Travel Begins At 40—How I Finally Found My Lust For Adventure

Until a couple of years ago, I’d only ever gone away twice a year. A family vacation here and a couple of days without the kids there.

But hitting 40, with my teenagers getting older and the world opening back up after COVID, it dawned on me one day—I’d barely traveled. I’d visited so few countries and hadn’t even scratched the surface of what the world has to offer.

I never did the whole ‘traveling in your late teens or early twenties’, instead escaping a difficult home life by throwing myself into my journalism career and marrying my long-term boyfriend aged 22.

We had a son soon after, and another within four years, and money was tight. Paid-for days out were a rare treat, and travel was completely off the table. Plus, it’s not as enjoyable when you have to juggle the needs of two small children.

Fast forward to 2023. I was divorced from my husband and now living with my new boyfriend, plus my two sons and his two daughters half of the time. I’d recently discovered a Facebook group called Extreme Day Trips where you fly to a destination and back within the same day, with a few hours in between to enjoy the sights. This appealed to me because I could travel alongside my career and commitments at home.

With encouragement from other group members, I started with a day trip to Switzerland with my son, who was 18 then. We woke early, flew to Geneva and took the train to Montreux to visit the Christmas market and walk along the lake. It was exhausting, yet somehow exhilarating too! And the scenery was just so beautiful. I was hooked!

And so followed more day trips and one-night stays across Europe, thanks to the availability of low-cost flights and short flight times from the UK. I spent a day in Alicante the following month and made five wonderful new friends, and soon after I traveled to Copenhagen and nearby Malmo. It seemed that these short, whirlwind trips satisfied my fast-paced ADHD brain and love of planning an efficient itinerary.

I continued to explore more cities and countries throughout 2024, but it became harder to find friends or family members who could join me. My boyfriend tried a day trip (to Belfast) and hated it, preferring to stick to fewer longer breaks each year. So that summer, I embarked on my first solo adventure an overnight trip to Dubrovnik, with a day trip into Bosnia and Herzegovina.

But I found it hard. I prefer company, so I felt lonely and I hated that I had no one to share the joy of traveling with but also the frustration when things don’t go according to plan. I knew I had to get better at it, by doing it more, so that it was no longer out of my comfort zone.

More solo trips followed, with a trip to Nice to see Menton and Monte Carlo, and later to Krakow. That trip was a disaster and I actually started to question my sanity at that point! I woke up late and rushed to the airport to find a huge security line, only for my flight to be delayed after boarding due to fog.

By the time I landed in Krakow, found the train station and arrived in the city I was tired, hungry and frustrated. With only a couple of hours of daylight left I found it hard to muster up the enthusiasm for sightseeing. The trip was saved by a friend, who joined me that evening at the Christmas market for food, drinks and a good catch up.

Yet what did I do next? Booked another solo trip, of course! Why? I have no idea. I was convinced I could make it work, and I needed it to work because when given the choice between going solo or not going at all, solo won—every time.

I traveled to Belgrade, which I loved, then to Rome and Vatican City. That one wasn’t the best choice for a hot, crowded jubilee summer. But again, I was able to meet a friend for dinner there and that really helped.

I’m more comfortable with solo travel now, but I can definitely say the best trips have been the ones with friends. I love nothing more than sitting and drinking a cocktail long into the evening with good company and good conversation. And that just doesn’t work when alone.

One of my favorite trips was to Athens, when me and two friends spent one evening dining and drinking at a rooftop bar and the next evening watching the sunset from Lycabettus Hill.

I’ve made some amazing new friends too, through Facebook travel groups and my Instagram profile, where I started documenting my adventures abroad. I became an admin for the ‘Extreme Day Trips’ Facebook group, which has grown to 325,000 members and the admin team are now like family.

I’ve also had some incredible trips with my boyfriend, who has come to accept that any break with me will likely involve multiple-country travels! Earlier this year we flew to Riga, which is stunning, one of my absolute favorite European cities, and from there journeyed through Tallinn, Helsinki, Stockholm and up to Tromso over the course of a week.

We traveled more sustainably on ferries, even managing to use the spa on one, and took an overnight sleeper train through Sweden and Norway. We also took a trip that took us by train to Vienna, Bratislava and Budapest, which we really loved, and soon we’re visiting Andorra and Nairobi. I’m so excited as that’s the furthest I’ll have ever traveled.

Travel has taken me to some amazing places, ones I’d never have thought of visiting, some I’d never heard of (although geography wasn’t my strongest subject at school) and one that technically doesn’t exist (Transnistria).

But best of all, travel reignited my passion for journalism, a career I’d left behind 15 years ago (I’m now in a technical role). My followers wanted itinerary advice for destinations, but including detail on Instagram is tricky, so I started my blog. I absolutely adore the fact that it combines my love of writing, photography and travel.

I think it’s safe to say over the last two years, travel has changed my life for the better. And I have no plans to slow down anytime soon. I’m currently trying to plan trips to the last few remaining countries in Europe that I haven’t visited yet San Marino and Kosovo.

And next year I want to start traveling further afield and for longer, probably by joining some group trips, which I’m so nervous for but also excited about.

In the words of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (if you haven’t seen this show, watch it), “I want a big life.” For me, that means traveling. But also, I want to inspire and help others to travel, to get out and visit new places, see new sights, experience new cultures and enjoy the one life they’ve been given. Because life is just way too short to do anything else.