This week’s Featured Female Traveler has travel on the brain! Meet Sally, a twenty four year old Aussie from Brisbane. Travel is her life, as she works as a travel agent during the day and as a travel blogger for play. On her site, “Safe Travels by Sally” she recommends, without an ounce of hesitation, Vietnam as the must-visit destination for anyone with the travel bug. Sally eagerly shares that in Vietnam, “The people are friendly, the food is great and more than anything it is a safe destination for solo travellers. My favourite things to do in Vietnam are participate in a cooking class, take a ride in a cyclo and down a big bowl of Pho.”
Sally’s first ‘real’ trip abroad was to Italy when she was 16.
SC: I begged my parents to let me go on student exchange to a foreign country and I was so lucky they said yes! I travelled solo to Udine in the north of Italy, near the border of Slovenia where I stayed with a host family for 2 months attending a local school and learning Italian. My life has been forever shaped by this experience.
MM: After having visited Italy, you’ve traveled to several astounding destinations. Where is your favourite?
SC: I have so many but my most recent amazing destination was The Maldives. No exaggeration, I literally cried when I arrived at the Six Senses Laamu, the water is just so magnificently blue. Never in your life will you see bluer water that this. I had 3 nights there and woke up as early as I could each day to see the sun rise from my overwater villa.
MM: Looking ahead, what place is on top of your bucket list?
SC: Speaking of clear water, one of the places at the top of my bucket list at the moment is The Philippines. I recently went to a Tourism Philippines event for work and the video they played made me fall in love. The water looks gorgeous and I’ve heard the locals are super friendly also.
Another place at the top of my list, and a lot of other travellers’, is Iceland for its natural beauty and authenticity.
MM: Appropriately enough, your favourite movie is…?
SC: The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. I recently watched this again and the travel imagery just speaks for itself.
MM: That movie screams “Come to Iceland,” does it not? In the film, Walter Middy was able to travel luxuriously on private aircraft, and also lived a more rugged life while venturing across Iceland’s frozen Tundra. What type of traveller are you? Budget? Luxury? Adventurous?
SC: When I was younger I was certainly a budget traveller, I thought I could go to Europe for a month with $1000 in the bank and my backpack on. Now that I have aged a few years I see the investment in a comfortable bed for the night, travel insurance and a full-service airline. I guess being a travel agent also, I can afford a bit more because we get travel discounts. At the moment, my new thing is health/fitness travel where I like to keep active on trips doing yoga, hiking and even jogging.
MM: Who is your favourite travel companion? What makes him/her so great?
SC: I have travelled with people from various walks of life, my family, my step-sisters, tour groups and travel agents. I would have to say that travelling solo is an experience like no other and one that I shouldn’t take for granted. Solo travel helps you understand your strengths and weaknesses, reflect on your life and grow as a person.
MM: What is your most memorable travel moment?
SC: One of my most memorable, and random, travel experiences was riding around in an army tank in Slovakia through the mud. As part of our Busabout tour, one of the optional tours was meeting up with an ex-army man in Slovakia who owned a tank. Us tourists stood up in the back of the open-topped tank whilst he rode it through the mud paddocks like a crazy amusement park ride. Surely not health and safety approved but definitely a memorable experience.
MM: Often times, the most memorable experiences are the more unique and far-out. Thank you, Sally for sharing so many experiences with us. We’re looking forward to following “Safe Travels by Sally”!
Make sure to follow Sally at “Safe Travels by Sally” on any of her various social media accounts. Follow along by clicking on the links:
Safe Travels by Sally Blog HERE
Facebook HERE
Instagram HERE
Twitter HERE
Pinterest HERE
Safe Travels!
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