From the Intro: Traveling as a “Woman of a Certain Age”

 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 liberating. Twice, when I was walking down the street, young men overtook me. They each turned to look at me with that look on their face: they were about to engage me in some kind of awkward (for me) greeting. One look at my face that most likely reminded them of their grandmother, and they promptly turned and continued on their way.  

Another day, I found myself joking with a bunch of men sitting outside a market in Arequipa. I shared my olives with them. They treated me like a friend of their wives—friendly but appropriately distant. It dawned on me that I would never have stopped to speak with them when I was twenty-something. I would have ignored their greetings and tried to pretend they were not there. 

And now that is all behind me. Yes, there are days when my bones creak a little more and my energy level is not what it used to be. But would I trade lives with that younger woman? Not on your life!

 The day I turned 60 years old I was hiking above Lake Titicaca at 14000 feet.  Peru 2014.