A 60-year-old woman is opening up about her decision to travel the world solo. This comes after she was widowed at 37 and put her dreams on hold to take care of her family.
"I didn't think my adventure years were over, but I did think, 'How do I do this alone?'" she told Mamamia. "As women, it's so ingrained in us to be the givers for everyone around us. We look after everyone else first, and we don't allow ourselves to have the precious time we want. Being needed becomes a crutch, and you don't know any other way to be."
Janine decided to embrace traveling solo. Taking a year, she traveled everywhere. She went to Morocco, Guatemala, and even Australia.
"I definitely felt like I needed to earn it," Janine said. "But I've come to realise that if you're always waiting for the right time, it's never going to happen. The right time doesn't come to you; you have to choose it. Truthfully, no one is going to praise or thank you for staying home, and no one who loves you will ever say you shouldn't have gone on that trip."
Solo Travels
"I was so completely in the moment, it was a massive bucket list experience for me," she recalled. "I wasn't thinking or worrying about anything else at that moment. That's what travel does for you."
Fortunately for Janine, her kids supported her endeavors and gave her the will to go and do it. She's planning to go to Japan and New Zealand next.
"When they were little, if they were happy, I was happy. Now they're older, they want their mom to be happy too," she said. "My children always say, 'If nothing changes, nothing changes.' And they're right. Say it out loud, take it out of your head, just put it out there in the world and make it happen."
