Natalie- A Solo Travel Expert and Advocate
Hello! I’m Natalie and I really love solo travel. If I could figure out how to travel all the time I would do it in a heartbeat. Alas, I must still work my regular job as a scientist to support my travel habit. I grew up in Utah and moved to San Diego, California in 2021. I loved it there but work took me to the San Francisco Bay Area in early 2023. I love it less here, but living near SFO makes it easy to jet off to a lot of places.
My travel style is not budget and it is not luxury, but somewhere in between. I’ll spend for a good seat on the plane, but I love a free walking tour. I don’t need a high-end hotel, but I am past the age and income level where I want to stay in a hostel.
The travel bug really hit me when I took a job where I was on the road for work a few weeks out of the month. I really enjoyed exploring new cities, imagining what it would be like to live there, experiencing the local food and drink scene, and finding fun things to do in the evenings. I’m a whore for a good boat tour. I also love a road trip- there are so many fun things you see along the way that you may not get to see if you arrive by air. I also really enjoy camping, but do less of that since leaving Utah.
Growing up and well into adulthood, travel had always been in the United States. I took myself to Paris and Barcelona in 2018 and my only regret was that I did not travel abroad sooner. That’s right, for my first trip abroad I went alone! My parents were nervous and I had to laugh. Not only was I in my 30s and very independent, I have definitely been in more dangerous areas in the United States. Also, there are not more firearms than people in Europe, so there’s that.
No one will think you are strange for traveling alone or dining alone. Well, your less independent friends and family might, but strangers don’t. I travel solo much of the time, so do a lot of other women. In fact, most solo travelers are women- both married and single. Solo travel opens you up to meeting others in a way traveling with a friend or a group often does note. You are more willing to talk to a stranger on a group tour, for example- a stranger who may give you a tip on a city you must see or a restaurant you must visit. Maybe you’ll even make a friend. You get to do whatever you want whenever you want. You set your agenda.
You have one life and it’s not going to live itself for you. You aren’t going to get to the end of the road and wish you had spent more time binge-watching another television series or arguing with some faceless person online. Get out and experience things, even if you have to do it yourself and even if it scares you a little. Travel makes us better people, it breaks down barriers between cultures. It enriches us and helps us grow. Travel is the only thing you spend money on that makes you richer. Life is all about choices. How are you going to choose to live yours?
