Do you wonder what it’s like to go backpacking? At the age of sixty-two, Hazel bought a ‘Round the World’ ticket, rented her cottage out for a year and spent the time exploring eighteen countries, mostly travelling solo.

Never having travelled alone before and with poor navigational skills, Hazel had no idea how she would cope.

To her delight she found kind and helpful people are everywhere. Budget accommodation is way more fun than expensive hotels, using public transport in poor countries is easy and travelling is a joy when things don’t cost much.

Sometimes she joined tour groups and sometimes she found volunteer work, but mostly she followed recommendations from fellow travellers who were a constant source of companionship, inspiration and good advice.

This is a day by day account of her journey and Hazel’s hope is that after reading this, you will feel encouraged and know that you can travel too.