The Solo Sojourner
Why do we travel? One opinion: “We travel to lose ourselves; we travel to find ourselves.” On a basic level, travel is interesting. It’s fun. It’s stressful. It’s educational. It’s still stressful. All the things that life can be play out in the experience of travel. And probably more than anything, it helps us grow because it takes us out of our comfort zone.
Mike and I did a fair amount of traveling in our 52 years together. Ireland was a favorite, having gone there five different times. The first trip was nearly our last as a car accident landed me in the hospital for 10 days with a broken pelvis. Still we accumulated many pleasant memories in the Emerald Isle.
There was a trip to China through the Confucius Institute at the University of Nebraska. We went to Sweden to pick up a new car courtesy of Volvo. The trip was free; the car was not. Our last excursion was Alaska. Beautiful country and good memories, so much so that one of the photos of Mike was used on his funeral memorial card.
Now it’s just me, mostly. My first sojourn was with family. I took my daughters to a “Women’s Rejuvenation Retreat” in Santa Cruz, California. It was through Road Scholar, a nonprofit that combines travel and learning with excursions all over the world.
In December I traveled to New York City with another educational program that caters to retirees. OLLI, the Osher Long Life Learning Institute, is based on college campuses — in my case, the University of Nebraska at Lincoln.— and provides educational classroom and travel experiences for those of us 55 and older.
Now I’m about to take an even bigger step. Without giving it too much thought, I committed to a 12 day trip to Africa. No beating around the bush for me; out into the bush I go. The program is EF Go Ahead Tours. I chose it mostly because the tour manager is local, from a neighboring town, and I will know several of my fellow travelers.
As you can see, I’m easing into this solo travel wanting some familiar faces with me. Which brings me back to why we travel. It’s something I’m still trying to figure out. I may be pushing myself a bit. Eleanor Roosevelt’s advice sticks in my mind: “You must do the things you’re afraid to do.” I’m not necessarily afraid but it is so very different to plan and execute travel on my own. But if I don’t, I may decide not to try at all. So I venture out.
It’s great there are so many travel programs that cater to singles, particularly women. Road Scholar and OLLI are just two of many. I’m also looking at Women of the Midwest. Their website and agents encourage and strongly support women traveling alone. Apprehension can be replaced with confidence. New friendships can be forged. So I travel.
I don’t know exactly if I’ll lose myself in these travels, but I suspect I’ll find out alot about myself and how I handle the experiences put before me. Just this week I renewed my TSA-pre check and yesterday I got vaccinated for Yellow Fever. Getting ready to go!