On the Road for 30 Years - Why Age is no Barrier

Being a perpetual traveler is one of the new ways to see the globe but 30 years ago it was more a rarity – and even more of a rarity for a single woman to be doing it on her own.

For Leyla Giray Alyanak travel was in her blood. Her parents and grandparents were all expats and she grew up on the move. When the time came to make the decision to end her journalism position and take to the road it was probably no surprise to anybody.

30 years on this multi-national citizen has settled in to France as her home but the urge to travel is still strong and she will again be hitting the road ready to use her multi language skills to help traverse the globe.

We hope you’ll enjoy today’s interview where you’ll discover how travel has changed and Leyla’s opinions on what a modern day traveler would need to do if they want to follow in her shoes.

Leyla is indeed one of the grandmothers of modern nomadic travel. You’ll find her blog and e-book at http://blog.women-on-the-road.com

What I learned from speaking with Leyla:

1. Earning money while traveling has changed considerably since she first started. There are a lot more travelers and a lot more blogs! That said the internet has opened up more opportunities to make money online making it easier for the modern day expat traveler to earn a living while on the road.
2. You can take something out of every experience. Even the bad times when traveling, and she’s had her fair share including near drownings and earthquakes, can give you moments that you can always remember even if their bad!
3. Every travel experience adds to your confidence account in some way shape or form. You gain more confidence the more you try and you expand your comfort zone when traveling just by the art of dealing with your day to day environment.
4. The best phrase to learn in any language is “What is the word for?” Leyla found doing this and pointing at objects enabled her to quickly expand her vocabulary in any country she was in.