Me, Myself and Moi 

                                                                                                           

Here's an article I wrote for France On Your Own November Newsletter

There I was, a 50ish American woman sitting on the beach in Cannes all by myself.  I looked around at all the bronze bodies, all ages and conditions, wearing next to nothing.  Behind me was the restaurant terrace set for lunch under a smartly striped canopy. In front of me was the Mediterranean, the ancient birthing pool of humanity.  It was now or never.

I dropped my top.  And that's when my French vacation took off.

Had I been with a husband, a couple of girlfriends or (shudder) a tour group, I would never have dared. But with nobody to consult, I followed my own instincts. Hey, I thought, if that plump granny over there can do it, so can I.

Nobody paid any attention, of course, but that gesture punctured my American bubble and released me into the stream of French life. I was no longer on the sidelines with a camera.  As we used to say in the Sixties, I was going with the flow.

Of course, you can have lots of fun in France while fully clothed - I give you this scenario because it was my own personal breakthrough as a woman traveling solo for the first time. That was me in a foreign country stripped of all my props and open to what the place had to teach me.

Now that I'm a veteran traveler living in France, I' d like to share all that with you - whether you're single, divorced, separated or just dreaming of stepping out on your own for a change.  I'm organizing a new Personal Provence Workshop to take cozy groups of neophytes through the steps of traveling solo in France. You'll start out from my home base in Saignon, a perched village in the Luberon region of  Provence, and you'll be sent out on adventures, staying overnight at personally selected hotels, inns, B&Bs, dining in charming restaurants and cafés, and exploring my favorite towns and villages. After each foray, you'll come back to home base, and well share experiences. Then well shuffle your destinations and you'll go off to your next adventure. It's a safe and fun way to go solo - and you'll be in good company!