In episode 23 in my travel podcast series, I talk to travel blogger and journalist Leyla Giray about her experiences travelling solo all around the world and the book she’s recently written called Women on the Road.

We discuss the barriers that women in their 40 and 50s feel that prevent them from travelling solo and how they can overcome their fears. We talk about how to stay safe on the road, what to wear, the best places to stay and the destinations that work best for women travelling on their own. And as Leyla says, there’ll never be a better time to travel, so if you’ve been thinking about it, that time is now!

Link to Audio File
About the author, Leyla Giray
Leyla has been travelling since she was five weeks old, when her parents took her on the Orient Express to Turkey and she has been travelling ever since. In her 40s, Leyla left everything behind and made an overland journey through Africa starting from Cape Town and travelling back towards Europe. Her plan was to travel for 6 months but she had such a great time that it was 4 years before she eventually came home. Leyla's job as a journalist and development worker has taken her travelling all over the world.
Leyla, what was the trigger for you writing this book?
After my journey through Africa I wanted to write a book about my experience, but instead I ended up starting a website for women who want to travel on their own called Women on the Road. However, I still wanted to write a book and so I started pulling together the kind of information that women would want to know who were past their 30s and 40s and want to travel, especially if they feel that time has passed them by and they might not get a chance to see the world. As my big solo trip was while I was in my 40s and I was constantly meeting women who were into their 70s and 80s, I realised that there is no age barrier to travel. I wrote this book, Women on the Road, for women of between 45 and 60 as if I am writing for a friend. On my website I constantly get the same kinds of questions about  "Will I be safe?" and "I'm afraid it will be too dangerous", so I decided that I needed to set the record straight that women can travel solo.

Do you think that women who are a bit more mature have a different approach to travel?
I think that when you get a bit older you want a few more home comforts, you might not want to be backpacking all the time or be in a party hostel. Of course there are some women who would like to relive their second youth, if they've spent their time raising a family, developing their career or supporting a partner. Women who are a little older tend to want to take travel more slowly, and be conscious of their limitations and any dangers out there. At this age I'm much more conscious of what I have to lose than I was in my 20s and 30s.
What do you think is stopping women travelling solo?
A lot of women who had had a more supportive role in life may feel out of their depth and not know to begin. There may be a confusion about "Where do I start?" How do I decide where to go, what to take, how to do all this when I've been busy doing something else with my life. There is also a fear about how dangerous is it, what is going to happen to me out there, and if you haven't travelled these are very real fears. If you rely on what you read in books or see on TV, it's a pretty scary world out there. A lot of women might think that they might travel for a month and never meet anybody, or they might fear being mugged, not understanding the language or getting sick. These are very real fears that I address in my book, Women on the Road

Have you experienced any problems with personal security when travelling?
At the risk of seeming boring, I have not. I think I've always been very careful when I travel. I may have ended up in strange situations but I have been cautious and used common sense. I did have my passport stolen in Beijing, but that was my fault,