Women Who Travel Podcast: A Solo Backpacking Trip Across South America

29.08.2024 - 20:50 / cntraveler.com

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In the second installment of our solo travel series, we hear from Christie Bowers, who spent six months backpacking across South America, stopping everywhere from the Amazon to Argentina. She shares how she planned the trip, budgeted for it, and navigated both the joys and challenges of going it alone far from home.

Lale Arikoglu: Hi there. I'm Lale Arikoglu and welcome to the second part of our series on solo travel. This week we share the highlights and challenges of a bold journey to South America. Christie Bowser went to seven countries in six months. We'll hear how she planned and budgeted, how she juggled solitary days with sociable times, and we'll find out if her life actually changed when she got home to New York.

Christie Bowser: I flew into Bogota and then I went down to Leticia, which is at the crossroads of Peru, Brazil, and Colombia. I took a boat from Leticia along the Amazon to Manaos. That was basically my starting point. It was like a 36-hour speedboat ride. From there, I was in Brazil for nine weeks. I did Argentina for a couple weeks, Chile for about a month. Then I went to Bolivia for three to four weeks, Peru for only a week or two because I had done it before and then I ended in Ecuador.

LA: Christie's plan to go on a South American journey was triggered by a classic New York scenario. Her landlord gave her notice to leave her Brooklyn apartment. For Christie this looked like an opportunity for a reset.

CB: I guess my reaction was like, well, if I can't live in this apartment, I'm leaving the country. So I thought about it for a couple months, but then it just Landed on the decision of it felt like a good time. I felt like I had enough money saved anyway, my thought was I can get a new job when I got back.

LA: I get the impression you were a pretty experienced traveler to begin with if you were going into this, but how long did you spend planning?

CB: I bought the Lonely Planet, just South America book just to get started. I spent a lot of time just reading that and getting excited more than anything else. But then I wanted to be a little spontaneous.

LA: I'm sure a lot of people are listening to this right now and thinking, "Oh my God, I would love to do something like that, but how do I even start? Where do I begin? Do I really just go to a bookstore and buy a travel guide?" Is there anything you wish that you knew before you started planning that you would offer as advice?

CB: I think if you're excited about a place, if there's a place you really want to go. Also, I'm not married, I don't have kids. I don't have a mortgage. I was in a pretty good position