Traveling Solo: Confidence, Safety, & Freedom

Kathy Jakucki is a licensed counselor, educator, and co-founder of The Renewed Wellness Collective. She has worked in schools and mental health settings supporting individuals through a range of mental health needs. 

Alongside her professional work, she is an avid solo traveler and enjoys climbing, hiking, skiing, and photography. Over the past several years, she has increasingly integrated travel and outdoor experiences into her life and is currently leaning into a more flexible, travel-based lifestyle.

She is passionate about helping others feel more confident stepping into new experiences and exploring the outdoors and travel in a grounded, approachable way, drawing from both her professional background in mental health and her own lived experience of navigating uncertainty and growth.

•  Intro & my experience
  • Brief background on how I got into solo travel and what I’ve learned along the way
• What solo travel actually looks like
  • A grounded look at the realities vs expectations, and different styles of solo travel (short trips, outdoor focused travel, longer stays)
• Planning your first trip
  • How to choose a destination, basic logistics (staying, packing, transportation), and how to avoid overplanning
• Safety & building confidence
  • Practical safety habits, communication/check ins, and how confidence develops through experience
• Mental side of solo travel
  • Loneliness vs solitude, decision fatigue, and handling uncertainty
• Integrating outdoor activities
  • How to include hiking, climbing, and other outdoor activities into travel
• Q&A / Discussion
  • Open time for questions, planning ideas, and troubleshooting concerns