Travel is my passion & has been an integral part of my life for the last 30 years. My life has shaped the way I travel & travel has shaped the way I live. Here I reflect on different kinds of travel & how it changed in my 20s, 30s, 40s & 50s. I hope you enjoy my little trip down memory lane.”
Where?
Worldwide…except Antarctica so far…
Why?
Travel has been a passion of mine since I first stepped off a plane in Mombasa in 1992. Since then, I have clocked up thousands of miles & endless twists & turns as my travels have been influenced by where I am in life. Here, I look back over 30 years of independent travel & more than 70 countries, reflecting on how travel & life have been inextricably linked through the decades. It’s been quite a journey…or as the song says:
Life is a rollercoaster, just gotta ride it.” – Ronan Keating
Different Kinds of Travel – How Life & Travel Have Changed in my 20s, 30s, 40s & 50s
Twenties
Setting foot on African soil was truly the first time I had ventured into another country all alone. My childhood travels were (of course) dictated by my family, then came the party years in Majorca & Greece. As a student I had an amazing summer in the USA working at a kids camp, buying an old car & driving the East Coast with friends. It was great fun but definitely decision making by committee.
Starting the Journey
My choice to go to Africa came from circumstances. I didn’t want to go on my own but was desperate to explore the world & none of my friends were available to join me. I had ambition, blind naivety & some balls to choose Africa in the ’90s. However, I was joining a group for a tour, camping our way through 9 countries in 3 months from Nairobi to Harare. On my return, I decided I needed a proper job to save money for a life full of similar adventures.
Solo Travel
By 26 I had enough money to quit, buy an Interrail Pass & head around Europe. I followed this with a year exploring Australia, New Zealand & Indonesia. This was truly my introduction to solo travel & I loved it! Making decisions for myself by myself was a revelation. Back then I was carefree. I got into situations but also got myself out of them. With this came fearlessness. I felt powerful & had a certain sense of indestructibility. The experience set me up for life & a career in sales.
By the time I came home I was oozing self-confidence (some may say cocky!) that can only come from navigating your way around the world with nobody to rely on but yourself.”
Budget Travel
Looking at types of travel then, the budget was the top consideration. The less I spent, the longer I could travel. This led to all sorts of choices of both the genius & totally wrong variety. But I was responsible for all of them & the only one to celebrate or chastise was myself.
Dorm rooms were the order of the day. The cheapest bed I ever had for the night was in Bukittinggi in Indonesia. I paid a whopping £1.20 a night for a 4-bed dorm which I was lucky to have to myself. It was a triumph! Then I went to a café & ordered a large beer which cost me £1.50. That messes with your head & quickly allows you to get a handle on your perspective…& your drinking habits!
To save money I also travelled overnight, choosing to replace a bed with a train, boat, bus or floor of an airport. I developed the ability to sleep anywhere, especially as many hostels closed their doors all day. I remember once waking up slumped over my bag sitting on a pavement on the Champs Elysée in Paris, surrounded by tourists.
Then there was the time I arrived alone at 3am on a night bus to Yogyakarta in Indonesia. All the other travellers were couples & disappeared as soon as we stopped, leaving me alone. The only person around was a guy who didn’t speak English but was holding a sign for a hostel. I nodded at him & proceeded to follow him down the narrow streets in the dark.
It was a lesson for solo travel. Sometimes your only choice is to put your trust in a complete stranger. On this occasion, it was the right instinct.”
For all my tips on how to make your travel budget go further, check out my blog post.
Meeting People
I had always been surrounded by people & was worried that loneliness would be an issue. I couldn’t have been more wrong. It turned out I chatted so much that I was on the road for a week before I opened my book. In addition, hostels were the perfect place to meet like-minded individuals. I would assess the candidates, decide who would be most suitable to approach, take a deep breath & start a conversation. In my 20s it was easy as everyone was around my age, often with a similar itinerary.
Thirties
I returned to the UK, oozing self-confidence & got a job intending to leave after 3 months to take myself around India. I was there for 18 years! It was then that I met my future husband (Terry). I loved my role in sales, earned good money & was still able to travel the world…just differently. My type of travel changed from traveller to tourist.
Maximising My Time
The biggest transformation was in the time I had, just 25 days holiday per year. However, Terry & I became masters at making the most of every single day. We took city breaks & by using 1 extra day & leaving on Friday night. A weekend felt like so much more!
We would arrive home from an Australian adventure at 6am, shower & then head to work for the day. As a manager, I even did appraisals, that really kept me awake & focussed!”
The timing meant we couldn’t afford to get a decision on where to go wrong. Research & planning were key. I replaced my hostel dorms with hotel rooms, but the location was everything. The nightlife was important & we always wanted to be close to the centre of it. Terry also had a short attention span. Every 2 – 3 days we would be packing up & moving on. This enabled a week to feel like two & two weeks were more like a month.
Compromise
Terry only really liked nature if it was a beach to relax on & other than that he loved cities. There always had to be something going on. I was totally happy with this as we always had fun.
Our budgets had also increased. I, however, remained steadfastly attached to saving money, while he was used to luxury. It took us a while, but we eventually shifted to meet in the middle. I got used to a little more luxury, & he lowered his standards as long as I found some quirky places for us to enjoy. After all, we could afford it!
This compromise was never more evident than in India. I had been told by friends that you couldn’t travel to India & stay in any less than 5-star accommodation. I chose to prove them wrong. We were 3 stars all the way, which I know Terry found challenging at times.
For “fun”, I had arranged for us to take the night train from Goa to Mumbai. It was hard for Terry who hadn’t done anything like that before. Luckily, our old hotel in Mumbai had a room available for us on arrival. After a welcome sleep, on a walk, we discovered the Intercontinental Hotel. Terry immediately decided we had earned our right to stay there. By that evening he had fabricated a birthday & an illness for me. My “birthday” enabled him to negotiate a room at the Intercontinental. My “illness” allowed us to leave our current hotel without charges. It was perfect except I was having to thank the staff constantly as they wished me a happy birthday (while cursing Terry under my breath).
Terry’s motto was “Never let the truth get in the way of a good story”.
Forties
In my 40s life took me into a complete spin. It began in a similar way to my 30s. Fantastic holidays & making the most of limited time. Then my world stopped when I tragically lost Terry. As life punched me in the guts, travel came in on a white horse to save me. The kinds of travel I embarked on changed again.
Travel with Friends & Family
My friends & family rallied around & I got lots of offers to join them for trips. I accepted them all. That next year I found myself skiing in Canada, sighting orangutans in Borneo, island hopping in Greece, & on a road trip around Oregon. It also marked the year I was offered redundancy from my job of 18 years. Without hesitation, I bit their hand off!
I had no idea what my future looked like, but I did know that going back to what was familiar wasn’t an option for me. I was able to choose, I will never stop being grateful for that.”
Solo Travel…Again
It was in Hawaii that I dipped my toe back into solo travel. A week alone exploring Kauai was sandwiched between Oahu with family & the Big Island with a friend. Kauai was a place of numerous revelations as I started to rediscover life by myself. I realised that if I carried on relying on friends & family, I would always be living on someone else’s agenda. Additionally, I felt a desire not to be anybody’s responsibility. I needed to reclaim control of my life. The only way I knew to understand who I was now was to go back to what I did before Terry…& that was travel.
Adventure Travel
To give me a direction, I wrote a Life List & it became my roadmap for life. I actively sought out experiences I would never have done with Terry. For me, that was the only way to guarantee that life wasn’t overshadowed by grief & loneliness. Mountains replaced cities, hiking replaced nightlife, strangers became friends. Where I stayed was now dictated by what I was doing. If the experience called for roughing it (& many did), I loved it. If I wanted a bit of luxury, I enjoyed it because I could afford to.
My travels also slowed down to take advantage of the benefit of time. I aimed to stay somewhere long enough to get under its skin & really discover a place. I took time to just enjoy a place, to reinvigorate myself before heading off to the next adventure.
If I learned anything from the time I spent with Terry, it was to make the most of every minute. As a result, whenever an opportunity has come my way, I embrace it. If it excites me or if it scares me or is something I have not experienced before. The answer is always a resounding “Yes!”
Travel in my 40s was about the experiences I had & the people I met. It was about the journey & not the destination. It allowed me to become myself again. To breathe & to heal.”
Fifties
So, as I turned 50 what does travel look like now? I celebrated my new decade by climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, without a doubt the most physically & mentally challenging thing I have ever done. It was an amazing experience, an exhilarating achievement & began my 50s as I intended it to carry on…with a bit of a bang!
But the bang turned into a fizzle as we hit a global pandemic. I have now been home for longer than ever before after I set foot on African soil back at the ripe age of 22. As soon as I can, as soon as it’s safe, as soon as I’m allowed out of the UK & welcome elsewhere, I plan to resume the life I chose for myself.
My plans are to continue to embrace the joys of solo travel on my terms. I want to take my time & maybe even find a new place to call home. But most importantly, to continue to say an emphatic “Yes” to all opportunities…after all, they won’t be there forever!
Solo travel in my 20s shaped the way I have lived my life. It gave me the confidence to take on & excel in a job I loved for as long as it allowed me to flourish. But life changes. It twists & turns & surprises you, just when you think you have it figured out. I am privileged to have embraced the opportunities to travel & in return it has empowered & nurtured me. Over 30 years, life has shaped my types of travel & travel has shaped the way I live. You never know, the next decade may be the best yet…
It is good to have an end to journey towards; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.” – Ernest Hemingway
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What a fascinating look back at your travels. It reminds me of my travel decisions .. especially my ’96 solo trip where I put my trust in people, and ended up in some uneasy situations. I don’t suppose you saw the BBC’s The Serpent … if I’d known about that guy I would have been a bit more careful about who I wandered down dark alley’s with alone.
Thank you, Jay, & I agree. I watch The Serpent & it was all a little too close to home for me. Terrifying & definitely made me think twice about a few of those dark alleys I’ve explored around the world. Sue x
What a wonderful journey through your travels over the last 30 years. It has made me reflect on my travels over the years which seem quite tame compared to yours, but I am planning on changing that… when we can travel again.
Great journey through the decades! I am impressed at your climbing the Kilimanjaro in your fifties! Now with the pandemic, the challenge truly is when our travel plans are going to be fulfilled. Life teaches us to live through our decades learning something new as long as our minds are open to learn more and do more. Lovely blog post! 🙂
It was interesting to follow your travel path and see how travel changed for you over the years. It made me stop to think about how travel changed for me – from carefree single short trips, to family vacations and finally to longer roaming as we semi-retired. I like the idea of a Life List but we would be changing it frequently. We are currently looking at what shifts may be needed in our travel priorities once we can head out again.
Thank you, Linda, & I’m glad reading this gave you a chance to reflect. I hope I’ve inspired you to write a Life List. It certainly has helped me to prioritise & I do change it every couple of years too. Sue x
Great article, this made me recall my first trips and similarities in budgeting and sleep literally anywhere my body rested. I feel like the reason I travel has changed but the need for my travel is greater than it was before. I hope I can continue with my travel going forward.
This is so much fun to read – and a bit touching, too. Obviously, your post made me reminisce about how I used to travel over the decades and why. I simply had different motives to go places. In the past, it was more personal, hence, I visited friends. Then, it was a lot of partying. When my daughter was a toddler, I rather moved to countries for a while. This way, I kinda dug deeper into everyday life but didn’t get to see that much – roaming too much with a small child was quite difficult. The last years, I’ve been moving around like a maniac. For personal reasons, I’m suffering from a heavy case of FOMO. Also, I’m looking forward to retirement since then I want to keep moving around but at a slower pace. Finally, I’d like to say that I’m amazed by the fact that you are in your 50s – which night cream are you using?
Thank you, Renata, & I’m really pleased that the post struck a chord & helped you to reflect on your own experience. Thanks for sharing & for your lovely compliment! Sue x
I can relate to much of your story…I’ll never forget arriving in Nairobi…just scared little 23 year old me & my brand new backpack. I’m in my 50’s now too & still love to travel solo…
How fantastic! I’ve been thinking about this ever since we began a new year – as this will be my milestone 50th – and couldn’t agree more about how travel has evolved over every decade.
Wow. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this and found myself nodding along at parts that I related to. You definitely had some balls to head to Africa solo in the 90s. I know you were with a group, but it still kind of feels like you’re on your own at times in those situations.
I’m having to adjust to a higher standard of “luxury” when I travel with my husband now than what I’m used to. I’m happy to bunk in a hostel to save money for activities but he needs a certain level of privacy and amenities when he goes on holidays. So we’re currently in your 30s stage I guess, trying to work out compromises!
I’m so sorry for your loss of Terry. That sounds very flippant just pasted on the end. It’s one of those unimaginable scenarios until it happens I suppose.
Thank you, Katherine, & not a flippant comment at all. I appreciate it & good luck with your 30’s accommodation negotiations…it sounds very similar 😉 Sue x
Wow Sue, this was really humbling reading through your experiences, challenges and losses through the decades. Terry sounded like a wonderful partner and I’m so glad you continued to adventure the world on your own terms after his passing.
It’s so interesting to read your travel and life story. You have seen a lot and gone through a lot too. What a great life and travels you have had! Thanks for sharing!
I can totally relate to your traveling in your twenties, the partyislands, I spent a good amont of time and money traveling around places like Ibiza and Mallorca 😀
And fun as that was, I am glad I am not to old for that kind of partytrips!
I aim to inspire women in mid-life to embrace the power of solo travel. I have been a passionate traveller for more than 30 years having visited over 80 countries across 6 continents. Here I share my travel tales, tips & recommendations to help you rediscover yourself while exploring the world. I’d love for you to join me on the journey.
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Why?
Different Kinds of Travel – How Life & Travel Have Changed in my 20s, 30s, 40s & 50s
Starting the Journey
Maximising My Time
Forties
Fifties
Slow Travel
I enjoyed your trip down memory lane through the decades.
I think I have a lot of catching up to do. Hoping to climb mountains and walk a camino some day in Spain. I’m in my mid-fifties.
Thank you, Toni! I’m really pleased you enjoyed it & love the sound of your plans. Good luck…Sue x
What a fascinating look back at your travels. It reminds me of my travel decisions .. especially my ’96 solo trip where I put my trust in people, and ended up in some uneasy situations. I don’t suppose you saw the BBC’s The Serpent … if I’d known about that guy I would have been a bit more careful about who I wandered down dark alley’s with alone.
Thank you, Jay, & I agree. I watch The Serpent & it was all a little too close to home for me. Terrifying & definitely made me think twice about a few of those dark alleys I’ve explored around the world. Sue x
What a wonderful journey through your travels over the last 30 years. It has made me reflect on my travels over the years which seem quite tame compared to yours, but I am planning on changing that… when we can travel again.
Thank you, Larch! I’m glad you enjoyed it & I can’t wait to resume travelling again…who knows when?!
Great journey through the decades! I am impressed at your climbing the Kilimanjaro in your fifties! Now with the pandemic, the challenge truly is when our travel plans are going to be fulfilled. Life teaches us to live through our decades learning something new as long as our minds are open to learn more and do more. Lovely blog post! 🙂
Thank you Jan & fingers crossed that we can all get back to travel as soon as possible…when it’s safe, of course. Glad you enjoyed the post. Sue x
It was interesting to follow your travel path and see how travel changed for you over the years. It made me stop to think about how travel changed for me – from carefree single short trips, to family vacations and finally to longer roaming as we semi-retired. I like the idea of a Life List but we would be changing it frequently. We are currently looking at what shifts may be needed in our travel priorities once we can head out again.
Thank you, Linda, & I’m glad reading this gave you a chance to reflect. I hope I’ve inspired you to write a Life List. It certainly has helped me to prioritise & I do change it every couple of years too. Sue x
Great article, this made me recall my first trips and similarities in budgeting and sleep literally anywhere my body rested. I feel like the reason I travel has changed but the need for my travel is greater than it was before. I hope I can continue with my travel going forward.
Thank you, Nicole, & I can’t wait to resume travel either. Really pleased to hear that this struck a chord with you. Sue x
This is so much fun to read – and a bit touching, too. Obviously, your post made me reminisce about how I used to travel over the decades and why. I simply had different motives to go places. In the past, it was more personal, hence, I visited friends. Then, it was a lot of partying. When my daughter was a toddler, I rather moved to countries for a while. This way, I kinda dug deeper into everyday life but didn’t get to see that much – roaming too much with a small child was quite difficult. The last years, I’ve been moving around like a maniac. For personal reasons, I’m suffering from a heavy case of FOMO. Also, I’m looking forward to retirement since then I want to keep moving around but at a slower pace. Finally, I’d like to say that I’m amazed by the fact that you are in your 50s – which night cream are you using?
Thank you, Renata, & I’m really pleased that the post struck a chord & helped you to reflect on your own experience. Thanks for sharing & for your lovely compliment! Sue x
What an amazing post. So true how our travel styles change over time. Really enjoyed learning more about you too. Beautiful post.
Thank you, Heather! Lovely words as always. Sue x
I can relate to much of your story…I’ll never forget arriving in Nairobi…just scared little 23 year old me & my brand new backpack. I’m in my 50’s now too & still love to travel solo…
Thank you, Linda, & it sounds like you had a similar wide-eyed experience! I can’t wait until we can repack & get out there again. Sue x
How fantastic! I’ve been thinking about this ever since we began a new year – as this will be my milestone 50th – and couldn’t agree more about how travel has evolved over every decade.
Thank you Renee & happy 50th! I hope you are able to celebrate in style, I know I certainly did 😉 Sue x
Sue, I really enjoyed reading this! Can’t wait to be able to get back out there and see what the future brings.
Thank you Jenn & me too! Sue x
Wow. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this and found myself nodding along at parts that I related to. You definitely had some balls to head to Africa solo in the 90s. I know you were with a group, but it still kind of feels like you’re on your own at times in those situations.
I’m having to adjust to a higher standard of “luxury” when I travel with my husband now than what I’m used to. I’m happy to bunk in a hostel to save money for activities but he needs a certain level of privacy and amenities when he goes on holidays. So we’re currently in your 30s stage I guess, trying to work out compromises!
I’m so sorry for your loss of Terry. That sounds very flippant just pasted on the end. It’s one of those unimaginable scenarios until it happens I suppose.
Thank you, Katherine, & not a flippant comment at all. I appreciate it & good luck with your 30’s accommodation negotiations…it sounds very similar 😉 Sue x
This is so true, our style of travel changes with age and experience. It was indeed a great read.
Thank you! Sue x
Wow Sue, this was really humbling reading through your experiences, challenges and losses through the decades. Terry sounded like a wonderful partner and I’m so glad you continued to adventure the world on your own terms after his passing.
Thank you, Tess, for your lovely words. Terry was an amazing man & I know he would be proud of what I’m doing now too. Sue x
It’s so interesting to read your travel and life story. You have seen a lot and gone through a lot too. What a great life and travels you have had! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you, Anita, for your lovely words…it’s certainly been a journey 😉 Sue x
I can totally relate to your traveling in your twenties, the partyislands, I spent a good amont of time and money traveling around places like Ibiza and Mallorca 😀
And fun as that was, I am glad I am not to old for that kind of partytrips!
Thank you, Ann, & you can’t beat a party trip! I did one to Ireland with my girlfriends to celebrate my 50th. I had a whale of a time ;). Sue x