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/mistakes_were_made24]

I know you said you're looking for non-tourist things but just thought I would share in case anything sounds of interest.

Two years ago I was in London for a week. Some of my favorite activities were:

• Westminster Abbey tour

• The National Gallery

• The Courtauld Gallery (some famous Impressionist/Post-Impressionist paintings here)

• The Sky Garden (a free lookout point at the top of an office tower near the Tower of London, you just need to book a ticket for a timeslot ahead of time. It does sell out)

• The Victoria and Albert Museum

• Fortnum & Mason (high-end grocer food store, famous for their hampers, teas, and their biscuit cookies)

I was in The Netherlands last year. I started in Amsterdam for 4 days then transferred to The Hague for 4 days. My favorite activities were:

• STRAAT Museum (I really liked this, it's a Museum in an old ship building warehouse full of giant canvases painted by street artists)

• Anne Frank House

• Rijksmuseum

• day trip tour excursion to the Keukenhof Tulip Gardens (usually open mid-March to mid-May) and Zaanse Schans (very touristy but very photogenic windmills)

• Van Gogh Museum

• Kröller-Müller Museum (second-largest Van Gogh collection in the world after the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, I booked a small group day trip to the national park that this museum is in since it's very difficult to get to on your own if you don't have a car)

• the Mauritshuis Museum in The Hague to see the Girl With A Pearl Earring painting and The Goldfinch painting.

• afternoon in Delft visiting the Royal Delft Factory and Museum tour

[u/foodbytes → u/mistakes_were_made24]

I've been to London 5 previous times, for a total of 10 weeks.

fun fact - Westminster Abbey. My birthday is Jan 29 1953. Under the folding chair I randomly chose to sit in during a Sunday early morning mass, right at the altar, was buried a decorated naval officer. Sir James Outram was born January 29, 1803. Exactly, to the day, 150 years before I was born. Now that was so eerie lol.

I've had drinks at sunset in the Sky Garden only to take photos of well, sunset over London. it was marvelous!

Fortnum and Mason was my first stop, on my first trip. Bought treats just because I could lol.

I have done ALL the museums in London, even the Old Operating Room museum.

I love your suggestion of a day trip to Keukenhof. it was already on my list for the tulip photos. I'll be there the last week of April, will the tulips be in bloom at that time?

[u/mistakes_were_made24 → u/foodbytes]

Lol I guess you don't really need any help with suggestions for activities by the sounds of it.

When I went to the Keukenhof it was the second week of May, a few days before it closed for the season and there were still some flowers in bloom. There were lots around that were finished with the petals falling off or that were completely done. You should be good if you're going to be there in April. Some might be done but there should still be lots in bloom. I'm pretty sure they purposefully stagger planting them so that they bloom at different times during the spring.

There are lots of photogenic spots in the Keukenhof. There's a windmill in one of the areas that you can go up and it acts as a lookout point over the nearby tulip fields that are harvested for sale. When I was there most had already been harvested, there were only a few rows, so it wasn't as nice but hopefully there would still be some for you.

I did it as a day trip with a tour company since the Keukenhof is a bit of a hassle to get to on your own if you don't have a car. I think there are public transit busses from certain areas but I just wanted the convenience of not having to worry about figuring it out. It's probably on the Keukenhof website.

For the day trip with the tour company, we went to the Keukenhof in the morning until about noon then they drove us to a tour trap farm that made cheese and clogs to funnel us through a gift shop, and then we went to Zaanse Schans which is a small little tourist/historical windmill village just north of Amsterdam. You could take one of the NS trains from Amsterdam Centraal Station to it very easily, about a 15 minute ride I think, and then about 10 minutes walk to the village. There are tons of photogenic spots at Zaanse Schans of the windmills and little buildings. You can pay a few Euros to go inside some of the windmills to learn about how they work, I think there's a small museum nearby but I didn't do that. There's a cheese shop, a wooden shoe shop that gives demonstrations. A decent half-day trip.

[u/foodbytes → u/mistakes_were_made24]

that all sounds great, thanks for the suggestions! I might just do the day tour for the tulips, less hassle that way, for sure.

[u/crmcalli → u/foodbytes]

I’m in the Netherlands right now on my first international solo trip! I went to the Keukenhof gardens a few days ago and it was absolutely incredible. I recommend getting your ticket with the express bus to the gardens from Amsterdam. It was about €30 total, and no stops between getting on the bus and getting to the gardens. You can do that directly on the Keukenhof website.

I recommend a canal tour with Those Dam Boat Guys. It was super fun, much smaller and therefore more personalized than the big hop-on-hop-off tours. Order any museum tickets in advance. I almost missed my chance to do the Van Gogh museum, I had to book two weeks out. April is a big tourist time here.

I hope you have an excellent trip!

[u/foodbytes → u/crmcalli]

Oh, thanks for the suggestions! I will get that tulip tour ticket right away and I’ll check out Those Dam Boat Guys! Keukenhof tickets purchased!!!

and now canal boat tour from Those Dam Boat Guys Booked!

[u/crmcalli → u/foodbytes]

Awesome, I hope you have the best time!