Hello! I’m Megan, and I’m a solo female traveler with invisible disabilities.

I’m older than most of the travel bloggers you will run across, and my life experiences have probably been very different from those bloggers, but my motivation to share my travel experiences and tips are likely to be the same: to help others realize that travel is not out of the reach of the average person.

My mission is to show women that solo female travel is possible and that they can do it safely while also managing mental and physical health issues.

I’m a veteran with several invisible disabilities brought on by my military service, and I am a big advocate for physical and mental self-care.

I was a mess before I figured out that no one was going to take care of my issues. I had to do it myself or I would lose myself. This is still something I struggle with daily, but learning how to take care of myself is an ongoing process.

In this blog, I will share all the beautiful destinations I have visited with you. You can expect to find photos of gorgeous locations and delicious food. You can also expect to see too many pictures of doors and ceilings because they’re kind of my thing.

I love finding the beautiful simplicity of everyday life in the places I visit.

But I will also share the less-attractive realities. With my autoimmune disorders, I sometimes underestimate how difficult an activity will be and end up losing a day of exploring because I need extra time to recover. My migraines can also eat into my travel days, and while I do have control over most of the things that trigger my migraines, I can’t control my biggest trigger: the weather.

So why am I sharing my experiences, both good and bad?

I’ve seen so many different types of travel bloggers: men backpacking on a dime, young fashionistas sharing luxury destinations, families who homeschool their children from the road, van lifers, and digital nomads.

What I have not seen much of are travel bloggers with mental and physical health challenges. I know I’m not the only one, but I know that we each have our own perspectives.

By sharing my challenges, I prove that struggling with mental and physical health issues doesn’t mean that traveling is impossible.

I didn’t set out to become a solo female traveler. My first solo trip happened because I couldn’t find a travel buddy for Thanksgiving week. I had moved to Germany in August, and I was intent on traveling as much of Europe as I could in the 2 years I would be stationed there. A coworker had a week in a timeshare apartment that she wasn’t going to use and offered it to me. I was able to choose the destination from a list, so I matched up the locations I was interested in with cheap flights. Spain wasn’t intentional, but it’s what happened.

Since then, I have traveled to numerous European countries and a few south of the US border. Spain will probably always be my favorite because that’s where I discovered how much I love solo travel.

Ireland was beautiful and green (cliché, I know), and studying the history of the conflict in that country was heart-wrenching.

Estonia was a wonderful surprise and seeing it for the first time covered in a fresh blanket of snow under a starlit sky was magical.

Mexico City, after a handful of years of not traveling solo, was restorative.

Paris, of course, was gorgeous, but so was Luxembourg.

Each place I have visited has left an impression on me, teaching me more about myself as well as others.

I still have many more places I’d like to visit, and some I’d love to return to. While it’s fun to see how many passport stamps I can collect, that’s not my ultimate goal. Instead, I want to experience other cultures, eat new foods, understand important historical events, marvel over art, and see how each region of the world is beautiful in its own way.

I’m looking forward to seeing Southeast Asia, South America, and Africa. I want to see the Middle East again, through the eyes of a civilian, not a member of the military sent there under less-than-ideal circumstances.

I have not traveled within my own country very much, so I need to fix that. I am working up some plans for road trips with my dogs, hoping to see a few national parks where pets are permitted. I’m also looking to do some train travel.

There is so much to see in this world, and I know I can’t possibly get to everything.

I have seen entire capital cities in a weekend by frantically running from attraction to museum to Instagram-worthy spot. I’m sure I’ll still do that from time to time, but I also want to try “slow travel” so I can really immerse myself in a new culture and do more than eat as much as I can and check those “must-see” places off a list.

I’ll also seek out more unique experiences by traveling to places that haven’t hit everyone’s radar just yet.

I don’t promise to get it right 100% of the time, but I’m going to do my best and hope that I provide inspiration and useful information to those who need it.

My biggest challenge, other than my health issues, is deciding where to go next. I have a few destinations coming up that I never thought I’d be interested in seeing (I’m looking at you, Miami), as well as a long-awaited trip across Europe from East to West. I feel South America is in my future when the winters get too cold for me in my home base of Illinois, and chasing the sun will definitely be a priority.

Along the way, I will offer up tips on my favorite gear, travel planning and packing, and my best budgeting ideas. I’ll also tell you which popular attractions you can skip or sketchy things you need to avoid.

I’ll share my failures as well as my wins. I’ll also share how I mitigate my health issues and how I handle the unexpected surprises that tend to crop up while traveling.

But enough about me. How can I help YOU?

What are your questions about solo female travel? How about traveling with invisible disabilities? As much as I’d love to just show off all of my travel photos, I also want to provide value. I’m always open to suggestions.

Thank you so much for stopping by, and I look forward to sharing and offering help wherever I can.