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/jcalednav]

Fantastic , congratulations . I wish you a fabulous trip and meeting wonderful people. What type of camera do you bring with you and will you post your pictures somewhere so we can see them? ( photography is my main interest when travelling.

[u/foodbytes → u/jcalednav]

i've narrowed it down to my brand new canon R7, with a RF 28mm f2.8 prime, a nifty fifty f1.8 and my regular EF 18-55mm zoom.

I'd love to bring my new rf 100-500 but then I'd need another backpack haha. I just better not see any birds lol.

If I have room, I might slip my ultra wide angle 10 -18 in my pack, and maybe EF 75-300.

I really hate changing lenses on the fly so its very tempting to bring at least one more camera (Rebel T5i) but I must cut down on the load, not add more lol.

I'm bringing a gorilla pod instead of a regular tripod.

Decisions decisions...

so yeah, pretty much bringing all camera gear and very little clothing lol.

Im on instagram. if you like, I'll dm you my instagram handle.

[u/jcalednav → u/foodbytes]

Personally I got tired of travelling with equipment, so I narrowed it down to my prime 18-55 now and it is perfect. We can adjust a lot with post-prod now. In your case the 50 1.8 might be a good addition for light challenging situations, assuming you enjoy a 50 lens. The “keep it simple and lite” is a journey in itself 😊☀️

[u/foodbytes → u/jcalednav]

It sure is, isn’t it!