{"id":50812,"date":"2022-04-19T08:30:17","date_gmt":"2022-04-18T22:30:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/?p=50812"},"modified":"2023-11-16T05:58:17","modified_gmt":"2023-11-15T18:58:17","slug":"black-solo-traveller","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/black-solo-traveller\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the 66-year-old Black solo traveller with 70 countries under her belt"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Diana Petterson<\/a> is often the only Black solo traveller in her tour groups \u2013 and the destinations she visits, too. But all that changed on an Intrepid trip to Iceland<\/a>. Here\u2019s her travel story. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For my 50th birthday, I was determined to set course for my first international trip. It had taken several years for the pieces to come together. My marriage had ended, my youngest child was 16, and I was at a crossroads. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

More importantly, I was ready for an adventure. I spent months crafting a three-week solo journey that landed me in Rome and took me through Florence, Venice, Paris and London. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That was 16 years ago, and since then I\u2019ve made it a point to travel as much as I can. My goal is at least 100 countries (quite ambitious, I know). Right now, I have 70 countries under my belt, with plans to visit many more. Even though I battled the uncertainty of doing this on my own, especially in the beginning, the excitement is what propelled me to continue. I wanted to finally make my dream a reality. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Diana on her Intrepid Iceland trip. Image: Diana Petterson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Last year, I travelled to Iceland with Intrepid Travel<\/a>. I\u2019d been aiming for 20 countries in 2020, all with Intrepid, but of course COVID got in the way of that plan. Now I was back, finally, travelling the world again. And Iceland was a beautiful place to start. The mountainous, volcanic landscapes, along with the fresh air and kind people, made it ideal \u2013 even during a pandemic. I fell in love with the waterfalls, and the greenery, and the black volcanic soil. I even walked through an ice cave at J\u00f6kuls\u00e1rl\u00f3n lagoon in the Vatnaj\u00f6kull National Park! The cave is constantly melting. In time, it will no longer exist. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were 11 of us in the group: two couples and the rest singles. This was actually the first group tour I’ve taken where the singles outnumbered the couples. Flying solo in a small, diverse group like this one can make for a truly great experience. It\u2019s the best of both worlds, especially when the group gels as cohesively as this one did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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