Solo travel websites for mature travelers
I recently wrote a blog post entitled, "Solo travel websites worth checking out," featuring a number of great solo travel resources, mainly for women. A few of our readers responded through our Online Feedback Form, asking for similar tips, only this time geared towards mature female solo travelers. Ladies, thank you for your suggestions—as always, I am more than happy to oblige.
At first glance, I wasn't really aware of the amount of great travel resources available for baby boomer women, but it turns out there is a wealth of information out there! After sifting through a number of websites dedicated to "Boomer Travel," I've narrowed it down to a few of my favorites, loaded with tips for anyone over 50 who can't get the travel bug out of their system.
A great place to start is Boomeropia, a website designed especially for baby boomer travelers. The left column on their homepage hosts topics ranging anywhere from boutique hotels and river cruises to museums and other historical travel destinations. Their volunteer travel section is quite detailed, as is the "Money is no object" section, for the lucky ones out there.
With its subtitle on the home page reading, "Baby Boomer Travel Advice: Tips on how to spend your kids inheritance," Aging Hipsters Travel is another great website geared towards "baby boomers, aging hipsters, over 50's, adult–teenager or whatever you want to call yourself." Tongue–in–cheek travel advice regarding travel visas and passports, packing checklists and a special section on tips for women over 50 who plan to travel alone. Their tips for travelers over 50 include advice on train travel as well as the perks of river cruising, and leaving "the roughing it to the youngsters."
Boomer traveler Donna Hull started her own blog, "My Itchy Travel Feet: The Baby Boomers Guide to Travel," offering her personal travel experiences and best tips for aspiring followers. Advice from several solo travel experts is featured on her website, reminding women to stay in public throughout their trips as well as useful tips for embracing the lonely side of solo travel.
If you'd rather not go it alone, there are a few online forums where like–minded travelers can connect, discuss and plan their travel adventures. Try looking through the Baby Boomer Travel Groups on Meetup, for starters, to see where ideas are cooking. According to the website, Boomers most interested in travel tend to be in New York City, Austin, TX., and Brisbane, Australia (this is an international group website after all). You can also sign up for updates on MyTC, a free social media website created just for finding travel companions "in the over 50s." For those of you on Facebook, there's even a group, comically named "Not Dead Yet Travel—Baby Boomers, Solo Travellers, Women Travellers" where you can share travel tips, ideas and maybe meet someone you want to travel with.
Are you an older, more experienced, female solo traveler? Do you have any special tips to offer? Feel free to leave a comment or two, and feel free to ask us to cover a travel topic that interests you!