I'm Melissa Banigan, Founder and Managing Editor of Travel Solo After 40, a resource for single women who are traveling solo after 40, with emphases on gorgeous destinations, food and drink, and beautifully-written creative nonfiction travel stories that read like literature.

 

Unless otherwise noted, all of the articles and photos published on this site are my own (author names are listed at the top of an essay or article, and names of photographers are listed at the bottom of each page).
 

My home base is Brooklyn, New York, but I'm a regional expert in the French Caribbean (with a particular love for Guadeloupe), Cameroon, and Peru. I love introducing other solo women travelers over 40 to these beautiful regions and countries, as well as other destinations where I've had rich solo travel experiences (Iceland being at the top of the list!). 

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MY STORY

 

In 2010, I was a single mom living in Brooklyn, NY. I worked a series of 9 to 5 jobs (OK, 8 to 6) in finance and education, and I was miserable. After paying rent and childcare, I wasn't left with much else. I was hustling, but for what? Just to survive? It dawned on me that if I was going to continue working my fingers to the bone, I had better start enjoying what I was working so hard for. In 2011, I decided to take back my life, develop a career as a freelance writer and photographer, and homeschool my daughter so that we might travel the world. It was a bold, terrifying move, but with middle age looming and no time to waste, it was one that felt dire, and it ultimately proved successful. 

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My daughter and I spent months backpacking through Europe, hiked over mountains, got lost in the Amazon (seriously!), and widened our worldview in West Africa. Along the way, I ran out of money and had my cash card cut off by my bank. We contracted serious illnesses and as a non-partnered single woman, I needed to single-handedly navigate international hospitals and place travel insurance claims. We stayed in affordable youth hostels with backpackers half my age and were invited to stay with lovely octogenarians in their castle towers and estates. I also dated, because contrary to society deeming me a washed up "spinster," single women over 40 still date, fall in love, and have sex!

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In the last handful of years, my writing and photography has appeared in the Washington Post (Health & Science), BBC Travel, NPR, and Atlas Obscura, among many others, with work forthcoming in National Geographic, CNN Travel, and Smithsonian Magazine. You can see some of my clips, here. 

 

In 2013, I founded Advice Project Media, a nonprofit organization that offers media, writing, and travel services for youth and women on the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, as well as Cameroon, Peru, and the USA. I've become an authority on these beautiful regions and countries, and women around the world - mostly other single women solo travelers over 40, single mothers, and empty nesters - come to me for advice on how they, too, might travel solo to these places. It was out of this apparent need for a resource for non-partnered women (and all this entails!) that the idea for Travel Solo After 40 was born. 

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Mid-2017, my teen daughter left our home to start forging her own path as a student and traveler in her own right. Despite missing my daughter, I refuse to find myself in an "empty nest." Although I've always traveled solo, it's a new feeling to not be accountable to even my child, and I'm venturing out into the world on my own, untethered. It's an exciting time, and through the lens of Travel Solo After 40, I want to take you along on the ride. 

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Of course, traveling as a single solo woman after 40 is much different than traveling as a partnered woman or even as a younger woman. There is no safety net if something were to go wrong. No partner back home to pick up the pieces or handle the calls to insurance agencies and hospitals should an accident happen. As solo travelers of a "certain age," we must form our own support networks - a sisterhood of like-minded travelers. You won't find dry posts offering "travel tips" or "lists" on this website, and you definitely won't read travel guides filled with "bucket list" adventures. What you will find are beautifully written stories by inspiring people just like you: women who have "been there, done that" and are heading boldly out into the world, on their own terms. 

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Although all of the content on this site is written by non-partnered women, ALL solo traveling women over 40 can benefit from the stories. After all, partnered women also fly solo!

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My interests are broad, but they always circle back to food, community, gender equity, responsible ecotravel, and conservation of natural resources. My writing and photography reflect these things, and while most of the stories published through Travel Solo After 40 are my own, you'll also find stories written by a remarkable contingent of other strong single women (cis and trans) travelers who are flying solo after 40. 

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Travel Solo After 40's stories are about: budget travel; safety; health considerations, insurance, and medical emergencies; solo travel women heroes; solo travelers who have never decided to have kids, and those who have; escaping the "empty nest"; single mother travel with older children and young adults; real sex talk (including LGTBQ dating). You'll also find destination guides for the French Caribbean, Cameroon, Peru, the USA, and beyond (these guides will grow over time!); and empowerment.

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Occasionally, I publish stories by other remarkable solo women travelers over 40. These stories are meant to introduce readers to places I've never visited, or to give an interesting take on traveling solo that I might not have had.

 

Travel Solo After 40 is a global sisterhood of travelers, and I'm so glad to have you here as part of our community.

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~Melissa

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