Expecting the Unexpected

People sometimes mention to me that I must be rich since I travel so much. Now, I don’t consider myself poor, but my savings and income are low enough that you would probably be surprised that I can travel as much as I do. I am, by nature, a person who watches where her money is spent. Some friends and family members have gone so far as to label me “cheap” and “penny-pinching.” However, if I had not watched those pennies/rupees/soles/soms over the past few years, I would no longer be able to hop around the world the way I do. Over the years, I have discovered that I can live much more cheaply traveling than living in the United States. There are lots of strategies I use to save money when traveling. As it turns out, these strategies sometimes result in richer travel experiences than you would expect. For example, since I am an independent traveler, I interact with locals much more often than I would on a guided tour. I prepare a lot of my own meals, which means that I shop in local mar...

 Women often ask me if I feel safe traveling alone. I do. I don’t think that I have ever felt like I was in danger since I began traveling again in 2014. I say “again” because I did travel alone when I was in my late teens and early 20s. There is a BIG difference once you pass about the 50-year mark. And the difference is that very few men around the world will “hit” on you.  Sorry ladies…it is just a fact of life. But I embrace this.     I notice when I travel with my 30-year-old daughter that there are times when she is glad to have an older woman with her. When she is out alone, in some places the catcalls and attempts to “pick her up” become truly annoying. I strongly believe that 99% of these attempts are just men entertaining themselves and their friends, and the incident would probably come to nothing. But I remember how uncomfortable I felt when it happened to me way back when. I turned 60 years old on my first trip to Peru in 2014. And it was libera...

Starting at the end of my second visit to Peru, I started hearing about this thing called “The Camino.” It is an ancient pilgrimage route that culminates in Northern Spain. More details about this remarkable path later. Suffice it to say, in 2015 I realized that my next trip would be to Europe. At first, I thought I would just go to Spain, spend five or six weeks walking the Camino, and then return home.  But then I started thinking—a dangerous occupation for me. At the time I was becoming passionate about knitting lace. As I learned of its origins, I discovered that one hotbed of famous lace knitters was Estonia.    As long as I was in Europe, I should go to Estonia! Now this is kind of like saying, as long as I am in Florida, I should just drop in on Seattle. But I could not ignore this idea.  Example of fine Haapsalu lace from Estonia. But not only that, I kept doing the same thing. “Oh, there are lots of knitters in Scotland, I should go there as well.”  “An...

The Christmas I was in the third grade, Daddy decided to see if we could drive all the way to Costa Rica. We only made it to Guatemala City before car problems and Montezuma’s revenge forced us to turn around. But I will never forget Mexico in all its Christmas glory. On Christmas Eve, we were staying in a small guesthouse in a remote village. Groups of children my age came around  carrying branches that held nativity scenes. They would sing and dance for us. I was enchanted. In Oaxaca, I saw weavers and potters for the first time in my life. We stopped at a hot spring resort—the smell of sulfur still assaults me when I think of it. When I was in the fourth grade, Mrs. Jones taught us geography for the first time. I embraced all the lessons as we pretended to travel to Japan, India, Ecuador, Norway and Egypt. I even made a sari for myself. Our family would go on camping vacations every year to New Mexico so Daddy could fish the pristine waters of the Rocky Mountains. I loved follow...

After traveling solo for over a decade as a “woman of a certain age,” I have an overwhelming number of stories to share. (I won’t even mention the photos.) Is it possible to organize all this into some kind of book? This is the place where I will find out. Vignette by vignette, I will publish little sneak previews here. If you are a follower of my blog, CathleensOdyssey.com, you probably read some of these escapades over the years. But many more tales are like children running around inside my head—just screaming to escape. So, I will let them out to play on this informal blog. I don’t know how long it will take me to decide if the “book” is finished—or if it ever will be. Maybe you can help me decide. I invite you join me as I revisit 10 years as a traveler, story-by-story.