About

Hi there. Welcome to my shirleyjustwrites blog pages. I am your turn to friend when you travel solo, or when you are compiling your travel bucket list, which I hope will be full of adventures. Look out for posts on well-being, culture, solo travel, and budget travel, with a new focus on women solo travellers over 60. Yes, for the old dames like me who can’t sit still. I love to travel and to write about my experiences. I hope you will share your travel adventures with me. For many years I travelled around Europe as a pillion rider on a Kawasaki Z 1000. I learned so much about the countries we visited. And as Blanche said in A Street Car Named Desire, we were helped on our way by the kindness of strangers. Since retiring as a lecturer in history and health and social care I have been fortunate to be able to continue travelling on my own or with friends and family. For me travel means anything from a wander round my local area, a trip to Europe or a walk in the woods. Curiosity can take you anywhere, and the older I get the more curious I become. So, I’m game for anything, open water swimming, dancing in the dark on the embankment of the Seine, or a heart stopping slide down a water chute at Alton Towers.

My first experience of solo travelling was to Paris. I am a regular visitor now and love being independent and able to follow wherever my curiosity takes me. The Promenade Plantee, an elevated garden is one of my favourite haunts and is often overlooked by tourists to the city. I have a second home in France so there will be no shortage of blogs on Central France, a very underrated area of the country. I am an avid walker and eco traveller, so there will be lots of tips on how to get around by plane, boat and train – not forgetting of course long- distance coach travel. If you are senior traveller make sure you have all your travel discounts (not forgetting the best of all discount – your bus pass if you are eligible). Follow me too, on Facebook and Twitter. I am an old dame, but a happy solo traveller, and I’ll show you how to be become one too.