Welcome to Gypsy Wednesday! Every Wednesday, I strive to highlight all the juicy morsels related to travel and beyond.
When is age a factor in travel? Is there such a thing as too old? I say, never. Kathy Wilhelm seconds my opinion. She opted for early retirement at age 54 to embark on her first trip in 2001 from China to Chennai – not exactly a painless route. Since then she’s expanded further into Europe and Asia, and is currently working on a plan for Central Asia. At age 62, Kathy embodies an undying spirit of adventure. Thrust with a map, her keen curiosity seems to evolve rather than shrink.
Q: I think what’s most unique about you is the fact that you took early retirement to travel. Why did you choose to do this?
Bokor National Park, Cambodia, 2002
A: I don’t think it’s ever just one reason, and for me several things came together. I heard one too many stories about people who were going to travel when they retired, but then something happened (illness, and sometimes death) and they never went. Then I realized that my company didn’t want people sticking around beyond 30 years, and also that I wasn’t enjoying my job anymore. In 1997, I read about the Three Gorges Dam and decided I had to see the gorges before the dam was finished. I blew that year’s bonus on a trip to China and just fell in love with Asia.
Q: One of the many comments you hear frequently is, “Aren’t you afraid to travel alone?” How do you address these comments? How do you abate your own fears?
A: The short answer is that I’m mostly not afraid, but I’ve done enough solo travel by now to know that there’s really not much to be afraid of. Things will work out. My long answer is to ask what the other person would be afraid of, and talk about that. Probably the scariest thing that’s happened to me is breaking my wrist in Switzerland, but two wonderful couples rushed to my rescue, the hospital in Interlaken pinned the bone back together, and my medical evacuation insurance got me home (do take out medevac insurance!). I did start out my first long trip on a tour (with Intrepid), before going solo in India.
Q: Why is travel significant to your life?
A: I’ve discovered that I feel most alive on the road. For instance, driving through the countryside on a rural bus, not sure if we’re headed in the right direction, with ducklings chirping in a box across the aisle, I’ll get this overwhelming sense that I’m in the right place doing the right thing.
Q: What’s the best thing about traveling solo?
Tatra Mountains, Slovakia, 2006
A: That’s easy – no arguments and no recriminations. I get to decide where and when to go, and if I discover I’m bored with a town or a sight I can just move on. And if (when) I screw up, I only have to apologize to myself. I do find that if I am traveling with someone, I concentrate on them rather than on what’s around me.
Q: What’s the worst thing about solo travel?
A: That’s a bit harder. Maybe, not having someone to watch my big bag while I go to the bathroom or look for a hotel room or whatever. A lot of people say they want someone to share the experience, but I deal with that by keeping a journal and writing to my email list – or these days, on my blog.
Q: You did a 10 month round-the-world trip in 2004 to 2005 by rail, an interesting choice. Tell us some highlights and why choose rail?
A: Well, I like trains – much more than planes – you have a view, you can move around more easily, you don’t have to jump through a bunch of security hoops, and you usually travel city-center to city-center. Plus, you get to see a lot more of the world at ground level. Where I live now I have to drive everywhere, and I love being able to rely on public transport instead. The idea for that trip came from a line I read in 2002 in “Vietnam by Rail”. You can now travel, it said, all the way from Seville to Saigon by rail. I thought that sounded like a really great trip, but why start in Seville? Why not Lisbon, on the Atlantic coast? Why not Scotland, as far north-east as possible, now that I could take a train under the English Channel? So, I put together a seven month, 17,000 mile rail trip that meandered around Europe, across Russia and down through Mongolia and China. (I really wanted to go through Central Asia, not Russia, but I couldn’t quite get the trains to work out.) I did do side trips by car (once, to Hadrian’s Wall), plane (Zagreb to Dubrovnik), ferry, and bus, but all forward progress was by train until the rails ended in Saigon. Then I added another three months in Southeast Asia and New Zealand.
Petra, Jordan 2009
Highlights? Wow, so many… Here are a few: eating cherries by working fountains in the Roman ruins in Conimbriga in Portugal (and eating dinner with a couple who were cycling from Paris to Istanbul). Watching the Corpus Christi procession in Toledo (and having the cathedral to myself the day before). The Alhambra at night. Plitvice National Park in Croatia. Riding a cable car up the Stubai glacier in Austria with my niece. Auschwitz – so terrible it took me a week to recover. Visiting Pushkin outside St. Petersburg with a local woman I met on the train from Vilnius. Being invited to dinner with a group of women I met in a park in Tonghai, south of Kunming. Going back to Luang Prabang and Angkor Wat. And a flight over the Franz Joseph and Fox glaciers in New Zealand – if I had to pick just one it would probably be that.
Q: What is your method of travel?
A: Backpack. Definitely backpack. Sometimes, when I see people sailing through airports with wheeled cases I feel a pang of jealousy, but I’m not in airports very often. When I cram myself and my pack onto a marshrutka, or a long distance bus, or navigate potholes or cobblestones to reach my B&B, I’m happy I can carry my pack without the extra weight of the wheels. I’ve been using the same Eagle Creek convertible since 2002, although I tried their current version last year and sent it back. If you’re going the backpack route the most important thing is that the hip belt takes most of the weight – my first one put too much weight on my shoulders. For flights I usually haul around 10 kilos in the main pack (which I check), but all the electronics and pharmaceuticals are in my carry-on, which fitsunder the seat in front of me, so I don’t have to fight for bin space. (By the way, my packing list is here.)
I tried hostels in New Zealand, but discovered that while I’m totally okay with sharing bathrooms, I don’t like sharing bedrooms. Too many people coming in late and waking everyone up, and then another group getting up early and waking everyone up… I usually go for the bottom end of Lonely Planet’s mid-range listings. I love B&Bs and pensions and guesthouses – places small enough you get to meet other travelers. My last trip I did several homestays in Georgia and Armenia, and I’ve done them before in Eastern Europe, they’re great for meeting travelers and seeing how the locals live.
Kathy is an encyclopedia of information and always loves to chat. You can reach her at mytimetotravel@gmail.com or peruse her site: mytimetotravel.wordpress.com
To assert travel as the fountain of youth is tempting. Let’s refrain from that obvious connection. Couching the two together implies that aging should be shunned. Not so. Kathy proves that travel is beyond bad knees and thinning hair. It’s about possibilities, and when factors line up perfectly, those instances of pure joy keep us awake in our lives. Get inspired, because after piecing together this interview, I am!
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{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
@Aly – Yes! Do check her out. I just love her gumption. Got to get me some of that. :-D
Great interview!! There are so many different people, ways, and styles to to get around the world. Very interesting lady, now I need to go check out her blog!!
@Kathy – No embarrassment! You’re an inspiration, so wear it proudly. :) Thanks so much for granting me access to your lovely travel mind.
Wow, I’m embarrassed… Thanks for such nice comments. But nomadicchick is right: “if she can do this, I can. We all can” – if I have a message (the point of my blog), it’s that with a little research and planning – and a sense of humor and a willingness to screw up on occasion – everyone can travel. And the world is still, happily, a very big place if you travel on the ground.
@Susana – Thanks for your comments. Kathy treated this interview with an honesty I admired. Definitely follow her travels, and stop by again. :)
@GRRRL – Indeed! I’ve been nursing a bum knee the past few days.. feeling kind of sorry for myself, but her piece woke me up – my knee will get better and if she can do this, I can. We all can. :)
Kathy, thanks for the thorough AND thoughtful comments re the pro’s and con’s of travelling solo. Look forward following your footsteps.
Susana
Wow- Kathy’s story is an inspiration. I hope I can learn to live that kind of spunk!
@Ayngelina – Isn’t she? She just seems to get on with things. No fuss involved. I need to adopt that attitude more.
@Gray – Bingo! That’s the response I was hoping for. Now go to bed inspired, keep it alive until morning, then throughout the entire day. :)
@Magicant – Thanks Joel. She is a wealth of stories. Check out her site sometime.
@Keith – It’s always interesting to gather opinions on solo travel from others. Sounds like you found value in her answers. Lovely!
Very interesting read. I really enjoyed the parts on solo travel, especially since I’ll be doing that in mid-term. Conimbriga! I was there less than a year ago. Well worth a visit for history buffs.
Wonderful interview and an ideal subject. Inspirational not only for the achievement but what seems like an amazing, optimistic attitude no matter what challenges pop up.
Terrific interview! I’m inspired.
Great post, her story is so inspiring. You never really hear much about homestays but it sounds like a good way to meet people.