Jayne Seagrave - Time to Take Flight: The Savvy Womans Guide to Safe, Solo Travel

JAYNE SEAGRAVE was born in England and moved to Canada in 1991. She lives in Vancouver with her husband, Andrew, and two teenage sons, Jack and Sam. She has a PhD in criminology and is the best-selling author of eight books covering topics such as policing, business, and camping. She is currently researching and writing a book detailing the story of the internationally acclaimed Shakespearean theater company Bard on the Beach. For the last twenty years she has been the marketing director for the Vancouver Tool Corporation (www.vancouvertool.com), which she owns with her partner. This position, coupled with an inherent love of learning about other cultures and countries and an unbridled passion for travellocally and internationallyled to the creation of Time to Take Flight .

Copyright 2016 Jayne Seagrave

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, recording, or otherwisewithout the prior written consent of the publisher.

TouchWood Editions
touchwoodeditions.com

EPUB ISBN 978-1-771511-63-6

Editor: Rene Layberry
Cover image: Marija Anicic/Stocksy United
Interior illustrations: City silhouettes by Maxger, istockphoto.com except on pages, 154 and 164 (vecteezy.com), 240 (greatvectors.com), 258 (supercoloring.com/silhouettes/edinburgh-skyline)
Travel icons: Lera Efremova, creativemarket.com
Author photo: Elizabeth Hadley

We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund and the province of British Columbia through the Book Publishing Tax Credit.

The information in this book is true and complete to the best of the authors knowledge. All recommendations are made without guarantee on the part of the author. The author disclaims any liability in connection with the use of this information.

None of the establishments or services mentioned or reviewed in this book have provided compensation to the author or publisher.

We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us.

Author unknown

Travel is more than just seeing the sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.

Miriam Beard

WHEN I WAS EIGHTEEN I traveled in the USA for the first time with young man called Rick; I did not know him particularly well and had met him while working at summer camp. We arrived in Miami one very hot August day, and I was impatient to leave our seedy, cheap, poorly furnished motel room and explore the exciting new city. Rick, however, decided it was more important to visit the laundry, wash and dry his clothes, and laboriously organize and color-code his socks. I left him at the motel and vowed never to travel again with an individual I did not know very well.

This experience has had a long-lasting effect. I believe the best way to travel is the single way, and as I get older this belief only gets stronger. Solo travel is luxurious because you decide the itinerary, travel at your own pace, and see what you want. Its also a challenge, a self-indulgence, and a voyage into self-discovery. Travel broadens the perspective, imparts understanding of other cultures, and makes us real citizens of the world. It opens our eyes, with the real danger being that, upon returning home, the desire to see more is firmly ingrained. For these reasons and more I adore traveling alone and find it totally addictive.

Over the last twenty years, Ive spent on average three months out of every year away from home. While almost 50 percent of these excursions have been with my family, the remainder has been for business and traveling to trade shows and conventions in North America and Europe to market tools that my company, the Vancouver Tool Corporation (www.vancouvertool.com), produces for the home improvement industry. I was also heavily involved in a trade association (the Worldwide Do-It-Yourself Council) acting as its president for a couple of years, which required international excursions. I did most of this travel alone. When I mentioned to girlfriends I was off to Guadalajara, Vienna, St. Louis, Rome, or Chicago by myself, many had a wistful look in their eye and commented, Youre so brave! But I am not brave. In order to grow a business, I have had to travel to seek new markets; by doing so I have learned travel is not scary or difficult for the mature single woman. Confidence and planning are critical; we must beware of limiting ourselves when considering new opportunities in an attempt to justify our actions or non-actions. We all seek the safe option because of ease and a perception that the alternative is threatening, but we secretly yearn for something else.

Solo travel is immensely enjoyable and easily possible, whatever your age, with careful planning. It gives an intense adrenalin rush, which, as we grow older, is more difficult to obtain. Planning and embarking on a new adventure gives me an increased sense of awareness and helps me drop my guard. In my younger days, the opposite sex aroused this kind of excitement, complete with pounding heart, giddy passion, blushing cheeks, heightened awareness, and a preoccupation with the object of my desire. Now, in my fifties, I have these feelings when I arrive in an unfamiliar place. I cannot wait to explore this new home, see the architecture, taste the cuisine, experience the climate, smell the streets, encounter the people, and hear the languages. When Im away, every sense is more acute, every action more intense. Discovering a new culture and surroundings is like falling in love; knowing the time I have with my new infatuation is limited, I absorb as much as possible and savor each moment of the encounter. Travel is also a way to understand myself, to grow, to contemplate and rejuvenate my life. Whats more, solo travel is the perfect time for reflection and reassessment; the focus is just on you . In our busy lives there is often not enough time to take stock of where we are and what we want to be; solo travel awards time for this.

I have unapologetically written this book primarily for women over the age of forty who are apprehensive about traveling alone, really want to, and have not done so yet. The existing travel literature barely acknowledges this demographic. My goal is to offer encouragement, advice, and support for these women to fulfill this desire while at the same time providing practical guidance based on first-hand, real-life experiences. My aim is not to replicate the extensive amount of travel literature available in existing guidebooks but rather to supplement this generic information with tips and advice specifically for the solo female traveler. Time to Take Flight is a resource to be used alongside the comprehensive site-specific guides available for every North American and European city suitable for the savvy solo girl.

I wrote this book for women who have experienced life changes and are seeking new opportunities. It is not unusual for women who have been married or partnered for many years to find themselves single, divorced, or widowed. Often theyll have a desire to start fresh and change certain elements of their previous lives to adjust to this new state. Travel may be on their agenda, but frequently they have reservations and doubts about how it can be done, or whether they have the confidence to embark on an independent journey. Women who have been busy rearing children who have now left home find themselves with the time and resources to travel, but dont know how to take the first step. These former full-time mothers may be in a happy relationship with a spouse who prefers to stay home and work, or play with their shed/car/garden/tools/ TV rather than explore another culture or city. To fulfill independent dreams, these wives need to take flight independently or not go at all. The advice given in the following pages also applies to single women who do not have a friend or spouse with whom they can confidently traveland its advice that will work for those who, like me, dread organized group holidays and dislike being among strangers and their own idiosyncrasies with no safe haven to escape to. I pepper the text with personal anecdotes to illustrate the unique, often humorous memories created when traveling as a solo woman. Admittedly, every venturewhether alone or with companyprovides opportunities for such memories, but when youre going solo they are unique to you, cannot be challenged or reinterpreted by others, and exist for you to savor for years to come.