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Solita

A Places & Travel and Society & Culture podcast

#29 in Places & Travel · 🇲🇽 #33 in Places & Travel · 🇦🇪
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About the show

Record-numbers of women are traveling alone. But what are the real stories beyond the highlight reel, the "Bali will heal you" fantasies and the doom warnings from your uncle?  Hosted by solo traveler and award-winning writer Julie Piñero, Solita explores the messier side to solo travel. What happens when your Paris fling takes you somewhere the rom-coms wouldn’t dare? When your trip to honor your grandparents means facing your worst fear alone? When you say ‘yes’ and it surprises even you?  Solita is Spanish for ‘a female alone’, but it drips with pity. This show takes that word back. Solitude - especially on the road - may be a time to follow a curiosity nobody shares, change your mind and push your limits.  Each week, Julie and a guest unpack one solo trip and what it reveals about safety, sex, money, heritage, loneliness, identity and other nuances that make solo travel more approachable, less fantasy. Because the world isn’t always your oyster. That’s exactly what makes the story worth telling.

Newest episodes

The Psychology of Solo Travel

46 min

The solo travel 'glow' is real. Travel Psychologist Dr. Katie Blake is here to explain the science behind it. Julia Fawal presents Dr. Blake with her own solita experience as our case study. A week alone in Amman made Julia braver, more creative and more open than she'd ever felt back home. And when she later tried to re-create that magic on a group trip, it fell flat.  So when you travel alone, do you become someone new, or finally become you? And if it's you, why can't you bring her home?  Dr. Blake explains why we open up faster to people we'll never see again, why a place can make you feel like you belong, and why solo travel is especially powerful for women and others socialized as female. She also shares practical tips for keeping “Travel You” around after the trip, from re-entry rituals to the smartest way to eat at a restaurant alone in your own neighborhood. Follow Dr. Katie Blake on Substack and take her Travel Personality Quiz! Follow Solita on Instagram and TikTok for bonus content and subscribe on Substack for Julie’s big 3 takeaways from each episode. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Impossible Art of Traveling Without Your Phone

35 min

What if you landed in a foreign city with no map, no reservations and no Google? Travel journalist Lisa Abend does it on purpose to connect with new heights of exploration. Lisa picks a new place in Europe, does zero research, books nothing, and goes offline the second she lands (phone for photos only). She's stumbled into a Glasgow hotel receptionist who refused to let her sleep on the street, a spa-town museum with a very unexpected surprise in the bathtub, and a stranger who kept turning up on the same bus. Plus, Lisa’s advice for trying it yourself, even if you’re nervous. Follow Lisa’s newsletter, “The Unplugged Traveler,” on Substack. Follow Solita on Instagram and TikTok for bonus content and subscribe on Substack for Julie’s big 3 takeaways from each episode. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Will Julie Survive Her Solo Travel Nightmare?

27 min

"Fear for personal safety" is the top reason women say they won’t travel solo. So what happens when the worst-case scenario strikes? Solita host Julie Piñero was on her way to a big solo adventure in Greece when she slipped on a puddle in Heathrow Airport. Within a few dramatic hours, she was back across the Atlantic in her childhood bedroom, snuggling her old stuffed animals, relying on 24/7 care from her parents. At the ripe age of 34, her big solo adventure sent her traveling back in time.  Over a week of recovery, Julie confronts the risks we're taught to fear vs. the ones we don't see coming. Starting with a confession she'd been keeping secret: what she was really doing in the seconds before she slipped on the puddle.  Follow @solita_travels to see videos of Julie's injury and recovery, plus other bonus content. Subscribe to Solita on Substack for Julie's big 3 takeaways from each episode.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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All episodes

The Psychology of Solo Travel

46 min

The solo travel 'glow' is real. Travel Psychologist Dr. Katie Blake is here to explain the science behind it. Julia Fawal presents Dr. Blake with her own solita experience as our case study. A week alone in Amman made Julia braver, more creative and more open than she'd ever felt back home. And when she later tried to re-create that magic on a group trip, it fell flat.  So when you travel alone, do you become someone new, or finally become you? And if it's you, why can't you bring her home?  Dr. Blake explains why we open up faster to people we'll never see again, why a place can make you feel like you belong, and why solo travel is especially powerful for women and others socialized as female. She also shares practical tips for keeping “Travel You” around after the trip, from re-entry rituals to the smartest way to eat at a restaurant alone in your own neighborhood. Follow Dr. Katie Blake on Substack and take her Travel Personality Quiz! Follow Solita on Instagram and TikTok for bonus content and subscribe on Substack for Julie’s big 3 takeaways from each episode. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Impossible Art of Traveling Without Your Phone

35 min

What if you landed in a foreign city with no map, no reservations and no Google? Travel journalist Lisa Abend does it on purpose to connect with new heights of exploration. Lisa picks a new place in Europe, does zero research, books nothing, and goes offline the second she lands (phone for photos only). She's stumbled into a Glasgow hotel receptionist who refused to let her sleep on the street, a spa-town museum with a very unexpected surprise in the bathtub, and a stranger who kept turning up on the same bus. Plus, Lisa’s advice for trying it yourself, even if you’re nervous. Follow Lisa’s newsletter, “The Unplugged Traveler,” on Substack. Follow Solita on Instagram and TikTok for bonus content and subscribe on Substack for Julie’s big 3 takeaways from each episode. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Will Julie Survive Her Solo Travel Nightmare?

27 min

"Fear for personal safety" is the top reason women say they won’t travel solo. So what happens when the worst-case scenario strikes? Solita host Julie Piñero was on her way to a big solo adventure in Greece when she slipped on a puddle in Heathrow Airport. Within a few dramatic hours, she was back across the Atlantic in her childhood bedroom, snuggling her old stuffed animals, relying on 24/7 care from her parents. At the ripe age of 34, her big solo adventure sent her traveling back in time.  Over a week of recovery, Julie confronts the risks we're taught to fear vs. the ones we don't see coming. Starting with a confession she'd been keeping secret: what she was really doing in the seconds before she slipped on the puddle.  Follow @solita_travels to see videos of Julie's injury and recovery, plus other bonus content. Subscribe to Solita on Substack for Julie's big 3 takeaways from each episode.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When Flights are a Portal to a Bolder Universe of Romance

28 min

Who do you become when, for a few hours, you’re just a seat number... and you meet someone? Three women report back. Hannah Roodman found romance in a 6am Delta flight, thanks to a clementine and a really good playlist. Nava Kavelin learned (the hard way) what happens when your crush can't handle turbulence. And when Ali Levin got stranded at the airport hotel, she found her very first one night stand with a person who's job... is to stay hidden. Hannah Roodman produced the documentary "Yo (Love is a Rebellious Bird)", now screening at film festivals across the world.  Nava Kavelin is the co-host, producer and creator of Podcrushed and Co-author of Crushmore: Essays on Love, Loss and Coming-of-Age. Ali Levin is a Teaching Artist at Co_Lab Theater, co-hosting and performing in the 2026 CO_LABaret at the Laurie Beechman Theater on October 20th. Find tickets here, and support Co_Lab Theater here. Follow Solita on Instagram and Tiktok for bonus content and subscribe on Substack for Julie's big 3 takeaways from each episode.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How to Go Clubbing Alone

43 min

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! Follow Solita on Instagram and Tiktok for bonus content and subscribe on Substack for Julie's big 3 takeaways from each episode.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

An Unsolved Murder, a Canceled Wedding and the Truth You Can’t Un-Hear

45 min

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. Follow Solita on Instagram and Tiktok for bonus content and subscribe on Substack for Julie's big 3 takeaways from each episode.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hate Being a Tourist? Take a 'Skillcation' Instead

36 min

"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.  Follow @solita_travels for bonus content and subscribe on Substack for Julie's big 3 takeaways from each episode.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Solo Traveling to the Places Headlines Teach You to Fear

39 min

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. Follow @solita_travels for bonus content and subscribe on Substack for Julie's big 3 takeaways from each episode.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Going Home to a Place Where You've Never Lived

40 min

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 Follow @solita_travels for bonus content and subscribe on Substack for Julie's big 3 takeaways from each episode. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How to Run 20,000 Kilometers Alone

38 min

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! Follow @solita_travels for bonus content and subscribe on Substack for Julie's big 3 takeaways from each episode. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

3 Cheaper Ways to Solo Travel that Skip the Tourist Script

36 min

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" And if you're interested in trying Kindred, the budget home-swapping app, use code SOLITA for 2 free nights once you confirm your first guest. Sign up here.  Follow @solita_travels for bonus content and subscribe on Substack for Julie's big 3 takeaways from each episode. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Eat, Pray, Evacuate: Trying to Relax While Everything is On Fire

39 min

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.  Follow @solita_travels for bonus content and subscribe on Substack for Julie's big 3 takeaways from each episode. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Paris Sex Club Incident and the Limits of Saying 'Yes'

40 min

How far can "yes" take you before it stops feeling like freedom? Comedian Kenice Mobley grew up on rom-coms where a woman flies to Europe, accepts an invitation from a man with high cheekbones, and gets a whole new life. So when a flirt in Paris turns into an invitation, Kenice follows it... straight into an underground world that asks her to keep saying "yes". She does, right up until she hits the edge of it: the line between freedom and fantasy. Follow Kenice at @kenicemobley and get tickets to her show, "Hot Guy Draft" on August 23rd, 2026 at Littlefield in Brooklyn. Follow @solita_travels for bonus content and subscribe on Substack for Julie's big 3 takeaways from each episode.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Can Julie Become a 'Regular' at a Pub in Ireland?

46 min

Solita host Julie Piñero has four nights in Galway on one mission: become a 'regular' at pub in Ireland. With advice from locals in her ear, 15 years of solo travel under her belt, and only 4 nights to make it happen, she's racing the clock to answer: how do you connect to a place when you're only just passing through, alone?  Special thanks to all of the Ireland impromptu-guests who agreed to Julie's interviews. If you're in Galway, be sure to take a tour with Ana at Tribes Tours or follow her at @anabnas. If you take a trip to the Aran Islands, go to Inisheer and visit Máirtín at the Aran Currach Experience or follow them at @aran_currach_experience. Follow @solita_travels on Instagram and Tik Tok to watch video of Julie's Ireland mission, along with extra reflections on solo female travel. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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