My Solo Female Travel Story and Why I Created Grit & Grace Adventures

Most of my life, I travelled alone.

Not because I was especially fearless. Not because I had all the answers.

I began travelling solo because my life unfolded in a way that created space for it. I married later, I did not have children, and without the usual anchors many women carry, the world opened itself to me one journey at a time.

This is me in Italy recently - my first trip there was before digital cameras, and the internet was a day old ;-)

Yet if I am honest, solo travel did not start with confidence.

Like many women who consider travelling alone for the first time, I felt equal parts excitement and uncertainty. Solo female travel can be intimidating, especially when you have no roadmap for it.

My beginning came at twenty-five on a Contiki trip to Italy, the kind of group travel experience that introduces you to the wider world without throwing you into the deep end. I remember stepping off that plane and feeling the first spark of what solo travel could mean. The energy of Italy, the swirl of languages, the light, the food, the openness of the people. Something inside me softened and expanded at the same time.

But the true transformation happened after the group trip ended.

When everyone flew home, I stayed behind.

That decision was the moment my solo female travel journey truly began.

I wandered the streets of Florence alone, allowing myself to get lost. I lingered in cafés, navigated train stations, trusted my instincts, and let curiosity guide me. It was the first time in my life that I could hear my own voice without the noise of expectation around me.

And then, daring myself further, I flew to Brazil.

There, I joined the crew of a tall ship sailing up the coast. I did not know anyone. I did not know exactly what to expect. But I said yes anyway. Standing on the deck of that ship, learning the ropes, watching the coastline shift as we sailed north, I could feel myself becoming someone new.

And then, Eastern Europe, and then Africa, Nepal, Costa Rica, Bali, Greece, the Philippines, Central America, the Caribbean and more.

Fearless in a way I had never known.

Steady in a way that only the ocean can teach.

Alive in every direction.

Those early solo-travel experiences as a woman laid the foundation for who I am today. They taught me that courage builds slowly. Solo travel teaches you how to trust yourself. It teaches you resourcefulness, awareness, resilience, softness, and strength. It shows you who you are when no one else is defining you.

But with time, I realized something important.

Not every woman has the opportunity or confidence to travel solo, especially at midlife.

Many women married young, and many devoted decades to raising children. Many spent years giving their energy to careers, households, and the well-being of everyone around them. Their dreams of travel remained folded neatly away, waiting for the right moment.

And when that moment finally arrived, many felt what countless women feel:

The desire to explore was strong, but the fear of travelling alone felt stronger.

This is where Grit & Grace Adventures began.

I wanted to create a space where women could travel without fear.

Where they could experience the world in a way that felt safe, supported, and deeply meaningful.

Where they could rediscover themselves through the kind of intentional, soulful, small group travel that gently bridges the gap between longing and courage.

The world is full of women who want to travel but do not want to do it alone.

Women who crave connection, adventure, and a deeper sense of self.

Women who want the essence of solo female travel, but with a circle of like-minded women around them.

Grit & Grace Adventures gives them that bridge.

It is a place where women can take their first brave step toward independence.

A place where travel feels both transformative and comforting.

A place where courage grows naturally, the way mine did in Italy and Brazil.

And quietly, I hold this hope for every woman who travels with us.

That our journeys become her launch pad.

That one day, she will book the solo trip she once believed she could never take.

That she will trust herself the way the world taught me to trust myself.

Because it is never too late to reclaim a dream.

Never too late to widen your world.

Never too late to discover the woman you are becoming.

Grit & Grace Adventures is not just a travel company.

It is a homecoming.

A remembering.

A beginning.

Penny