I’m Lauren, the founder of Indie Travel Guru. I’m living proof that a life of travel and adventure is available to anyone who wants it. At 40, I was a single mom with no passport, a poverty-level income, and big dreams. At 48, I started traveling the world with everything I own in a backpack (that was in 2013, and I’m still going strong!).
My nomadic life is not luxurious. I don’t have a car and often walk many miles a day. I often live without air conditioning and have spent months without hot water or a refrigerator at times. I prefer to take the bus rather than a taxi and rarely stay in hotels.
But I love to explore, and I love my nomad life. I’ve lived in a treehouse in Turkey, a cave house in Spain, a village house in Indonesia, an apartment in Paris. I love the variety of moving between city and country, trying new cuisines, and learning about different cultures and their approach to life. I’ve had so many adventures, and I don’t mind a little discomfort along the way. I’ve found taht the most difficult parts of travel are the most lifechanging.
It’s all part of the adventure.
Our room! Feeding a friend
I started keeping a blog when I began to travel, but since my history is in magazine publishing, I found I was more interested in running a magazine-style site. I do still publish occasional blog posts, though.
Friends sometimes visit me around the world, and I love to show them around my favorite locations. So I’ve begun a new project, inviting women to come share a house with me in the locations I know best. These aren’t big group tours — it’s just a small group of up to eight interesting women who come together to share a house and experience culture together.
I make sure we cover the major sightseeing stops and see a museum or two, but my focus is on experiencing the local culture. Instead of looking at people from a bus window, we walk among them. We take local transportation, meet local folks, and experience their arts, food, and traditions with them. I’m calling them Women’s Adventure Tours because these aren’t fluffy-towel, fancy-hotel tours; they are for women who aren’t afraid to get a little dirty.
Join the e-mail list to stay up to date on what I’m offering on the site (I’ll also enter you to win $100 toward a future Women’s Adventure Tour) or follow Indie Travel Guru on social media using the buttons at the top of the page.