Solo Female Traveler: Helen

in Solo Female Traveler / by Roofnest Team

Roofnest wants to highlight the stories of solo female travelers within its community. These are individuals within The Flock willing to share their experience of life on the road and in a Roofnest so that we might all benefit from what they’ve seen and learned along the way. If you are interested in sharing your adventure stories as a solo female traveler in a Roofnest, please take a moment to complete this form.

The following is an interview with Helen.

Q: What generation are you?
A: I’m 58

Q: Where do you live?
A: I live in South Lake Tahoe, CA

Q: What do you drive? Year, make, and model, please.
A: I’m driving a Honda CRV 2009

Q: Which model of Roofnest do you have?
A: Condor

Q: Tell us about your vehicle. Do you have any awnings or accessories? Does your vehicle have a name?
A: Currently no accessories but I’ve been looking at getting an awning and the pop-up privacy tent.

Q: Travel Mishaps — Has any crazy stuff happened?
A: My only mishap was my first camp trip. I was determined to go and was heading to a pretty campground close by as my ‘trial trip’. That same day, I had gotten my shingles vaccine(warned I would have side effects) and then stepped off my porch twisting my ankle. The pain was so bad it brought me to the ground. After the nausea subsided, I put some weight on my foot – no pain so off I went. As the evening wore on, my ankle became tougher to walk on and my arm became sore from the vax. By 2am, with a slight fever, I just wanted to go home. At 8am, I was nervous I wouldn’t be able to close the nest, but as advertised and practiced, I closed it up in about 10 min, grabbed my coffee and headed home. (ankle was not broken)

Q: What are the top challenges you face, and how did you overcome them?
A: Nervous to camp alone. You just gotta do the things you love or you’ll sit home wishing or regretting.

Q: Do you have some wisdom from your solo travels that you’d like to share?
A: Do the things you love and plan for safety. Research camping preparedness and practice with your tent before you go anywhere. If you can, do a couple of one-nighters and take note of the things you need or forgot getting ready for longer trips. If you’re nervous with solo camping, stick to established campgrounds that have hosts. It’s amazing the nice people you get to know.

Q: Where are you going to explore next? Do you have a dream camping trip?
A: Currently planning a trip to the Superstition Mountains in Arizona for May.

Q: Where are your favorite places to explore? What makes those spots special to you?
A: Everywhere 🙂

Q: What drew you to solo traveling to begin with?
A: Don’t want to stay home just because I’m solo and I don’t want to wait for a travel partner if there’s somewhere I want to go or something I want to do. There’s also a peacefulness in solo camping that I love.

Q: Do you have any favorite pieces of gear you’d never be caught without? Why?
A: Lol. Sarong…the most versatile piece of clothing, table cloth, towel, privacy screen, window covering. I always keep a couple sarongs in my camp gear.