Solo Travel: Embracing Adventure Despite Anxiety

I have to admit that I have been having a little worry, call it anxiety, unsettled thoughts, about my upcoming trip to France.

You see, I have never really traveled by myself before. I have traveled TO places by myself, but have always met up with friends or had friends there already. But have not gone somewhere for a whole trip entirely by myself. So apropos to that, today when I woke up, I found this in my email inbox, How to Overcome the Fear of Travelling Alone, and some of it spoke to me.

I know that, for women, life is different. We know to be wary. We have to be always vigilant.

When you would like to think of yourself as an explorer, a traveler, it can be hard to admit that you can be a little afraid, a bit anxious, about your adventure.

My fears: Will I be lonely? Will I be lost? Can I make my connections? Will I be vulnerable? A target?  As a somewhat older woman by herself, perceived as helpless? Have a medical emergency?Well, on and on... I have lots of worries, and usually they are frets and worries about my children and my loved ones. But for now, the trip worries are only worries about myself. Saying it that way, puts it into perspective. If I can pause to remember that, the thought that nothing I do on the trip will hurt my kids/anyone but me, can make me calm and happy.

So, why travel alone at all? In the last year or so, I have encountered many testimonials about the benefit and the power of traveling solo.
     Here's my take on it:
   
        When you travel alone you have to connect with the people in the country you are in.
  And,
        you may be forced to interact with people in their language, rather than spend your time conversing with your travel companions in yours.
       Traveling alone can increase your confidence.
       Being alone can help your introspection. Sit, think, make entries in your travel journal.
       It is an opportunity to become immersed in the country and culture in which you are a guest.

It is so encouraging to hear and to read about other women who have set out upon journeys of their own. I was very inspired by Female Nomad, I read her book several years ago, the tale of a very brave woman who ditched everything, at a mature point in her life, okay, like my age...I mean after 50, to travel by herself to some really interesting locales, places that would be challenging for many Westerners, especially women traveling alone. Her travel memoir is an inspiring story of a woman who could always relate and find connection with others in exotic places.

Of course, Eat, Pray, Love, the book by a woman on a quest to quiet her demons and find herself , inspired many of us to set out and sail the seas of self discovery.

I understand how grief and sadness can propel us into a new expedition, a new way to be.

I am going. The adventure is waiting.