Going Solo

An insightful travel memoir about a three-month round-the-world journey that explores identity and how we fit into history and the global landscape. The daily realities of going solo as a senior combine with reflections on living and working abroad to highlight the vital role travel can play in the perpetual work in progress of learning who we are. Growing up as an immigrant, the author's sense of belonging was ever challenged, making her question her national identity. Finding answers meant leaving home to explore the world, this memoir brings decades of observations together. She shows how experiencing unfamiliar social and political environments — some with questionable interpretations of freedom, justice, and human rights — helped define her identity by bringing her beliefs and values into focus. Travellers, she found, share traits such as openness to new ideas, curiosity, tolerance, and compassion — she aims to belong to that tribe. Reflecting on John — a fellow passenger who's still going solo aged ninety — the memoir concludes that it's never too late to start exploring and rewriting the story of who we are.