Tag: solo travel

😟Do it Scared

On By Cathy NoiceIn Cathy NoiceLeave a comment

This has been my mantra for the last two months.  I struck out alone for the west coast to attend my mother’s 90th birthday in my RV, Abeona (goddess of the outward journey), in May of 2024.  I’m not mechanically inclined, I am skittish of heights, not a fan of enclosed places and really like a good night’s sleep. This journey would have been a lot easier by just booking a plane ticket instead of driving some 4,000 miles to celebrate my mother’s landmark birthday.  But instead, I have embraced doing it scared.

Abeona arrived on the Pacific Ocean after a cross country trip

Here are the things I faced doing it scared:

Rain in east Texas.  As I was headed to Rusk Texas (look it up, it’s in the middle of nowhere) there were all kinds of warnings on my map apps that the roads could be flooded.  It was a torrential downpour as I drove on desolate route 84 to my campground and out the next day. I saw whole fields inundated with water, rivers out of their banks but never any water across the road. I figured that the campground would have alerted me that it was underwater (and it wasn’t) but the drive was intimidating because of the unknown. 

Big Bend. Big Bend National Park is in the middle of nowhere on the border between Texas and Mexico.  I drove over a hundred miles without seeing a gas station from Fort Stockton down route 385 which enters the park from the north entrance.  I didn’t see one car as I drove down from the north entrance to the park headquarters.  This is rare for a National Park in May but when it’s 112 degrees outside and no cell coverage;it appeared to not be a popular spot in the Spring. When you are driving an RV by yourself and know there isn’t much of a safety net if you break down; you do it scared.

Boquillas Mexico. When I get nervous, my stomach twists in knots. I had a morning planned to cross the border at the edge of Big Bend NP where there is an official entry point into the United States. I knew that it was possible to take a very short row boat ride across the Rio Grande into the little town of Boquillas. I didn’t sleep well in anticipation of crossing the border and back.  I was imagining something going wrong. It’s hot, dusty, no cell coverage and my Spanish was rusty.  As with most uncertain things, I was looking for things to control.  I texted my kids letting them know that I was crossing the border without cell coverage and that I expected to be back to cell coverage in 3 hours. The town itself, my guide and burro ride into town were a step into a whole other reality with this small-town dependent on brave Americans to take a chance on seeing another way of life. I’m glad I did it scared. 

White Sands National Park. I’ve been to over 30 national parks.  I had been to White Sands as a newlywed with my husband, Orlando, in the mid 80’s.  I do not remember the road, about 3 miles into the dunes loop, ending into what was essentially sand dunes for some 10 miles. This mistake, in that I didn’t have all wheel drive on the RV, was something I’m glad I did in retrospect but had I known, I’m sure I would have skipped. Getting my Abeona stuck in the sand and the rattling of the dual tires in the back was unnerving. I turned around as soon as I could but I can tell you to pay more attention to park maps and advisories now.

Tehachapi Pass. This is an infamous road that skirts Los Angeles through a mountain pass.  I have been over it several times in a car although I probably wasn’t driving.  When driving up from the south there are over 4,500 wind turbines which, immediately alert you to the fact that “there will be wind.” On the day I came up the pass from the south there were signs alerting high profile vehicles.  My campground was on top of the pass.  I went anyway. Gulp.  It felt like hurricane force winds, I was clenching the steering wheel and maintained a 45 mile an hour pace.  I was fortunate that there weren’t may trucks and gratified to see other folks with trailers going over the pass (if they can do it, I can do it). After 4 camping days in Tehachapi, I came down the other side of the pass which is longer, steeper and full of curves (it forced me to learn how to use manual gears).  I kept thinking to myself, Rick Hanson’s “Are you alright right now?” I was.

Glider Ride. When I was camped in Tehachapi, it was right next to a glider plane airport.  After the first two days of watching gliders take off attached to small planes, I decided that, if I don’t do this, I’ll regret it. I had every afternoon free and why not just walk over and get in a glider. I was going to tell my daughter but she was occupied so I just went over and did it.  In retrospect, I think that because I was by myself, I couldn’t be talked out of it.  Perhaps someone else would have discouraged me.  Maybe I thought I had survived the trip thus far, let’s go for broke. I was shocked that all you had to do was pay and that I didn’t sign 5 pages of waivers.  Perhaps it was because I didn’t sign waivers, I decided it was safe.  My pilot Cam was great.  They wheeled the glider into position. There was nothing but manual signals between him and the pilot of the guide plane.  The glider itself was airborne before the guide plane which was freaky.  Did I mention that I was in the front of the glider with all the controls to fly (but didn’t).  When the tow rope releases, we were gliding above the Tehachapi Valley at 6,500 feet.  Outside of the wind and the conversation with Cam, it was silence. It’s incredible that this little plane, that is shorter than my RV can glide through the air without any technology and land safely on the ground.  I’m glad I did it scared.

I find that, traveling alone as a woman over 50, I get a lot of folks opining on my choice. Mostly it’s from women over 50 saying “I could never do that”, “So you are alone? Driving by yourself?” I’m always flummoxed as to what to respond with.  And then?  Then there is Lucky Lu (her license plate).  I was departing Joshua Tree and at a stop light in Yucca Valley when I hear a car honking at me. I turn to the left and see a woman beaming and giving me the thumbs up.  I rolled down my window and she said” You have the toy I want!  I love it!  Are you by yourself?”, I answered yes, and she responds “YOU GO GIRL!”  That moment?  That was worth it all. There is also my co-pilot, my inspiration, my dearly departed father had wanderlust in spades and he would drive 4,000 miles just to see a view.  Daddy is always riding shotgun.

🏖️The Mysterious Driftwood Beach

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I visited Jekyll Island, Georgia this past February and found it to be a mysterious and inspiring place along the Golden Isles of the Georgia barrier islands.  It has quite the history and an incredible Driftwood Beach which should be on everyone’s bucket list.  I was on my maiden voyage with my RV, Abeona, and we were on our way home from Florida. We camped for a week at the campground on the northern end of the island. 

Sunrise at Driftwood Beach, Jekyll Island, Georgia

I didn’t have a tow vehicle or a bike with me on the trip, so being within walking distance of the beach was a high priority (I didn’t want to pack up everything to go see the sunrise). The Jekyll Island Campground is the only campground on the island and I had no idea that it was just a mile from Driftwood Beach when I booked the campsite.  Imagine my surprise when I found that the beach was an easy walk each morning to photograph the sunrise. Serendipity. 

After arriving at my campsite, I decided to venture out to the beach during the daylight so that there wouldn’t be any surprises when I walked to the beach in the morning for sunrise. Arriving at around 4 PM on a Saturday afternoon after the mile walk to Driftwood Beach, I was astonished by how many cars were there and therefore, people on the beach.  This is not an umbrella and beach towel type of beach.  This is a photographer’s (re Instagram) Mecca. It also happened to be high tide. 

Driftwood Beach is a maritime forest that has been slowly overtaken by the sea.  There are hundreds of trees standing, fallen, eroded and sometime petrified, covered in barnacles on the beach. They are all driftwood, just most are full size trees as driftwood. Some stand as sentinels at attention with no branches, others are on their sides with their root structure solidified in an intricate web. Some look like they are trees on stilts with roots that grew long and straight in order to stay above the salt water.  It is mesmerizing to walk along the several hundred yards of what looks like a waste land of gray figures strewn haphazardly along the beach. 

The trees of Driftwood Beach stay on the beach because it’s very shallow for hundreds of yards off shore.  The waves are never high enough to pull them out.  In fact, when I first arrived, I thought I was in a bay because the water was so tranquil. Due to the shallowness, the trees over the last century have stayed where they have fallen. 

Jekyll island is a state owned and maintained island.  This means there aren’t any big resorts or towers along the beach. There were plenty of photographers each sunrise.  This was quite the contrast from when I recently stayed at a North Carolina barrier island of Ocracoke, where I was the sole person on the beach at sunrise.  Each morning at Driftwood Beach there was a minimum of twenty photographers each time I went out. Most with chairs and tripods, patiently waiting for that perfect shot as the sun slipped above the horizon. 

The real key to sunrise on Driftwood Beach is to know where the tide is and whether or not there will be clouds.  Some clouds are magical; when it’s fogged in, not so much.  If the water was high enough there were pools around some of the fallen trees making for a terrific reflection or you could capture the sun “caught” amongst the branches of the trees.  I had a ton of fun wandering up and down the beach looking for the magical combination of sun, tree, waves and cloud.  

It all seems so mysterious.  Like you are walking amongst fallen statues after some catastrophe. Like some civilization left these corpses behind.  The shape, the beauty and the serendipity of light, water and wood was amazing. 

🚎My Solo Maiden Voyage

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I ordered my Leisure Travel Van Wonder RL in March of 2021.  It was at the height of the pandemic and they told me it would be a 2 year wait due to supply chain issues. At the time, I was fine with a 2 year wait as I figured it would give me plenty of time to “figure things out.”  Figuring things out like how to travel in a 25-foot RV around the United States and Canada, how to stock it, store it and, most importantly, drive it. Two years turned into almost Three years.  I finally took possession on February 1st, 2024.  

My new RV, Abeona, parked at Jekyll Island Campground

I have camped many times in my life.  My family and I drove across the United States from Delaware to California, to British Columbia and back on an 8-week odyssey when I was 8 years old. My two older brothers and I with my parents hit the road in an old blue Ford station wagon (without air conditioning) with a 26-foot trailer behind it. I had my own bunk and, as I recall, slept outside a lot under a blanket strewn over a rope between two trees (I apparently didn’t think about snakes or bears or other things that move around in the night).  I know we stayed in campgrounds for the most part and that many days were incredibly long. My father was a hero for driving almost the entire way, some 4,000 plus miles. My mother was the other hero. I don’t’ know how she cooked or how big the refrigerator was. I’m sure it was a wet bath (the shower and toilet are combined in a tiny room).  There was no Wi-Fi, no air conditioning or television.  Just a radio and a dining table that folded down into a full-size bed for my parents.  So yes.  Technically I have lived in an RV but, at eight years old, I had no concept on what was involved in driving cross country in an RV.

I have christened my RV as Abeona (goddess of the outward journey).  It can’t hurt to have a goddess looking out for me.  Abeona is equipped with all kinds of bells and whistles compared to the Coachman Trailer we traveled cross country in as a family. There is air conditioning, heater, gas stove, microwave/convection oven, separate toilet and shower, a fridge that is bigger than the one I shared in my freshman dorm and a roomy freezer as well.  There is a Wi-Fi extender and antenna and two (yes, two) televisions. There is seating for four with seat belts and a separate lounge/murphy bed in the back of the RV.  THIS is not my parents travel trailer.  It also has about 20 different systems at work all at once from LED lighting, to lithium batteries, an inverter, a generator, tire systems, fresh water and gray and black tanks.  To say I was overwhelmed after the half day walkthrough at the dealership, is an understatement.  My son and I spent the night in Abeona at the dealership before I drove it home the next day.  I was glad to have the experience of a night in Abeona before heading out into the great wide-open world but regardless of how uncertain and overwhelmed I was, I had to head out.

An issue with any RV that is not meant for 4 seasons (an RV that is insulated to be lived in below freezing) is the fear of freezing pipes.  I didn’t want my brand-new RV to spring a leak in early February in North Carolina where freezing temperatures are the norm.  The dealership helped me figure how to semi-winterize the rig and use the heating system and batteries to keep it warm enough at night.  I quickly set up a three-week trip to get to the warmer temperatures of Tybee Island, GA, Sarasota, FL and Jekyll Island, GA.  On February 10th, Abeona and I headed out and spent our first night on the road together at Santee, SC.  

First of all, I have to say, that if you are going to drive a vehicle that is three times the size of your regular vehicle, driving on Interstate 40 and Interstate 95 is a really good place to start. I left on a Saturday when there wasn’t much traffic and the drive to Santee was about 3 hours so it wasn’t too taxing.  I can’t imagine driving up a steep incline, mountain pass or narrow road on our maiden voyage. I also drove about 5 miles an hour below the limit. I was sensitive to every gust of wind and lurch and objects moving inside the rig. I have learned that I prefer a gas station that is by its lonesome instead of the confusion of a truck stop.  I’ve also learned that Cracker Barrel and rest stops always have some pull through RV parking which makes it really handy for parking. To be able to pull through and not back up is a real gift when on the road.  It’s also nice to just pull off at a rest stop, and in the pouring rain, to not have to get out of the RV to go the bathroom or grab a cold drink. 

It’s been a huge learning curve.  It took me three weeks to truly figure out using the fresh water tank versus tap water from the campground. It turns out that I need to turn OFF the water pump to use the campground water instead of the fresh water tank (along with all the dials being in the correct direction).  I needed beefier, grippier gloves to deal with the sewer hose as well as every electrical hook up (also known as shore power) has a breaker switch that needs to be turned on (all of this seems obvious in retrospect!).  I am constantly saying “righty tighty” to make sure I’m turning things in the correct direction. 

It has truly been a journey and I’m happy to say that I was able to talk to each of my clients via video in all three locations, I was able to see 8 beach front sunrises that were amazing and I did this all while taking hot showers, eating tasty meals and sleeping in a comfortable bed.  By my return home, I was driving the speed limit and brave enough to do an 8-hour travel day.  Abeona is now tucked away in storage until we head out on our next adventure. It took a bit of trial and error, and patience, and turning down the volume on my inner critic, but I did it alone and I’m really proud that I did. 

🌎6 Must Haves for Overseas Travel

On By Cathy NoiceIn Cathy Noice3 Comments

I spent 6 weeks traveling alone in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Denmark from the end of March until May of 2023.  Most of my previous overseas travel was before the pandemic, although I did travel with my children to Barcelona and Bordeaux in August of 2022. Things have changed, and will continue to, but I have to say that with some of these items, traveling alone is much easier than five years ago. 

On the Westminster Bridge in London, England

Here are my 6 must have items for overseas travel:

A Portable Charger.  I have an iPhone 11 that’s about 4 years old and the battery, especially when taking pictures, is easily depleted.  I bought a portable charger about 7 years ago and, while I know there are lighter, more efficient chargers on the market, my current charger can recharge my phone at least three times before being depleted. I would carry the charger everywhere with me, whether on a plane, bus or walking the streets.  Sometimes in my jacket pocket and sometimes in my backpack.  There were several all-day tours I went on like the highlands of Scotland, that I know I would have lost the charge on my phone without it.  Without a charge on my phone, I would have been lost (sometimes literally).

iWatch.  I’ve had an iWatch for over 7 years and have come to depend on it especially when walking in unknown areas (like the streets of Dublin or Copenhagen).  One of the great features of the iWatch is that it will give you turn by turn directions on foot if you have put your destination on your Maps application on your phone.  This was critical when, while in southern England, I was walking two miles to the train station with my luggage.  No need to juggle getting out my phone, I could just look at my watch and it would tell me how many feet to my next turn and the street name (did I mention it was about to rain?).  It saved time and would vibrate in advance of my next turn.

Google Maps.  Google Maps is a game changer in Europe.  When I wanted to walk to my ancestral home in Walberton England, I wasn’t sure if there was a walkway (the roads in England are tiny!). I could look at the entire route and could see a picture (yes, photo) of each turn and see if there was a pedestrian walkway.  I’m not sure I would have taken the pilgrimage without google maps.  In addition, when I was in Wallingford, England trying to get to Oxford on a bus, they had recently changed the bus schedule to eliminate some of the time slots.  Apple Maps was not up to date, but Google Maps could tell me where the next bus was and when it was going to arrive.  I helped a woman with a small child in a stroller by keeping her up to date as to where the bus was (it ended up being 25 minutes late). In both Apple Maps and Google Maps, you need to select mass transit instead of driving directions and it will give you a plethora of options.

Packable Backpack.  I bought a 16 Liter packable backpack several years ago and it’s been awesome. It comes with a small wallet size bag that it packs into which takes up less space in my luggage.  I had a carry-on suitcase and larger laptop carrying backpack to take on the plane and didn’t carry a purse or fanny pack.  I kept my passport and phone in my pocket. When I would arrive at a location, I would take out the backpack and be able to put in my portable charger and sunglasses, umbrella, water, jacket or other essentials for a day long tour.

Air Tags.  I watched several YouTube Videos about overseas travel before embarking on my trip and several folks suggested air tags.  Air tags are a small disk the size of a quarter that you can slide into anything to keep track of them.  They send a signal as to where they are located. Air tags saved my butt at the Copenhagen airport. I had slid one tag in my laptop backpack and one in my roller bag.  I ended up checking my roller bag from London to Copenhagen.  When I arrived, I had to go through customs so by the time I got to baggage claim, I had no idea what carousel the bag was on (it was not clear and certainly not in English).  Sure enough, I opened my ”Find My Tag App” on my phone and the suitcase sent out a signal that it was close by.  I turned my head and there was my bag coming down the carousel. It would also send me a reminder when I left my Airbnb for the day that my bags were left behind.

Food Basics.  I packed instant coffee packets, decaf tea bags and oatmeal packets before leaving the United States.  I always assume that something will go wrong or there won’t be a grocery store close by when I first arrive to a destination.  The last thing I want to do after an 8-hour red eye is go find a grocery store.  I took about 10 coffee packets, 10 tea bags and 6 oatmeal packets.  As I got the lay of the land, I would replenish my supplies or use what was available in the Airbnb I was staying at (most had tea bags but not coffee).  Yes, I missed a good old cup of brewed coffee but instant will work in a pinch.  I also kept one packable microwavable meal and used it my last night in Copenhagen before returning home. I have to say that I slept better knowing that I would at least have breakfast in the morning before heading out to wander.

There are a few more items that made my trip easier, an International Travel Adapter that had usb plugs as well as electrical plugs all in one.  I bought a carry-on bag with four spinning wheels which was a game changer walking down cobblestone streets.  I also invested in packing cubes which kept me organized and able to pick up some gifts on my trip.  I didn’t think they would make a difference but they really reduced the space my clothes took up in my suitcase. So, there you have my list with 3 bonus items to help keep your world traveling more enjoyable.  What are your overseas travel must haves?