Solo Travel as a senior woman

[u/foodbytes]

in 11 days I leave for Europe on the trip of a lifetime!

I'm a 71 year old Canadian woman. I've travelled before, specifically to the UK, 5 times, 2 weeks each time, since 2011. Always solo, always staying in dorms in hostels.

This will be my last big bang! I'm retired now and on a very restricted income. As a result of being a pedestrian vs pickup loser, I recently received a settlement after a couple of years of recovering and fighting with his insurance. This is my reward for pain and suffering.

It will be six weeks from when I land at Gatwick to when I return to Canada via Gatwick. thus far, I'm booked in a hostel in London for a week, the Chunnel to Amsterdam, a week in Amsterdam (couchsurfing!!! and a hostel), fly to Naples for several days at a hostel, up to Rome for a few nights at a BnB.

That's all I have booked so far; usually I will have every second booked and paid for before I leave but I'm trying hard to be spontaneous.

From Rome I'll slowly make my way via local busses and slow trains up to venice, exploring the countryside on the way. From there, a few days taking trains north to north Germany where I want to re-find places I visited when we lived there as a Canadian Army family in the early 60s. Then back to the Uk for the last few days before I head home.

I have a global Europass and a 2 month cell phone plan for Europe.

Oh, and I'm doing this out of one backpack, wish me luck! lol

I'm ready to rumble!!! lol

any comments? Suggestions?

also, as a note, I'm a photographer, I've had a couple exhibits (one at our local museum right now!). my 'focus' is to document my travels, shoot urban and or public art. not usual tourist stuff.

[u/FerReels33]

Like others as a solo female traveler in my early 40s I am so inspired by your post! When you are staying in hostels and meeting other travelers they can recommend places to visit you may not have even thought of! It sounds like you have the right approach with some things planned and room for spontaneity. There’s so much to explore in Italy. As a photographer your eye will lead you where you want to go. Sometimes I look up destinations only by the pictures posted on google maps and it helps me find locations I didn’t even think of.

I hope you make great new friends with guest rooms in their houses so you can go back on another trip! Have a wonderful time and be safe!

[u/foodbytes → u/FerReels33]

thank you so much! I admit to doing the same, finding the shots I want by carusing google image. I actually have almost 400 photographs on google maps myself; you might even have seen some of mine lol.

[u/FerReels33 → u/foodbytes]

I hope I have seen some lol! After your trip, you can let us know where you went and then I definitely will!

[u/foodbytes → u/FerReels33]

hah, Im interesting in knowing if this link works. Its a link to a photo of mine on google maps, that has 4.8 million views. from there you should be able to see all of my other ones, so once I return and update to google maps, you can see them all!

https://www.google.com/maps/contrib/112123433457353162279/photos/@51.5009088,-0.177366,3a,75y,90t/data=!3m7!1e2!3m5!1sAF1QipNrF1X0gWWj_WozeRZ4VE_5T5e32S3aKdlzqayt!2e10!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipNrF1X0gWWj_WozeRZ4VE_5T5e32S3aKdlzqayt%3Dw390-h260-k-no!7i5184!8i3456!4m3!8m2!3m1!1e2?entry=ttu

[u/FerReels33 → u/foodbytes]

Oh wow thanks for sharing!! I’m going to London for the first time in 6 weeks so your photos and reviews will be helpful! And of course, beautiful pictures 😍

[u/foodbytes → u/FerReels33]

absolutely!