“I wish my mother would travel like you”

Female solo travellers of about 50 years old are not exceptional but it is still much rarer. I didn’t feel at all legitimate to talk about my journey: I didn’t find it extraordinary at all and I really didn’t think anyone could be interested to read about. 

However, I ended up realizing that this great journey was arousing the curiosity of a part of them: those who have, in a place they call “home” a normal, single mother (or dad) who is dreaming of something else. Surprising but true, it was the travelling children of those father or mother who showed the most interest in my journey!

It was in Sri Lanka that a young German, Max, finally convinced me with this sentence: “you have to write for all those who don’t dare”. (Here’s Max, it’s done).

 

 

“All those who don’t dare.” It is mainly aimed at middle-aged men and women, mothers and fathers of adult or childless children, who are often unmarried.

These quinquas, men or women, find themselves at a turning point in their lives. A lot is accomplished. We look back thinking we’ve done the hardest part.

At the age of 50, while muscle mass is dwindling and physical performance is relegated to second place, energy, creativity and desire are still there. So we wonder if it might not be time to change our lives, to try other adventures off the beaten track. But the fear of the future, the lack of support around us, the anxiety-provoking communication about insecurity are holding back most of us from undertaking these great changes. Getting rid of these fears is a first step to initiate a major change, and what a great way to start it!

 

 

Not all 50s are tired, depressed and stunted. At fifty, sixty or sixty-two, everything is still to be played. You just have to want it.

As for the means, they exist. Everyone will do according to what they have. Leave for six months, leave for three years, why not? Yet for most people, this adventure seems impossible, dangerous. It’s not at all so, discovering the world by means other than organized travel is within everyone’s reach.

Long-distance travel can worry older people because it requires an almost daily adaptation to unknown situations. Away from your points of reference, your solutions to every problem, you have to be creative, independent, patient and very tolerant. Eventually you will have to get used to being flexible again and be able to let go, but there is a good chance that it will succeed!

 

 

The great journey tempts more often those who have a score to settle with life.

By coming out of the mould in which they feel trapped, they have the opportunity to regain a failing self-esteem. If by some misfortune they’ve been lulled into thinking, “This isn’t for you, you can’t do it,” perhaps the journey will help them break free from the curses. In my opinion, travel is the best therapy.

 

 

Fear often wins out. We stay in the daily routine because the risk seems too high.

Humans prefer to stay in a difficult situation rather than to leave it, according to the saying: “better the known bad than the good to be discovered”.

There is no more risk here than anywhere else, so long as you don’t do anything stupid.

Those who love you will be waiting for you.

Those who judge you will continue to judge you but it will no longer matter because you will be there, on a beach, a plain, a mountain or a desert. And you will find your way back when the time comes.

Make decisions, shake up the routine! You will find solutions for every situation. Have confidence in your abilities and relearn trust in others. There is an unsuspected strength in you. Your experience, wisdom and instinct will guide you.

Dream your life and live your dreams!

If you are reading these lines it means that you are ready!