Let's Go Solo
Reflections on Forty-Five Years of Travel
by Karen Story
My story of being a twenty-year-old woman backpacking solo around Europe in 1980, and an ode to solo travel in general: how that first unforgettable journey shaped my life, the rewards and challenges of going solo, and how travel was different forty-five years ago.
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Forty-five years ago I took my first solo journey, at age twenty. This book is about that journey and how it shaped my life, but it's also about the rewards and challenges of traveling—especially traveling alone—the things I’ve learned in forty-five years of exploration, and the ways that travel has changed in that time.
In 1980 there was no internet, and no personal computers, digital cameras, or smart phones. I carried only cash and traveler’s checks. There was no European Union and no euro. Every country in Europe had a border with customs and passport control, and every country had their own currency.
What was it like being a twenty-year-old traveling alone through Europe in 1980? How did I know where to go and how to get there? What did it cost? What adventures did I have, and what kind of people did I meet? What were the challenges? Ultimately, what did I learn, and how has that influenced my life, and the way I travel now? This book reflects on all of this and more. Some of my experiences are unique to being a woman, but most of them are not.
This book is also an ode to solo travel in general. As a friend of mine said after returning, exuberant, from her first solo trip at age sixty, “If you never try traveling alone, you’ll never know what you’re missing out on!” Like many things, traveling by ourselves is something we get better at with practice. If you have never been on a solo voyage, I hope this book will inspire you to try it!
Other books by Karen Story