My favorites after 25 years of solo travel (Part 2) + Flying secrets of a cabin crew
Published 15 days ago • 9 min read
Hi Reader,
How are you doing this week?
I am still in New Caledonia and just about to take a boat over to a hotel on a tiny island with overwater bungalows in a shallow lagoon where I will spend the next 2 days.
New Caledonia is quite an interesting place.
There are ZERO tourists around, as in absolutely no international visitors. There aren't even taxis or any other form of transportation at the airport if you have not prebooked it, and we spent 2 hours at a cool waterfall on Sunday without seeing anyone else.
I can't quite figure out why there are no tourists around.
There is plenty to see and do.
There are natural parks but above all, amazing lagoons and beaches, and it is only 2h from Brisbane by plane. Perhaps I will understand how it remained so quiet in the next few days here.
On this week's newsletter:
The second part of my favorites from 25 years of travel.
On this week's podcast episode, I am talking to Gaby, our community manager, who has been with us for over 3 years and who worked for a Middle Eastern airline for 5 years. She spills the beans on being a flight attendant and shares with me all the things you've always wanted to know about flying, being a cabin crew and more. Even I discovered new things despite my years of flying and my nerdiness over the industry. Plus we talk about joining the Mile-high club and where cabin crew sleep on long flights.
Last week, I shared half of my most favorites from the last 25 years of travel, the ones that have to do with airlines and hotels.
This week I wanted to share the most memorable and special trips and moments from these two and a half decades.
Trips
It is super hard to select a favorite destination, but I do have some favorite trips.
At the top of the list is the South Pacific sabbatical trip that I took in 2012 during a break from my consulting career. I could only take 6 weeks, but they changed everything.
With the mental space and distance to think, I also decided to change career, leave consulting and find something that allowed me to have a more normal life, one that did not require 15h days and weekly travel.
This was a solo trip that stated in the Solomon Islands and continued to Vanuatu, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa and American Samoa.
I had no internet, and communicated only with Blackberry messages in the countries where there was roaming and using internet cafes.
I had no plan. I would wake up every day and decide what to do and where to go. When I was happy to move on, I walked into a Fiji Airways office and bought a next ticket elsewhere. These were paper tickets still.
I had a Lonely Planet for the South Pacific and planned by days based on recommendations from other travelers and locals I met along the way.
I would sometimes rent a car, like in American Samoa, or take buses. Ferries were useful in some islands.
In Vanuatu, I hiked to the rim on an active volcano to see the lava explode. In Tonga I swam with humpback whales jumping off the back of a fisherman's boat. To get there, I took a tiny plane to one of the farther away islands and sat next to the pilot who then drove me into town when the hotel didn't come to pick me up.
In Fiji, I learned to dive on a liveaboard ship in the remote Taveuni Archipelago. In the Solomon Islands I spent a few days in a remote island on huts right on the beach. One night, we took a speedboat to a nearby resort for dinner and were greeted by luminescent plankton on the way back. I also flew with a coffin to get there.
In Samoa, I slept in a traditional fale, an open air hut with no walls, right on the beach, steps away from the water and I ate bananas hanged by the locals on bus stops. The ladies at the BnB I stayed at made me a beautiful lei which they hanged around my neck on my birthday.
Besides my trip to the South Pacific, I also love every single one of the safari trips that I have taken. There is something magical about a sunset in the bush, or being in the middle of nature, miles and miles away from anything else, and surrounded by the sounds of nature.
My third most favorite trip was the one I took to Bhutan. This was a 10 day solo trip with Aman Resorts that took me closer to this spiritual and calming country where tourism is low volume and high price and you pay between $200-$250 per person and day in tourism levy.
It is hard to describe why I loved this trip so much. It is probably a mix of the peace of nature, the magnificent landscapes of the Himalayas and a culture of peace, measure and reflection that permeates it all.
I enjoyed herbal hot stone baths with expansive views over the valley, drives through roads that feel like they could be swallowed by nature at any point and temples built without any nails. The air was pure, the food spicy and the people calm and collected at all times.
Moments
The people we meet can leave a strong memory in our lives.
Most of my most memorable memories have involved conversations with people, mostly locals, sometimes other travelers. Conversations that stayed with me, that gave me a new perspective on something, that taught me something.
There are also many wildlife encounters that were magical to me.
These are the moments i treasure the most.
Diving in Fiji on the rainbow soft coral wall, was something I have never seen before.
A drink with a female entrepreneur in Anguila on the challenges of doing something women don't typically do, being visible and supporting other local women do the same.
Swimming with mantas in the Maldives, having to make sure not to touch them as they were swirling around me in close proximity.
Swimming with humpback whales
Swimming with a Humpback whale mum and calf in Tonga.
A summer in Honduras volunteering at a school and on the various projects of the local NGO that changed my life. The commitment of the people who had devoted their lives to help others, the generosity of the volunteers, the love of the teachers and community leaders, the hard work of the students fighting for a better life than their parents'. It was 2002 and it changed me to this date.
A deep conversation about women's rights and freedom with our local partner and a wine marker in rural Georgia, then joining one of the demonstrations against Russian influence and political corruption with thousands others.
A night drive to the beach from London to see the sea, with two people who also stayed at my student dorm.
Getting so up and close with animals in the Galapagos that I had to make sure not to touch them as they constantly approached. They were curious, I was curious, and it sometimes felt like we were having an unspoken conversation.
A new year's even celebration in the Faroe Island, sitting on the roof of the hotel and watching the entire city light fireworks for hours.
Before drinking cava
Drinking cava (a hallucinogen drink made from a root common in the Pacific) in Vanuatu with two Kiwi women I just met, then passing out in the toilet, completely asleep, and not remembering anything
The first time I saw the Milky Way in Pilanesberg National Park in South Africa. I never even knew it was a real thing you could see with your naked eye.
A full moon party in Tonga with people I just met who were crew in a luxury yatch moored in the lagoon.
Spending an hour, twice, with gorillas first in Uganda then in Rwanda. Their similarity with humans is uncanny and fascinating
(badly) Sansa dancing in a night club in Cuba, laughing and learning new moved from the locals.
Having a male and female lion constantly mate for 30min around our car in Kenya while I was sitting on the roof of the open air truck and they were walking and mating around the car. Our eyes sometimes locked, the sun was coming down and dozens of wildebeest were walking in the distance, keeping an eye on the two predators.
A bottomless wine tasting evening in Cape Verde with friends that turned into a full day of handover when we clearly tried too many of the local wines directly from the wine barrels as a result of he wine makers generosity.
Sitting on the runway of the only airport in Tuvalu that receives only 2 flights a week and is turned into the local playground for the remaining days.
A bus ride in Mozambique that ended up with a baby on my lap, loud chicken in the box under my feet and incredible tetris movements to fit more people when it was already crowded.
A rainy sunrise dune walk in the Namibian desert, where it had not rained in 10 years.
An afternoon cake baking and chat with two sisters in Armenia talking about the implications of living in a country in conflict, the lives lost, the dreams postponed but also the courage and community love.
Seeing the Northern Lights above our heads in Iceland as we went to sleep in out glass igloo just after Christmas. I didn't even take a photo, I decided to simply be in the moment instead of capturing it.
The high altitude train ride to Lhasa, Tibet, more than 24 riding through the sometimes barren colorful landscapes of this remote part of China.
Tea in Mauritania
Tea in my guide's friend's house in Mauritania, for hours every day, getting a glimpse of the slow rhythm of life in this hot desert country.
The night falling over Abu Simbel, the stars coming our bright, the Milky Way appearing, the music playing loudly over the legends of a millennia old civilisation.
Photos with fashion show attendees in Sana'a
A fashion show invitation in Sana'a, Yemen, years before the country was engulfed in a decades long civil war. The women were all covered in black abayas, and we managed to find a translator so we could communicate.
A Ramadan dinner in a Sudanese home, on the floor, in the back patio by the kitchen, where the women and children shared a meal eaten by hand and their dreams for a future marked by education and freedom, a choice that may have been taken away from the younger generations living in Sudan since war broke up in 2023.
Having a drink at a wine bar in Korcula
An afternoon spent in Korcula, Croatia, with a local friend, in her home, a wine bar and the narrow cobblestone streets of the old medieval town. Meeting women standing up and rebelling against the status quo and discussing our love for food, tradition and women's rights.
A chat with the tourism team in American Samoa who took their day off to show me around the island when she realised all cars had been rented out because of a convention (there were only 50 rental cars in the entire island).
Episode #20 - Flying secrets of cabin crew
This week's episode was a lot of fun to record.
I speak to Gaby, who has worked with us for over 3 years, on her time as a cabin crew before joining Solo Female Travelers.
Gaby used to work for one of the large Middle Eastern airlines and was hired from El Salvador to join their training and then become a full time crew member.
We talk about the best and worst parts of the job, the fun and sad moments, her secrets for being fresh after a long flight, the weird and unique rules the airline had and some of the most intriguing and interesting aspects, such as where the crew sleeps on long hauls (hint: there is a hidden door typically at the back of the plane) and whether a lot of passengers join the Mile high club.
Have you got more questions for her?
I am thinking of recording a second episode follow up since there were lots of questions I had we did not have time to go over.
Check out all the details of the podcast here, listen to the episode and start following us [Solo Female Travelers Podcast] on your favorite podcast platform so you don't miss an episode:
