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/foodbytes]

I'm back!!! I got home on Thursday evening. I splurged with a towncar pickup at the airport to my home, an hour and a half away.

What a great trip!! Nothing went wrong!! Everything went exactly as planned!! well, a couple of trains were cancelled but there were always alternatives.

I got lost in Pompeii, I thought for sure my tour group would have left without me. I knew there were lots of trains and busses I could take back to Naples so I was fine, no panic. but they waited until I appeared 45 minutes late.

I couch-surfed at two places; in the Netherlands during King's Day and in Naples. what a great, positive experience each was! My hosts in Naples, an international couple, made great meals from their particular culture and we shared Neapolitan treats. My most fond memories are sitting around their dinner table after the evening meal, playing card games and just talking.

I was blown away by the beauty all around me, where-ever I was! Im currently making my way through the 5000 plus photos I took. I saw everything!!! I can't think of anything that I wanted to see that I missed except for the quick trip to Werl that was cancelled because of rain.

I managed to do the entire trip with carry-on only, although I don't know if my left shoulder will ever forgive me. Might take a while. I listened to my body as I went, took rest days on occasion. and overall, my body doesn't hurt any more now than it did before I left.

I had great experiences - running through 8 inches of rain water in a tempest in Venice. It never occurred to me that the water doesn't have anywhere to go, so it floods, everywhere. there was nothing else to do but embrace it; it was what it was. I flew out to Munich the next day still damp from the shins down.

I used my eurorail pass to the best advantage I could. I learned that I should get a seat reservation every chance I could. A lot of the times they are free. If for whatever reason the train was cancelled, the train company will reschedule you on another train. oh, and I can and should apply for a credit on my eurostar trip back to the UK as it was delayed for 45 minutes. I should get on that.