Solo travel doesn’t mean you have to be alone

This conversation speaks to anyone drawn to solo travel but held back by safety worries or the thought of doing it all alone. Roanna explores how solo travel can still feel supported and connected, that you don’t need a full entourage, just one real point of contact. She talks about the grounding power of meeting a local for a shared walk, a meal, or an event, and how even brief connections can change the texture of a whole trip. The episode offers a realistic, encouraging take on independence: how to stay open, safe, and deeply human while seeing the world on your own terms.

About Roanna White

Roanna White, podcast guest

Exploring Loneliness, Identity, and Starting Over in Midlife

Founder Ynkyer social enterpriseAuthor The Quiet CrisisMaster’s degree Education, Teaching English as a Second LanguageTeacher Professional background

Roanna White knows what it feels like to sit at home on a Saturday night and wonder where you belong. In her 40s, a divorce, mental-health challenges, and the quiet after her children grew more independent exposed a deeper truth: she was surrounded by people yet still deprived of connection.

A teacher by profession, Roanna kept showing up for others while doing the slow work of healing herself. She explored talk therapy, then somatic therapy and chanting, which helped her body process old trauma and gave her a way back to herself. Travel became medicine, and solo trips reminded her she could meet new people and new parts of herself at the same time.

As the fog lifted, she noticed how many others were quietly navigating the same ache. Newcomers to a city, parents between busy weeks, people craving company for everyday things like a walk or a meal. That realisation became Ynkyer: a social enterprise building a safe platform for genuine companionship. No dating, no therapy, no agenda, just real people and real connection.

Her reflections on this wider cultural loneliness led her to write _The Quiet Crisis: Understanding and Healing Loneliness in the Modern World.

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