Carol’s Story: Solo Travel After 60 that Thrives on Movement, Not Maintenance

No Cruise Ships, Please”: Carol’s Story of Choosing Movement, Not Maintenance

Short Insight: Carol isn’t just travelling, she’s rewriting the story of what life over 60 looks and feels like. With hiking poles in one hand and a snorkel in the other, she’s proof that being single, child-free, and over 60 doesn’t mean slowing down. It means getting moving on your terms.

Quick Summary:

• Carol travels solo but always with connection in mind

• She avoids big cruises and bus tours in favour of small group adventures

• Sharing rooms with strangers (to skip the single supplement) has never been a problem

• She’s a reinvention queen now a speaker on wellness and living fully

• Her approach to travel is simple: do the hard stuff while you still can

  
  

“I Just Haven’t Found the Right One — Who Can Keep Up.”

Carol, 63, lives alone in Melbourne with her cat.

She snow-skis, cycles, swims, kayaks, and squeezes in a weekly rock and roll dance session.

She’s single. Has been for a while. And frankly? She’s okay with it.

“I love men,” she laughs in our interview. “I just haven’t found one that can keep up.”

Instead, Carol has filled her life and her passport with motion. Not the kind that rushes. But the kind that grounds you in your own body: hiking Machu Picchu, swimming with manta rays, cycling through Austria, snorkelling in the Galápagos.

Her friends, mostly women in their 60s and early 70s, travel the same way. They want small group, active trips where walking isn’t optional and bus tours are politely declined.

“We’re not cruise people,” she says. “And if it is a cruise, it’s got to be a small one with kayaks, not casinos.”

Solo Travel After 60. Don't Wait

Carol is fiercely practical about travelling solo. The big thing for her? Not paying a single supplement.

“I’ve been doing this for 30, 40 years,” she says. “I always choose companies like Intrepid that let me share a room with another solo woman, and I’ve never had a problem.”

No drama. No awkwardness. Just two women sharing space and getting on with the adventure. Her choices echo the ethos of the Solo-but-with-Friends Traveller and Social Soloist personas she travels alone, but welcomes connection. Not clingy connection. Light-touch. Natural. The kind that doesn’t ask you to be anyone but yourself.

From Sales to Scuba — Reinventing Life at 63

Carol’s not just travelling. She’s reinventing. After years in sales, she’s now a professional speaker focused on motivation, wellness, and the sheer aliveness that comes with saying yes to yourself.

She’s not preaching green smoothies and vision boards. She’s out there. Living it. Choosing ski trips over safety nets. Choosing long-haul adventures now so she can save domestic travel for later, “when I’m more frail.”

Solo travel after 60 has more of an international flavour.

“I’ll do Australia in my 80s,” she says. “Right now, I want the big stuff. The exhausting stuff. The stuff I won’t always be able to do.”

“Alive and Kicking Again”

When I spoke to Carol, I couldn’t help but feel like I was witnessing a quiet revolution. Not in headlines or Instagram reels but in the gentle, defiant choices women like her are making every day.

She’s not chasing bucket lists. She’s choosing energy over ease. Shared rooms over solo suites. Real joy over curated comfort.

And more than anything, she’s saying: this is my time.

FAQ: What Others Might Ask

Is Carol technically a solo traveller? Yes. She travels solo but often shares a room with a fellow traveller to avoid the single supplement.

Note from Bron: Many companies are now eliminating the single supplement as they recognise the 'power' of the solo trav

el dollar.

Does she mind rooming with strangers? Not at all — she’s never had a bad experience in over 30 years.

Note from Bron: There are also women I've interviewed with not-so-great or complete-horror stories - you need to be prepared either way.

What kinds of travel does she love? Active, small-group, experience-rich trips: walking, kayaking, swimming, cycling.

Why doesn’t she travel more in Australia? She’s saving it for later — when long-haul flights feel harder. Right now, it’s about going big while she can.

How does she describe her lifestyle now?“Alive and kicking again.” Reinvention is her current travel companion.