Janice Holly Booth - author who travels solo

On my last trip to Wildacres Retreat I met an interesting writer, Janice Holly Booth, at dinner. She told me she had written a book titled Only Pack What You Can Carry, and it was going to be published by National Geographic. She was expecting that day, by mail, her business cards with her book website.


“I’ll give you one when I get them,” she said. Janice was pretty cool, I thought, for someone who had a first book coming out from a major publisher.

The next time I saw her, she was a bit more excited about her new success, but I feel that Janice is one who takes most things in stride. After all, she has dined with a Prince.

She insisted I should travel solo, even though I’m a good bit older that she. Janice said you miss so much when you are traveling with others. I am looking forward to reading her book and learning more about her life and her travels. But more than that, I want to read about her four secrets to a fulfilling life.

In the evenings at Wildacres during The Gathering, writers share some of their work in the lobby of the lodge. Janice did not read from her book, but she had written an essay about writing and publishing her book. It was clever and humorous. She caught everyone’s attention. You can read more of this saga on her blog. Go to

http://www.janicehollybooth.com/ and click on Blog at the top of the page.

Janice told me the book was not only about travel, but what she had learned in her travels. Her amazing adventures that took place all over the world intrigued me. I felt a twinge of envy that I had not had that confidence when I was young – that self assurance that I could do whatever I want.

After meeting Janice last fall, I continued to think about her and her book. I even wrote a post about her for my blog, but never published it. Now, I’ve heard from the author again and I look forward to seeing her at Wildacres in May. I plan to ask her to bring a copy of Only Pack What You Can Carry, signed, of course.

An editorial synopsis from the National Geographic Book Division:
“…this unique book about personal growth through solo travel goes a step beyond Eat, Pray, Love, and Under the Tuscan Sun. Where these well-loved bestsellers help women dream, Booth’s book is just this side of Gonzales’s Deep Survival. A book of depth and wisdom, Only Pack What you Can Carry helps readers act and change their lives through solo travel and by addressing four key concepts: solitude, introspection, courage and commitment. In a lively and confidential tone with page-turning personal anecdotes that range from a week galloping across Ireland “jumping everything in sight” to learning how to master the art of the flying trapeze, she shares her secrets to a fuller life through solo travel with every other ‘average person who has a full time job, doesn’t have enough time to get everything done in a day, and has to make sacrifices and save money in order to travel.’ Through more than a decade of incredible self-challenges, observations, and discoveries she shows how crucial it is to find time alone—whether traveling to the park down the street or ziplining through the Costa Rican rain forest—to bring refreshing and vital dimension—and growth potential— to your life.”