How do you get into the most exclusive nightclub in the world, alone? Novelist Upasna Barath spent two months in Rome and Berlin to finish her second book and ended up in line at Berghain, the club with the hardest door in nightlife. Upasna swears this trip made her into a "type-b person", making the case that a dance floor full of strangers who will never know your name might be the most honest place to find out how to let go.

For more on Upasna, read her book Comedic Timing, her Substack Lifeline and visit her website for updates on her upcoming releases!

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Can you ever un-hear the voice you only find when you're traveling alone? Nikki Vargas, founder of Unearth Women and Associate Editorial Director at Travel + Leisure, found hers in Iguazu National Park, days before she canceled her wedding. Years later, she took that same willingness-to-listen back to Colombia, a country she'd always felt "not Colombian enough" for, to report on the FARC peace treaty and on the aunt whose death no one ever explained to her.

To hear more of Nikki's adventures in travel, read her book "Call You When I Land". Follow Nikki's work on Travel + Leisure's Substack, "The Fast Track", as well as her own personal Substack, "Wanderess". For updates on her forthcoming book and novel, follow her on Instagram.

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"Skillcation" became the buzziest travel trend of 2026, and it may be the easiest way to solo travel. Travel creator Amy Zhou left her corporate job and started building her travels around a learning a single skill: bachata in the Dominican Republic, capoeira in Brazil, tango in Argentina, birdwatching in Puerto Rico. Spoiler: the hobby was never really the point. It was merely the door in to the history, the politics, the people, the connection no algorithm would ever surface for you. What she found on the other side of that door humbled her more than once, and changed the way she thinks travel should work at all.

Follow Amy on Instagram and watch her long-form stories on Youtube. She just launched her Career-safe Sabbatical Playbook", which teaches you how to take a travel sabbatical WITHOUT ruining your career and coming home broke.

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What do you find in a place once you stop relying on the news to explain it? And are you more receptive to that story because you're alone? Nayeema Raza, host of "Smart Girl Dumb Questions", visited Libya, North Korea, Palestine and other places that many others would deem off limits. She shares her motivation, how she approaches conflict zones, and the tactics she's pickup up along the way: how to ask the questions everyone else is too polite to ask, the "gaze-through" trick for walking safely past strangers, how to get a "backup number" before you need one. Nayeema makes the case for looking beyond what we see on the news to explore places for ourselves, and why showing up and bearing witness matters.

Follow the brilliant @nayeemaraza and watch/listen to new episodes of her podcast "Smart Girl Dumb Questions" each week.

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Can you find 'home' in a place that you've only ever visited as someone's kid? Devika Parmar grew up Gujarathi American, her whole relationship to India mediated through her parents and grandparents - never quite her own. After she lost both grandparents in the same year, she booked three weeks in India alone. Then, the fear she'd prepared for - being a woman alone - found her anyway, and she had to decide whether to go home early or stay and finish what she came to do.

Follow Devika on Instagram at @devikaparmar and see her art at www.devikaparmar.com

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What's the biggest risk you'd take to see the world? Ria Xi will be the first person to run the length of the Silk Road across Asia and Europe, and she'll run it alone. Ria believes travel should happen at the pace of a single footstep - slow enough to savor everything between point A and B. Julie catches Ria from her nomadic training route, but stick around to the end of the episode to hear an update from Ria along her record-breaking run!

To support Ria's run, check out her GoFundMe and follow along on Instagram @whereisriax for occasional chances to join her crew.

Check out Ria's podcast, Planetary Run Club, where she interviewed Julie for her debut episode!

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Are flights really cheapest on a Tuesday? How do you find a great homestay? Can you travel with just a purse? Gillian Morris built the cheap-flight app Hit List and she's perfected the art of budget solo travel. She's living proof that the less you spend, the more open you are to help from strangers, vibrant detours, and truly connecting to a place -- if you do it right! This episode is packed with tips for how to save on flights, stays and luggage, plus strategies like "playovers" that let you squeeze a whole trip out of a layover.

Follow Gillian on her Substack "Supernuclear: A Guide to Living With and Near Friends"

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How do you cope when everything falls apart at home, and you're 8,000 miles away? Between jobs and craving a reset, TV producer Sam Schles books a solo trip to Thailand. Then, from a beach half a world away, she watches the LA wildfires close in on her home. With the help of some Buddhist monks, Sam gets a crash course in non-attachment and savoring the things that are actually worth saving.

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