andyou want to do more of it.

(11:05):
Well, sisters, get out thereand have that solo adventure.