A growing number of older women are choosing a nomadic lifestyle, traveling solo around Australia. This trend challenges traditional views of aging and reflects a desire for adventure, self-discovery, and freedom. Interviews with solo female travelers reveal their motivations, experiences, and the sense of community they find on the road.
‘Something came over me … knew it was time.’ Robyn Drayton left her home six years ago to travel around Australia. Photograph: Dean Sewell/The Guardian
PhD candidate Margaret Yates interviewed 29 solo female travellers to explore their motivations and experiences. Most were over 60 and described themselves as retired.Yates says the women told her they loved the freedom, independence, and autonomy afforded when travelling alone. The interviews revealed women who had subverted societal expectations of how women should live and age, instead showing older women growing in self-confidence.
There is no firm data to back up Yates’s suspicion of an increasing trend – only a rise in membership to social media groups dedicated to solo women caravanning around Australia. It’s possible some of those members are just “travelling vicariously”, she says. “I said, ‘how dare you have that attitude’. I’ve met lots of women on the road and everyone has their own story to tell. Some are fleeing domestic violence, some are widows or are divorced or don’t have a home.”
“I knew it wouldn’t be easy and I knew there’d be hurdles and tough times,” she says. “That probably made me even more determined.”
TRAVEL AGING WOMEN ADVENTURE COMMUNITY
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