A reflection on grief, transformation, and how travel can gently help us find our way forward again
Last week marked the final episode of one of my absolute favourite UK (BBC) programmes: Race Across the World.
If you haven’t come across it, the premise is brilliantly simple.
Contestants race across huge stretches of the world without flying, navigating unfamiliar countries, cultures, language barriers, exhaustion, unexpected setbacks, and each other. All with the budget of return flight ticket.
This latest series took them over 51 days from Palermo in Italy to Mongolia, split across eight legs. One included fabulous Cappadocia in Turkey, hence the throwback photo to an unforgettable morning watching the hot air balloons from our hotel rooftop.
And while it’s technically a race, that never feels like the real story.
So I won’t spoil the ending. Because if you haven’t seen it yet and are anything like me, you may become slightly obsessed. But what has stayed with me most isn’t who won. It’s what travel revealed in the people taking part.
One pair I absolutely loved watching were Kush and Joe — two 19-year-old friends from Liverpool. There was something deeply uplifting about seeing the world through their eyes. The way they handled challenge. The way they leaned on each other when things got hard. The humour they found even when they were exhausted. And perhaps most movingly, the openness with which they received the kindness of strangers. It was a reminder of something I’ve believed for a very long time.
Travel changes us.
Not just because we see different landscapes. But because we see ourselves differently too. To have that kind of experience at nineteen feels extraordinary. I found myself thinking about how that journey will quietly shape the rest of their lives in ways they probably won’t even fully understand yet.
But the pair who stayed with me most deeply were Mark and Margot. The oldest duo in the race. Two people in their sixties, brought together not by friendship or marriage, but by shared grief.
Mark had lost his wife.
Margot had lost her sister.
The same woman. Julia.
And here they were, embarking on this enormous, unpredictable adventure together. They were very different people. Different personalities. Different expectations. Different ways of processing things. And yet watching them was one of the most moving parts of the series for me. Because what unfolded wasn’t simply a travel experience.
It was transformation.
You could see something shifting between them. They bonded deeply. They softened around each other. They laughed. They found common ground. But what struck me most was what they both reflected on near the end.
That something in their grief had moved. Not disappeared. Not been fixed. But shifted.
That when they thought about Julia, it no longer felt only sharp and unbearably sad.
There was room now for warmth. For joy. For remembering love rather than only loss. And perhaps, quietly, permission to begin living differently again. That stayed with me. Because I know how impossible that can feel in the immediate aftermath of grief. When life has split so clearly into before and after. When the idea of joy feels not only distant, but somehow disloyal.
And yet, I also know from personal experience that travel can become something unexpectedly powerful during grief. Not because it takes grief away. Not because it heals you neatly. But because it changes the space around the grief.
Looking back, I can see how travel became part of my own healing after losing my husband. Not as escape. But as expansion.
A few things it gave me:
Perspective
Grief can make life feel incredibly small. Not emotionally small, but physically and mentally enclosed. Your world narrows around appointments, memories, practicalities, survival. Travel reminded me there was still a world beyond my pain. Not to minimise it. Just to gently widen the frame.
Space away from identity
At home, people know your story. They know what happened. They know the version of you shaped by loss. And while that comes with love, it can also feel heavy. Travel gave me moments where I could simply be myself. Not “the widow.” Not someone people looked at with concern.
Just Sue. And that mattered more than I realised.
Rebuilding confidence
Grief can quietly strip confidence from you. Even in places you don’t expect. Travel asked me to make decisions again. To trust my instincts. To solve problems. To navigate uncertainty. And slowly, without fanfare, that rebuilt something in me.
Unexpected human connection
Some of the most healing conversations happen with people you will never see again. There is something oddly freeing about that. Travel created moments of honesty, connection, kindness, and perspective I could never have planned for.
A glimpse of possibility
Perhaps the biggest gift. Not immediately. Not dramatically. But over time, travel allowed me to imagine that life might hold something beyond survival. Something beyond simply enduring. That possibility matters.
Which is why Race Across the World resonates so deeply with me. Because beneath the competition, it shows what travel really does. It changes people.
Sometimes young people stepping into adulthood.
Sometimes people in later life navigating enormous grief.
Sometimes people like me, quietly trying to rebuild after loss.
The scenery may be spectacular. But the real journey is nearly always internal.
So, has travel ever changed something in you that you didn’t expect? Leave a Comment below to let me know
This Week on YouTube
The solo travel fears series continues this week with another fear many women quietly carry:
What will people think? Will I look strange eating alone? Will others assume something about me? It’s one of those fears we don’t always say out loud — but it’s incredibly common.
And in this week’s longer video, I’ve shared something much more personal.
The story behind Sue Where Why What.
How travel became part of rebuilding my life after losing my husband. From that first terrifying solo week in Kauai to getting lost walking the Quilotoa Loop in Ecuador, this is a deeply personal reflection on how travel became space for grief, healing, courage, and eventually rebuilding a completely different life. Watch it for yourself HERE.
If either feels right, they’re waiting for you over on YouTube.
THROWBACK TRAVEL CORNER
This week feels like the right moment to revisit something from the archives.
A blog post I wrote previously about using travel to heal after grief.
Because sometimes the words we needed years ago become exactly the words someone else needs today.
Travel Self-Discovery – My Journey From Lost to Found
Thank you for being here — whether you read every word or just dip in now and then.
Until next time,
Safe travels,
Sue x
This may contain affiliate links. If you choose to use them, I may receive a small commission — thank you. You’ll never pay more, and my opinions are always my own.
P.S. Helpful travel resources I genuinely use can always be found below:
🏠 For accommodation, I use Expedia and Booking.com primarily. They have their own loyalty schemes which is easy to progress through the levels for better discounts and inclusions.
🚍 For tours and activities, my preferred supplier is Get Your Guide.
🗺️ For multi day or week tours, check out G Adventures. I used them for trips in Costa Rica, Peru, and Galapagos.
🧳 For luggage storage on your travels, I recommend the service by Bounce.
