What's On at the Library

… but don’t leave home without listening to seasoned solo traveller Janice Waugh first. You will have a chance to do this tomorrow night at the Runnymede branch (7 pm) and again on Thursday night at the Spadina Road branch (also 7 pm). Full program details are here: Solo Travel: 6 Things You Must Absolutely Know.

She really is an expert. Take a look at her Solo Traveler blog, now in its fifth year. Janice offers safety tips, ideas about planning your trip and why smaller cities can be a better bet than larger ones. One of the most important points she makes is that traveling solo is not the same as being alone–her blog is full of stories of people that she has met and even travelled with for a time.

One important tip from Janice: when it comes to accommodation, sometimes she wants high end for the sheer creature comforts, and other times, a hostel is ideal–that’s where you are going to meet people. As an indication of the importance of accomodation, she’s created a free-to-download guide to Solo Travel Accomodation that looks as though it would be a big help.

Janice has been all over the world, mostly on her own and she has a wealth of experience to share, not to mention all kinds of stories and wonderful photographs of which the above is just one example. Reading the blog is great, of course, and so are her books but there’s no substitute for getting a chance to talk to her directly and pepper her with questions. What is India like? Africa? How can I do London on the cheap?

So don’t miss out: Runnymede tomorrow and Thursday at Spadina Road at 7 pm.