“Do you really want to look back on your life and see how wonderful it could have been had you not been afraid to live it?”

– Caroline Myss

It’s time! Whenever I’m getting ready to takeoff on a new adventure, I swear I hear Mariah Carey saying those words, and I experience the same excitement and anticipation I feel at Christmas. Tomorrow, I take off on a new adventure, and yes, I just got back two months ago from Finland and Norway, and I’m still on a travel high from that trip, but life is short.

This trip is a bit different from others I’ve taken. I’m not traveling with anyone I know. I’ll spend two nights solo in Rome before I fly to Bari to meet up with twelve women who will be with me on this adventure exploring the Puglia region and Matera. Where is Puglia? It is the “heel of the boot” of Italy, and Matera is just west of Puglia. There will actually be fifteen on the tour, two who organized the trip and thirteen “strangers”. Of the thirteen, only two know one another, but we have a few things in common. We all follow a Facebook group that was started by one of the trip organizers. The group is for women aged 50 and older, who love to travel or want to travel, and have realized it’s time to stop waiting for others to go with them and instead take the plunge and go solo. The group has almost 625,000 members from all over the world. The women are married, divorced, widowed, empty nesters, digital nomads, retired, etc. As a group, we encourage one another when a member is nervous about their upcoming adventure or are starting to feel lonely after the first few days. We give advice and tips to one another for solo travel. Like most social media groups today, someone may ask a question or give advice, and a few snarky comments may follow, but unfortunately that is to be expected in today’s society. Members ask for recommendations for hotels, train travel, restaurants, etc. anywhere in world, and they will get some responses, sometimes hundreds. There are times when members have posted photos while they are on their journey and another member is in the same city and they meet up for a drink or dinner. I heard about this specific tour by signing up to get notifications of trips being curated by the group organizer and vendors she works with.

For some, traveling with a group of people they don’t know would be completely out of their comfort zone, but I love travel and meeting new people, so I went for it. Meeting new people on trips I have taken has led me to other trips. I went to Thailand with my friend Marisa, and we met a lot of great people I still keep in touch with. A new friend from that trip invited me to join a yoga and wine retreat in Chile. In Chile I made new friends and went to Malta with two of them along with another from my Thailand trip. My travel partner in crime on my latest adventure to Finland and Norway, Laura, I met in Chile. When you travel in a group, you may start off as strangers, but by the end you may be friends.

The journey from Arizona to Italy is a bit exhausting, and now that I’m retired, I have the time to add on a few days, so I decided I would fly Phoenix to Rome and spend two nights there on my own exploring the ancient city. This is my first visit to Rome, and it’s probably not the best timing given it is the Jubilee and Rome is expected to have 30 million more visitors than normal from December 24, 2024, until January 6, 2026. For obvious reasons the Vatican is not on my itinerary. Hotels are more expensive than usual and are selling out quickly. As you know by now, I’m a planner, and booked my hotel in October. I booked directly through the hotel, which I usually do after researching on third party sites like Booking.com. I did not want any issues with my reservation given how busy Rome would be as I would not find a decent room at a reasonable price last minute. I’ve already heard from my hotel asking for my arrival time and offering assistance to book tours if needed; I’m confident I’m all set. People have recommended staying away from Italy this year due to the Jubilee, but I don’t feel that is necessary. I would avoid Rome during the “high season”, but if you go, plan ahead, book ahead, and bring your patience with you. By the way, if you don’t know what the Jubilee is, “Google it” as my dad would often say.

After Rome, I fly to Bari and have a few hours to explore the city before meeting up with the group, and head to our first of three boutique hotels. We will be staying in Cisternino, Lecce, and Matera. We each get our own room and take over the entire hotel during our stay. It’s like having a large Airbnb for the group. The itinerary has a good mix of tours and free time every day. The first area we visit you may recognize once I post photos of the whitewashed houses with the conical roofs; like something out of a fairytale. Then we head to the city of Lecce, and end in Matera. Matera is one of the oldest cities in Europe, and many of the shops, restaurants, churches and hotels are built within the limestone caves that dot the mountains.

See you in Rome!

Ciao 💕