How Travel Changes After 50: We Are No Longer in Our 20's//191

Your 23-year-old self might have measured a trip by how fast you could pack, how far you could drive, and how many friends you could squeeze into a weekend. But as we hit midlife, travel often stops being about proving we are adventurous and starts being about getting honest with what we need. I’m Cheryl Esch, and I’m exploring a question that keeps coming up when I watch younger travelers move through the world with pure spontaneity: how would you travel differently now, as a woman 50 and up?

We talk about why last-minute plans can feel exciting at 23 and oddly stressful later on, and how that shift is not a loss of fun, it’s growth. We dig into identity, confidence, and the real reason some of us avoid being alone, especially on holidays. Then we move into intentional travel planning for solo travelers: the mental, emotional, and even spiritual prep that can turn “time off” into genuine renewal.

I share three grounding questions to ask before you book anything: How am I feeling right now in my body and mind? Do I feel comfortable giving myself permission to step away? What do I want to feel during the trip and when I return home? Whether you crave a quiet retreat, a break from social media, or a purpose-filled adventure, you’ll leave with a clearer sense of what meaningful travel looks like in this season.

If you want support creating a purposeful solo trip, I also share how one-on-one coaching can help. Subscribe for more, share this with a friend who needs time away, and leave a review telling me: what do you want your next trip to give you?

Coaching Invitation
If you’re feeling drawn toward solo travel but unsure where to begin, this is something I support women with through 1:1 coaching. Together we can explore what kind of travel experience fits your season of life and create a thoughtful plan that reflects the woman you are becoming.

https://cherylbeckesch.com/workwithme/

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Transcript

How Your 23-Year-Old Traveled

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello, sister travelers. Well, how would your 23-year-old self travel? What were your needs then? What kind of experiences were you looking for? Versus maybe how you approach travel now as a woman 50 and up. Welcome to Solo Travel Adventures. I'm Cheryl Esh, your host. And this question came to mind as I kind of ruminated over it because I have a 23-year-old son who just spontaneously decided to take a trip this week. It is in the US, it is July 4th. It's a huge deal this year because it is our 250th anniversary. And he just started a new job. And so he wasn't sure that he would even have time off. But they did close, I guess, his plant where he works for the week. So he has time off. So of course, being just like his mother, he decided to take a spontaneous trip. And I got to thinking like how my travel when I was 23, because I did that at 23 for sure, is very different than how I approach travel now as a woman 50 and up.

Spontaneity, Identity, And Being Alone

SPEAKER_00 1:28

Now I'm not saying you can't at our age do a spontaneous trip. I have done them. But I do approach my travel with a lot more thought and making it very intentional and with purpose now, versus just quickly jumping in the car like he did and taking a nine-hour drive back to the city where he went to college to visit some college friends. And I also have family there, so he is spending some time with family, which is nice. But looking back, I think about my 23-year-old self and realize that much of the way I traveled may have had a lot to do with my identity. What did I feel about myself? How confident was I? Did it even matter? And I believe, for example, my son, he's a very social person. And having just moved about a month or so ago to a new town several states away from friends and family, he feels probably isolated and alone and has not yet developed friends or community there where he moved. So I get it, I understand. He wants to be around people and he doesn't want to be alone. But could that also be not wanting to be alone because then you have to live with yourself? You have to kind of your thoughts start to maybe go out of hand, and you just start to get into, I don't know, you just maybe start to wonder about yourself, and you really have to, when you have that time for yourself to examine yourself. And at 23, I didn't know who I was, and to actually think about even sitting aside alone with my thoughts, maybe was a bit scary, and maybe that's maybe how my son felt. And so he didn't want to be in that place. I completely get it. Didn't want to be alone for a holiday, totally get that as well. Although I feel very different about that now in my life, and I cherish actually times

Three Questions For Intentional Travel

SPEAKER_00 3:56

alone. And so when I approach my travel now, which I believe is a lot of us out there, we really want it to be very meaningful to us. And that time is well spent, it's just not haphazardly, maybe it takes some planning, which usually is what happens. And a lot of us also want to hold on to some type of control. And so a spontaneous trip like my son just took maybe is not in the cards. It sounds a bit scary, a little unpredictable. But if you thrive on that, then maybe that's the type of trip you prefer. But I find that most women that I've worked with, that I've talked with my age and even older or slightly younger even, have expressed the need for when they travel for it to be very intentional. And so a lot does require some planning, not just the itinerary planning, but it requires some prep mentally and maybe even physically and emotionally prior to going on that trip. And what do I mean by that? Well, this requires some sitting down alone with your thoughts and really thinking about where you are in this season of your life. What are your needs? Are you needing just some complete quiet and rest during this travel time? Or maybe you need just to get away from your current situation and be cut off, maybe even from your phone or social media, or you just need some time to be you, honestly, and that may require just again going alone in this trip and might not involve other people, although other people might want to join you, especially as you start to talk about your trip. And so I encourage you if you are planning a trip, and it is summer, and maybe you haven't gone anywhere yet this summer. It's slightly early, but there's still some time to potentially plan a trip, but it will require really some intentional sitting down, sitting with yourself and asking a couple questions. For example, how am I feeling right now? And not just looking at how you physically feel, but also thinking about how you mentally, emotionally, and even spiritually feel in this time. Are you feeling pretty run down? And that could be all-encompassing body, spirit, and mind, or are you feeling like you have some energy for something a little more demanding in your travels and want excitement and adventure because maybe your everyday life is pretty boring and you want to spice it up, or maybe it's the complete opposite. You have a very stressful job or life situation, right? You want to separate and get away from that. So that would be the first question to ask about how you're feeling, both physically, mentally, and spiritually, even emotionally is part of that as well. And then figure out do you feel comfortable taking some time away? I give you permission, by the way, if you are not in a place to give yourself permission to go. Often we are putting a lot of that responsibility on ourselves to remain in whatever situation we're in, whether it's still being that foundation for our family or our friends or our job. And we need time away. We need time to fill our cups, as I like to say, because we can't keep going with an empty cup. It would be like continuing your daily life without eating. Eventually, you will get really depleted, very tired, exhausted because you're lacking the energy that you receive from food and drink intake for your body. So think of it that way. And then third thinking about what do I want to achieve? What is it that I really want to feel during my trip and even coming back from it? What do I want to accomplish, so to speak? Is it simply just to find rest? Okay, going maybe to a silent retreat might be the ticket here where you can just rest and not worry about anything. No performance, nobody bothering you, and just sitting and maybe taking naps, journaling, reading, whatever it is that sort of fills your soul would be a great option for you. And what do you want to accomplish not just there, but when you come back? How do you want to feel? Do you want to feel rejuvenated? Do you want to feel excited, replenished? All those wonderful words. And this is how we look at travel probably very differently now than when we were 23. So if you travel when you're 23, it's a very different view. And I want everybody, all women, whether you are 50 or above or even younger, I believe travel can certainly be healing, it can be rejuvenating, it can be purposeful, it should be purposeful.

Healing Travel And Coaching Offer

SPEAKER_00 10:12

And yeah, we now as older women know ourselves better. We know ourselves better than our 23-year-old self. I certainly hope so. Although there's days I often even question myself, but I think we have a better understanding of who we are, and with that understanding, that's how we can move forward and find a trip, a travel plan that fits best with who we are, and not just randomly go somewhere and hope for the best, or spontaneously jump in your car and go somewhere without any kind of planning, and I don't know what my son is thinking, but he's 23 and I have been there, but the journey to where I am now, I'm exponentially so much more mature in understanding of who I am in the Lord, also, but what my needs are too as a woman. If you're still struggling and need some guidance, I am here. One-on-one coaching is what I offer women to get to that place where they can have a very intentional and purposeful trip. Go to sharesh.com backslash work with me if you want to find out more about my program. But I want you to have that fulfilling time and not just waste the time on your travels. I want you to come back from your trip even just more encouraged, more fulfilled, and be able to carry that even into your everyday life. So, sisters, do get out there and have that adventure, but I encourage you to be intentional and purposeful about where you go, when you go, and what you do on that trip. And I'm here to help.