I know a LOT of people HATE travel packing and trying to pack light can cause some extreme pre-trip anxiety. Conversely, packing contributes to my travel bliss. I’ve scoured the internet to find the best tips and tricks and tested them against my own experiences being a carry-on only traveller for the past six years.

Strongly tied to a school calendar for almost 3 decades, off season travel was not an option for my family. I had kids in school (until a few years ago) and my husband worked in the school system so travel opportunities were limited to high season holiday breaks.

I’m not afraid to try something new especially when it has something to do with travel and wellbeing. That doesn’t make me immune to feeling frustrated or even incompetent while learning – in fact it invites it.

As someone who likes and needs a plan, knowing where I’m going to sleep is pretty important to me. My planning self, though, got a shake up and a wake up this past week.

I have a wall-sized map of the world in my office. It’s a beautiful, oak 3-D map from Enjoy the Wood, a family owned Ukrainian company. I catch myself designing routes - to fly, drive, train, hike or motorbike. It’s a beautiful distraction and the bookshelf beside the map is full of travel guides to lose myself even further. The invitation to do some armchair travel and dreaming about where I’d like to explore next is ever present.

Stretching my travel budget makes me giddy. My relationship with travel rewards and the concept of travel hacking started early. Air Miles launched in Canada in 1992 and I jumped on board - slowly and sporadically building a bank of miles.

“Traveling outgrows its motives. It soon proves sufficient in itself. You think you are making a trip, but soon it is making you - or unmaking you.”

Do you have a bucket list? I find it hard to imagine, but the earliest mention of the term bucket list seems to only date back to a 2004 book by Patrick Carlisle. So it’s a relatively modern idea. But it was the 2007 movie The Bucket List with Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson that introduced the term into mainstream vocabulary.

I stood very still feeling the warm sun and gentle breeze on my skin, hearing the special silence of the wilderness and marveling at how much beauty surrounded me.

I’d been here before but it felt different.

I had shifted my purpose, altered my approach, and attempted to see my regular world with a fresh perspective. Not always an easy task!

“Adventure is a loose word that means different things to different people. It is a state of mind, a spirit of trying something new and leaving your comfort zone. Adventure is about enthusiasm, ambition, open-mindedness and curiosity.” Alastair Humphreys

I admit, I had a bit of a freak out the morning that my 4-day solo hike began.

As I drove the 3 hours to the starting point of my walking journey, I fully expected a typical last minute wave of anxiety.

Vancouver Island is a nature and outdoor lover’s paradise! With many ways to actively explore its rugged beauty, spending time deep in the forest on a solo walk is my idea of a soul filling adventure.

There isn’t a common denominator or single reason for wanting to travel solo. I asked a couple of people in my life about their solo travel motivations and, along with my own reflections, discovered three very different reasons for solo travel.

With a 4-day long distance hike planned, I asked a local certified pedorthist and manager of Walk the Coast, one of my favourite locally owned shops, about when to get new hikers, different types of boots, what to pay attention to when trying boots on, and how to take care of your feet once on the trail.

I’m embracing the growth and novelty motives in my life at home. For me that means lots of learning and trying something new. I’ve decided to lean into the idea of solo travel.

Being fully engaged in life means being fully present, focused, and aware. It means not missing out on amazingly extraordinary moments or beautifully ordinary moments. For slow travellers, it means experiencing more travel bliss.