How to Unite 600,000 Strangers Who Want to Be Alone - w/ Amanda

For women to be honest, as we're getting older, we have actually more options than previous generations did. We're not getting married, not having kids. We're not centering our world around that family dynamic, but the world hasn't quite caught up with us, right? Welcome back to another episode and today I'm joined by Amanda Black, founder of the Female Solar Traveler Network, which is a global community for more than 600,000 women all over the world. For the past decade, Amanda has been leading women only small group trips all around the world. She takes us through how solo travel changes women beyond just the cliches, connecting over shared firsts building community as an adult and how to navigate the world as a solo female traveler with both empowerment and practicality. I think that one of the major

misconceptions about solo female travel is that it's just really dangerous and that's not true. What you just mentioned brings to mind it's a bit of a confession that really I haven't had the chance to make because I actually don't really have any friends that solo travel. Here at Ready Set Do, we know that the only way to learn is to do. Therefore, my goal with this episode is to share a fresh perspective on solo travel and a step-by-step blueprint for building thriving local and global communities. Even the most experienced travelers might feel lonely, might feel a little social anxiety. That's really common. Loneliness on the road is super common, but there are. Subscribe on YouTube and follow on 45 for weekly episodes and now without any further

ado, here's Amanda. Welcome to the only podcast in the world featuring stories of high agency individuals who are just a few steps ahead of us. Amanda, welcome. Things happen to me here. So excited to pick your brain around, not just the amazing community that you built, but I'm sure also all of the wonderful experiences you've accumulated over the years. All of this kind of started with, you mentioned a negative bank account and really not fun times in your personal life.

So I want to kick off there. What was it that made you start this amazing community of yours? Sure. So I had been traveling for many years by myself and I just realized that there was a need for spaces for women specifically to connect about travel, to ask questions where they wouldn't be judged or told to just go home when times get tough and to empower each other to chase our dreams and do what we want in the world. I had started a Facebook group and after a couple years, it grew fairly big. It was at the time it was about 65,000 members and our members were talking about wanting to travel together. So I decided to put a tour together. Our first tour was to Bali and as you mentioned, I was an expat in Australia. I had lived there maybe a year or six months. I

don't remember. And I had a negative bank account and I couldn't find a job. And so I was like, why not? Let's give it a try. And it was a pretty big risk, I'd say, would it ended up working out. And so now eight years since that first trip, we have over half a million members in our community and we run trips around the world. That's so incredible. So when you first started the Facebook group, was the goal to not travel at the time? Were you was it just a group for like-minded women to connect with each other or what was your thinking at the time? Honestly, I don't think I had much of a plan. I just knew that we needed a space for each other. And I also wanted to stay connected to all the really cool women that I had met on the road who maybe otherwise we wouldn't

have really had a space to stay in touch. So I that's how I started. I put those women who I met traveling and all the travelers that I knew in a Facebook group. And that's how we started. So no, I can't say that I had plans on doing this kind of thing, but I definitely had dreams, not quite this, but that makes total sense. I'd like often, and as I'm sure you know, the whole point or theme of this podcast is, you know, all about taking that first step right, even though you don't really know where it's going or what the big picture plan is, life is lived in the arena. And the only way to learn is to do that. That's so incredible. And really honestly inspirational. And then I also want to touch on what you mentioned the beginning around spaces for women to travel, right? And how I think you mentioned some pain points where,

you know, it's not safe. Like they'd looked at weirdly. So I am curious by from your own travels, what are some of the, I guess, biggest pain points that you've established that solo women travelers, you know, face till this day even. I think there are a lot of misconceptions about solo travel, especially in our worlds at home, because being a solo traveler, even being a traveler isn't exactly majority of people. I don't agree. Yeah. Yeah. So when you're let alone a solo traveler as a woman, when you're at home, a lot for a lot of us, we're surrounded by a lot of judgment or too much like overly or misplaced worry by our friends and family. And I think that one of the major misconceptions about solo female travel is that it's just really dangerous. And that's not true. We could talk about that for an entire episode, but that is

one of the main misconceptions. Another big one is that we're traveling solo because we don't have any friends to come with us. Also non-strew. I have heard that one. Yeah. Yeah. Or that we're single. And a lot of us are not. A lot of my travelers who come on my tours are married, they even have kids. There's something very special about traveling alone. And that's really what people are after. Tell me more about that, I guess. And obviously I can think of a few things, but I'm assuming that our experiences with traveling alone would be completely different, right? Given I'm, you know, a male and, you know, you're a female. So I am curious to picture brain around what are some of the, you know, biggest things that catch these women by surprise, you know, like when you imagine planning a trip, you have certain ideas in your mind, but then

when you go out to do it, there are surprises, right? Now these can be good or bad surprises, but I'm hoping to maybe get a couple, you know, off each from you, unless you would say that actually there are no such thing as bad surprises, which would also be valid. But if that question even makes sense. It does make sense. I would definitely rather start with the good surprises. Let's do it. Yup. So I think the biggest thing that you cannot predict in travel is all the really cool people that you could meet and the spontaneous experiences that you can have by just being present, by being open, by allowing yourselves to be vulnerable, but not unsafely just by smiling at people, just by staying at a cafe by yourself and being open to who might be around you. You

always have to be smart, but it's those surprise interactions and those surprise invitations and the random coffee shops or people that you meet along the way that are something you cannot plan and is really the best part to me. I would say in terms of negative surprises, they're definitely things don't go to plan. When you're no matter how carefully you plan to trip, even for us with our group tours, not everything is going to be perfect. There are way too many variables to have everything go exactly how you expect and plan, but learning how to adapt to that, how to respond to that is a travel skill. And I think that even when things, especially when things go a little bit wrong, that's when you discover how capable you are as a solo traveler. And that's

when you kind of, it's like a door opens up to new possibilities that you never even imagined. Like your hostel might unexpectedly not have enough room for you despite your booking, and then you find yourself in the next door hostel that it really social and really fun, and you never would have met these people otherwise, things like that. Yeah, no, I think those are great call-ups, and I would just like to add that something that has happened with me in my, in like the few times I have gotten to travel solo is just like almost a weird journey of self discovery. Like there will, as you said, some situation will occur, and I'll react a certain way, and only like three hours later will I realize that that was very unlike me, you know, like this,

I did not know that I would react that certain way to that situation. And I think it's really cool to have that happen because I really crave that feeling in my just day-to-day life, because I just feel like it doesn't happen enough. And I think it is one of those things that really only happens when you're traveling, especially when you're traveling solo, Sijino just wanted to tack that on to your points. So another thing, another thing that you know, I think you you really like talking about on your website and as well is your framework of shared first. So what can you tell us about that? And why is that something that you know, you try to prioritize in your experiences?

I believe that a lot of us have moments of loneliness. I mean, we're living in a world where we're glued to screens, where work from home is awesome, but also a lot more common. And as we get older, naturally, we no longer have the same containers for connection. We're not in school seeing the same people every day. We're not in sports or drama club or whatever you did. And so it's natural, especially for women, to be honest, because as we're getting older, we have actually more options than previous generations did. A lot of us are not getting married, not having kids. We're not centering our world around that family dynamic. But the world hasn't quite caught up with us, right? Like friendships don't look like that familial kind of support a lot of the time. It's not

as normal to have that kind of support system from your friends, although it should be. And it can be. So in my experience leading by now hundreds of tours for women, I've seen a lot of women really admit that when they are back home, they feel quite lonely. And don't feel like they have someone who really has their back and really sees them. I think this is a really common feeling among women. And when they come on these tours, I've seen these women create the community that they crave back home in person. And I believe that it's the fact that we're doing something.

We've created the container for this kind of quick connection to grow. We're all doing something brand new totally once in a lifetime awe inspiring together. We're creating memories together. And it creates this amazing community and connection and friendship that is rare in adulthood. So my TEDx talk was about these shared firsts and not only how we can find them in travel, but also how we can try to recreate them at home on a regular basis so that we can all feel more connected more consistently. That's really cool. And is that something that you wanted to do right from the right out of the gate when you first started? Or is that something that you kind of realize that this is a gap in the community and to be able to feel that would be really helpful

and inspirational for other women? I'm just curious about that. Community was always a really big part of starting these tours. I mean, we started from community and supporting each other. Women having each other's backs and powering each other. That's where we began. And that's always been a really core thread in all of our group tours and in everything that we've done. So the answer is yes, that's always been the intention. But over the years and after gaining a lot of experience and living a lot of life myself, I really later started to put together like how powerful these connections really are. I mean, some of my closest friends have come from my own tours.

And I've seen women on my trips bond with each other in a way that you just don't see at home very often. So it has always been the core of what we do, but it has become even more a part of our intention as the years have. I say, so it's just kind of grown over time as you realize just how incredible and important it is. Exactly. And I'm just, you know, I'm trying to put myself in your shoes as somebody, you know, that is responsible for setting up all of these tours and such. And it all feels just really overwhelming. So I guess what can you share about, you know, like the logistical end of things, like what goes into maybe you can pick a trip that you planned this year or last year, you know, and then maybe walk us through what does it take to plan something

off this scale? Like how does the recruitment happen? How do you decide the location and all of that? So how does that work? It's such a big question because it's different for every destination to be honest. Some destinations, I maybe met somebody when I was there who I really loved and trusted. And so that person is sort of the catalyst to putting together a team in that country, for example, or if it's a destination that I don't have as much travel experience in myself, by now, after a year, it took years to build this kind of network. But now I'm pretty confident that I can find somebody trusted in every, in every, in almost every country in the world. And so I don't just trust it, right? Like you can't just blindly trust anyone. So I go and if it's a country

that my trap, my community has requested, and I haven't been there, I go first. So I go and in the industry, there's something called a fam trip. It's like a familiarization trip. And so it's a trip where you go and it's a, it's a usually a really busy fast-paced itinerary. And it's a some, it's people in that country wanting to show you their best experiences, their favorite places, and introduce you to the best guides. And so that kind of, that kind of trip really introduces you quickly to a destination and to everything that's kind of possible to experience. So those are, those are very overview ways of how I find my teams in different countries. But in terms of planning, one of the most important elements of our trips is that we include people and places

and accommodation that you would have a pretty hard time finding on your own. And that's because I've traveled there or somebody in my team has traveled there extensively, met these people, know these people, and we're invited into these spaces. So it might be like a henna party in India with three generations of women or a cooking class in Bali in somebody's home kitchen. I mean, there's a lot of examples, but yeah, I mean, we could probably do a whole episode on this topic alone, but that gives you a bit of an idea, I suppose. No, yeah, totally. And it really helps to put into context that what you said about like, this is not as simple as just going online and figuring out these places to go to. It's almost that exclusivity angle that, you know, you kind of

get it's baked into the experience and you don't have to go out of your way to a find out that it exists firstly, and then be to actually be able to, you know, find yourself in those rooms or having those experiences that would be really hard to do elsewhere. So yeah, no, that makes sense. And I also can appreciate how just you can't rush that, right? Like it's just something that happens over time, you kind of have to build those connections organically. And there's really no way to fast track that. I would assume would that would that be right? Yeah, that's definitely true.

And when I was, when I travel by myself, and I'm going to these destinations, I spent, I spent years just sort of slow traveling alone. And a lot of, especially in the beginning, our first destinations, a lot of our experiences and trips on our tours come from my own travels. And it took me months, sometimes longer to meet these people who are now part of our itineraries and to find these experiences that are not just, you know, online somewhere. And what I really wanted to do in my tours was create like a fast track to these kinds of experience and this kind of travel, this off the beaten path, which is such an overused phrase, but this sort of like insider access into women's lives and homes and these invitations that you can't get just by walking around a

city and hoping for the best. It took me a long time. So I wanted to be able to offer this type of travel easier and quicker for for other women, because I think it's the best way to travel. That's amazing. And around what you said with having just so much experience of solo traveling, I am curious. I can almost in my head imagine, you know, like as the meme goes, there are levels to this game, right? So I'm hoping you can help for my viewers put into perspective.

When you first start to travel solo, so you know, that's like level one, maybe some experiences that happen then or some realizations that you start with and then how they change once you get to level five. And I'm assuming at this point, you're probably at like the highest level there is. So what do those same perspectives become as you travel again and again and again and spend more and more time traveling solo by yourself. So if you can extrapolate on that, I think that would be really, really cool. Sure. I think that level one is the hardest, the hardest to pinpoint because everyone has different natural comfort levels and kind of exposure to the world, I suppose. You know, when I started, when I started traveling, I actually, I moved to the Middle East by myself.

I mean, I had a support system, right? Like I didn't, I went by myself, but I had when I got there, I had support. When in the Middle East was this? I'll tell you, I'll tell you later. Oh, you're gonna bet. But then I ended up, I ended up coming home because my mom got really sick and she ended up passing away. And when she died, I was super lost. And so I decided to buy a one-way ticket to Honduras, which is not the best first solo destination. And at the time, where were you based out of just four contexts when this was all happening? So I mean, I had my parents lived in California at the time. Well, yeah, I moved back for about three months and then then left again.

For Honduras. So like, you know, I wouldn't recommend that to everyone, but for me, it made sense. And I, so yeah, for some people that first step is just a weekend trip. The next town or just a couple hours away. For others, it might be a real trip across the country. It could be anything, right? But I do think that there are certain skills that you learn inevitably along the way. One is to be adaptable and flexible, no matter what happens, because the crazier you travel, the more things happen, the longer you travel, more things happen. And if you are really stuck on your plan and really been out of shape when things go wrong, you're having a hard time because things go wrong. But when you do adapt and you learn that skill to have the confidence in yourself,

to figure it out, that's a big, that's for if we're talking in levels, that's a big level up, right? When you learn to have that confidence and flexibility and ability to figure it out. And real quick, in this situation, if somebody were to just want to abandon ship, they're like, I've had enough, I'm going back. Do you think that's failure? Like, do you think that is that impedes their progress or not really? I don't think you can fail. If you get on that plane and you go somewhere, even if you end up crying in your hotel room, let's do a round and come back the next day, it's still not failure. You still did it. Like, you still did more than most people ever even attempt. And it's not the end. You can try again.

That's very true. So that's, yeah, as you said, that's kind of beginner-ish intermediate. And then when do you know that you're now advanced? I think you know, I think you know that you're an advanced traveler when you know that there is no such thing. The shore that, you know, shore I've been to a lot of places by myself, I feel quite confident in being pretty much anywhere on my own. But there's always, there are always things to learn. There are phases, right? Like, even now, sometimes I find myself, I still love solo travel, but I have loved my tours, like, leading my own tours so much. It's almost my preferred way is to go with people who just really get you. Like, not all the time, but I think it's about balance, right? Yeah. Sure, exactly. And I

think that it doesn't matter if you go by yourself, if you go with a group, if you go with your mom, it doesn't matter how you go. The most important thing is that you go and experience the world and you never know what will happen and what, you know, what kind of traveler you'll kind of evolve into and then evolve something else. And yeah. Yeah. I think, you know, like, what you just mentioned, brings to mind, it's a bit of a confession that really I haven't had the chance to make to a lot of people that I know because I actually don't really have any friends that solo travel. So, basically, the first time I ever traveled solo was to Australia. I was in Melbourne and Sydney.

It was a total of four days. And this was way back. So in 2018, I guess. And like, my feeling coming back from this trip was obviously your usual stuff off like awe and, you know, that was great. You know, I learned so much, etc. But a big part of me was just really just overwhelmed. Like, I, it was not all positive, I guess, is what I'm trying to get at. And even when I was there, I remember struggling a decent amount with just just not being able to really place myself in this apparently new world that had existed this whole time. That was just alien to me because again, I had never left India up until that point. So firstly, is this common, like, does this happen to most people? And if so, does this get better over time?

That's a really sweet question. And I'm happy that you shared that because it is definitely difficult to travel solo for everybody and anybody. I think really the difference only becomes that you get used to it. It's almost like you expect me unexpected. And you know how to handle things better. And you have the confidence, especially for women. Another big travel skill is to have the to trust your gut and have the confidence and and strength to act to act on its least situations to to make things better, stay for for yourself. So interesting. I think those types of skills definitely help the feeling that you're describing and the only way to to learn those solo travel skills is to do it just to keep traveling solo. I think that it's never perfect

when you go on your own or travel is just never perfect. And that feeling of overwhelm is very real and very common. And I think that you have you learn to sit with it and you learn to accept it. And you learn how to kind of almost like self soothe. Even though you're however many miles away from home. So it's a travel skill and learn and you learn all these travel skills the hard way. But it's fun, right? Well, yeah. And I mean speaking of fun, right? And other fun things while traveling. How does how would you recommend one deal with loneliness in their in their solo travel?

Or is that just, you know, a skill issue, right? Like don't don't be lonely. Go do things. Is that how that works? No, I mean, learning how to meet people is definitely, of course, it's a skill. And I don't mean to like put everything in terms of skill or not skill. It's not true. Even the most experienced travelers might feel lonely, might feel a little socially so anxiety or maybe feeling like they're not really connecting with a place so well. That's really common. I think that wellliness on the road is super common. And there are a lot of ways to try to meet people and to connect with people. One of them is Facebook groups, of course, like ours is is the largest one for solo female travelers. But there are other ones for you. And you can pop in there and say, hey, I'm in this place. Is anyone around and want to

do whatever the thing is to do in that place? Or you can join like a free walking tour in a place. That's usually very solo traveler friendly. You'll meet other people. You can go on find like group tours. I like Airbnb experiences. I do. I will like disclaim. I recommend going and trying to find their experience outside of the platform and try to book it directly. But you can find really great tours that way. Very solo traveler friendly.

You can go to meetup.com. It's in a lot of different countries in the world. And find things to do. If you, you know, when you're traveling alone and you go, you might not feel as comfortable doing it at home. But if you go to like a bar or a restaurant or a cafe and just sit there by yourself, you'll be surprised how many really nice people will come up and talk to you. I think that's such a great call out because even for people that are considering traveling solo, but you know, can't muster up the courage just yet, I think it's a great way of almost wading into the waters by just go and sit at your local bar by yourself. Right? It's like it can be 10 minutes away from your house. And I feel like even that will begin to, you know, condition you

in helpful ways to be able to get closer to eventually taking the plunge. So I really like that call out and just how actionable it is. I did also want to pick your brain Amanda around just the community building aspect of, you know, what, what the incredible community that you have. So like let's just pretend that it doesn't even have to be travel related, right? Let's just say I'm trying to build a community, obviously online. Having done this and having scaled it to such an incredible length. What would you, what would you advise are the main pillars of online community building. This can be, you know, like a local chess group or it can be a more bigger global community such as someone you have. But what are some of these staples that remain constant no matter what? Sure. First, I would say choose a niche and make sure that niche is

not already in existence. For example, if you want to start a chess club, as your example, you can definitely do that. But I would go and see what other chess clubs already exist. There might be some awesome ones that are already there that you can join and you can become, you know, a big part of. And it's not necessary to reinvent the wheel all the time. Some communities, I mean, we would all be happier if we just had fewer communities for the same thing in, in general. We'd all be in more community. So, well, that's my, that would be my first suggestion is do your research and really find something that people need. Secondly, is add value, always be adding value. That is the best, that is the rule from day one to day 1000 or whatever,

would always add value and make it really accessible. I mean, depending on what you're doing, there are some that invite only or which is totally valid, that always be adding value and make people want to come back. Love that. And then once you have kind of, you know, you picked a niche, you did your research, you found something that, you know, doesn't exist. And you now have a steady stream of interested people beginning to join. Now, when it comes to scaling that, I guess, what does the goal post change in any way or do you have to do different things in that case? It definitely changes. In the beginning, you're more about figuring out exactly what the people, your ideal person in your community, what it is they're asking for, what it is they want and need and how

you can give it to them. It's not about money. It's not about, it's about passion. It's about, it's about the passion and love and desire for this community. If you don't have that, if you have like, you know, dollar signs in your eyes, then you're probably, honestly, you're probably gonna fail unless you turn it into a business, which is not, which is not really community. So, so, yeah, I would say in the beginning, it's adding value and generating, generating buzz and conversation.

So I had my friends jump in all the time and I forced them to be my community. And, you know, they have- That's so smart. Yeah. It's so much easier to start with something, with someone, with some small group of people, even if they are just your friends who you bully into commenting, you know, as we're talking to them every day anyway. But as you get larger, you are always trying to figure out what value you can add, but then eventually it's less about you running the conversation because the community has taken over, which is a beautiful thing. And then starting the conversation and, and being in community with each other. So when that happens, it's a little bit more about, sometimes it's like a little less glammy. It's more about, you know, making

sure there are no trolls in there and starting to maybe be a little bit more picky about who you allow inside and making sure that things that the conversations stay on track. That's another really big tip that I would have is you have one goal, one mission or niche and anything outside of that doesn't belong. Interesting. So you're almost a curator at that point that has to make sure that the scope of the community is maintained or followed and, you know, not broken, villainy, religious, because of, as you mentioned, trolls are just people that get distracted. I suppose, and I think once you're at that place, I feel like, yeah, it's like super easy from there, just because there's buzz, there's chatter, there's conversations and the community is

communicating, so to speak. I am curious though, around what you said about you almost separated the business part of it from the community. Now, is that just not something you recommend? Or would you say that there are ways, and this is not related, obviously to your community, but I'm just saying in general communities, can they be monetized? And is it a good idea to monetize them or not really? Yes, it can, they can absolutely be monetized. And I, I actually believe that community needs to be one of two things. It either must be paid or it must be very vetted, because the fact is the majority of people have never learned how to be a community member. They don't necessarily think like, what can I give before they think about what can I get? And what community is, is people over giving before they, before they receive.

And so I started the solo female traveler network as a, as a genuine community for any woman who wants to travel solo. And that's still what it is. Okay. But as I did this for a couple years, it was, it was a year and a half to two years before I actually made a dime from, from anything. And what I did was I gave them what they asked for, which they couldn't really do all on their own, which is tours with each other. So yeah, so you know, to this day, our community functions, it's still for anyone. I, I rarely will post even our own tours in our community. And it's really for no other reason than it's community first. And you don't ever have to come on a tour with us to be to be included. But over the years, you know, it is a tremendous amount of work to

maintain. Yeah, I can imagine the tours themselves are a tremendous amount of work to create. And so it takes my all of my time and all of my bandwidth. And I deserve to be paid for that. I have to be percent. So that's how I monetize my community. But really, I view them separately, the business and the community. That's fascinating. And do you at this point, have a team that helps you? Or is it really just completely you? No, I have a team. I have, we're, we're a really small team, despite our volume, I have, you know, people who help with the financial aspects, like bookkeeper, accountant, I have my most valuable team member is my tour manager who communicates with all of our travelers and does the admin side of our, of a lot of our tour operations. We have teams in every destination that we operate in. So yeah, we definitely have,

we definitely have a team. I don't do it alone. That's super helpful. And I really appreciate you sharing because, you know, it's helpful for folks that are fairly nascent in their journeys and that are just, you know, thinking of doing or building a community. And I think even if I just put myself in, in, in the position, it's really just the volume of the work is probably, you know, what feels like the biggest deterrent. Like for me, so, you know, like living in Chicago, I have, I just really wish I had a community of other content creators, specifically like YouTubers around me. And I think going back to what you said about niches, there is not a group that does that. But just having talked to you, I now feel fairly competent in terms of understanding

at least what the first couple steps can be like towards that. And I think that is, you know, just so helpful. And I'm sure it is also for, you know, anybody listening. So I guess to kind of bring it back. Obviously, the person that started this community and the person I'm speaking to right now are not the same people. What would you say are some of the biggest changes that occur and maybe even changes that almost sneak up on you. And you know, like if I were to imagine, I'm sure being more confident is one of them more resourceful. But I guess what are some of the more underrated traits that you really only develop from traveling? It can be solo, it can be, as you said, with your mom or with your group or whoever. But what, why should one travel? What is the point of traveling?

It's such a big question. I think that travel, I think that travel really allows you a unique time to be with yourself or with the people around you. But you're still with yourself, you still have to make decisions, you still have to, you have to discover how capable you are, right? Whether that's whether the answer is not very much, you need to go work on some skills, or whether the answer is, holy shit, I'm so capable, I am so able to do this. Whichever way it goes in your first trip, it's a really important thing to discover about yourself, that if you always stay home, you're never going to really experience. I think it also totally opens your mind to different ways of thinking. It taught me a tremendous amount of gratitude. I think that it can completely change

the trajectory of your life, if you let it, by seeing things that you never would have known existed, by meeting people you for sure never would have met if you never got on that plane. I think it's such a big question, and I'm giving you such a vague answer, because there's just so many reasons to travel. And I think anyone who asks, and I know you're not asking for yourself, but I think anyone who thinks to themselves, what's the point? Start by watching a documentary or something of like another country or culture. I mean, there's so many crazy, you know, different, amazing ways of doing life and eating food and perceiving the world that you get to experience firsthand when you travel. I always think of one of the biggest benefits of traveling is just the increase of your luck surface area, right? So which you touched on by

when you said like you meet people that you would just never have met. I like to think of that, just from the lens of it really just unlocks the like total surface area of luck in life that you're working with. And a few things do that. Of course, travel is not the only one, but it's high up there on that list in terms of things that very easily does that. So you just wanted to kind of call that out. Yeah. Yeah. And really, I guess, final segment here slash question before.

I'll let you go. Say there is a woman in Chicago listening to us right now. She really wants to go to Germany. And you know, she just has always wanted to go to Germany, has never been able to, you know, click the click the mouse button, so to speak. What would your advice be to this person? Just go. Just do it. You're never going to feel ready. You're never going to feel fearless. You're going to feel that way until you get there. So just go. Just go figure it out. You're never really alone. You have Facebook groups like mine with hundreds of thousands of women there to support you anytime you need. You can even post Hey, I'm in wherever you are in Germany as anyone here and probably someone's there. Yeah. There's so many ways to connect even when

you're abroad or just go. Yeah. Sure. Sweet. What are some of the best places to find you? Of course, you have your website for those that are curious to check out one of your tours. What would be the best place for them to do that? Our website is the solo female traveler network.com. Our Instagram is solo female travel. And you can even if you go to our website on the homepage, there's a free quiz that you can take that you answer just a few questions. And then we give you it's totally free and we don't require an email or anything, but it'll it'll help kind of guide you into the type of destination that maybe you should travel next. So whether you're looking for something really exciting and, you know, a little wild or you're looking for something very restorative and peaceful,

it'll kind of it'll give you some ideas that maybe you hadn't thought of. That's really cool. Thanks for taking the time here today. It's been so nice, you know, picking your brain learning from your incredible experiences. And I just feel really glad that I finally got to confess my own experience to somebody that I think actually understood it for once. I had a great time chatting with you. And thank you so much for having me.