Good for you! You have taken the first and most difficult step.  I did the Spirit of India six years ago and it is an excellent tour - you will see all the main sights that northern India has to offer.  My highlights were that we were lucky to see a tiger at close range in Ranthambore, seeing the Taj Mahal up close was wonderful and the atmosphere in Varanasi is unique.  This is a full on tour and no doubt you will find it tiring, but it is worth it.  Be prepared for a culture shock - crowds, noise, litter, crazy driving, bad smells (at times!) but it is all part of the experience.

I hope you have a wonderful time and this is the start of many JY tours for you.  Please do write a review when you get back!

Best wishes,

Bob

Hi my name is Lizzie and I just wanted to say hello to everyone who uses Just You Community.  I was widowed 2 years ago and have just plucked up the courage to book my first holiday alone.  I have chosen The Spirit of India as my first holiday as this is a trip my late husband and I were going to take back in 2000, however it had to be cancelled on Government advice.  So!  here I go on my first adventure with a little trepidation, but so excited and I know my darling husband will be with me in "Spirit" !  I look forward to meeting my fellow travellers and hope to maybe chat with some of you on this site. :)

Hi Lizzie . I am in a very similar position to you - lost my husband late 2016.  This is not my first tour with Just You but I am still a bit nervous. I am booked on 5 Feb - you don’t say when you are going?

Maybe we will meet?

Lesley

Brian, my tour Rep from Breathtaking New Zealand has just done this tour over Christmas. His photos on Facebook were amazing. Taj Mahal on Christmas Day and then Varanasi was so colourful. I am waiting for Shimla to be added then I am on this trip.

Enjoy

Jan

Hi my name is Jackie I have also just booked my first holiday alone. I was widowed 8 years ago. I have booked the Pompeii holiday in May. Feel apprehensive but also really looking forward to it. Hope you enjoy your holiday too.

Hi, I have just booked my first holiday solo as well to Tuscany. My family say I am brave but my son who has been travelling said to me that I will feel nervous but it is liberating. I hope it is the first of many.

Enjoy your holiday

Hi my name is Lizzie and I just wanted to say hello to everyone who uses Just You Community.  I was widowed 2 years ago and have just plucked up the courage to book my first holiday alone.  I have chosen The Spirit of India as my first holiday as this is a trip my late husband and I were going to take back in 2000, however it had to be cancelled on Government advice.  So!  here I go on my first adventure with a little trepidation, but so excited and I know my darling husband will be with me in "Spirit" !  I look forward to meeting my fellow travellers and hope to maybe chat with some of you on this site. :)

Hi Lizzie,

That sounds like an amazing holiday, and a meaningful one for you.

I think you've got a lot of courage, travelling to a far-away place with a different culture on your first solo trip!  (I have only gone as far as Austria.)  Hope you have a great time and meet nice people on your tour and also on the forum.

Thank you all for your lovely messages of encouragement - it was great to see so many comments. Fortunately I (we) visited southern India (Kerala) a couple of times, so I won't be too phazed by the Indian way of life. I am looking forward to having my senses blown away and someone told me they thought this trip would be cathartic for me - I really do hope so. I travel on the 19th Feb and hope to meet up with my fellow travellers at Heathrow. Any hints or tips will be greatly received.

Thank you !

Hi my name is Lizzie and I just wanted to say hello to everyone who uses Just You Community.  I was widowed 2 years ago and have just plucked up the courage to book my first holiday alone.  I have chosen The Spirit of India as my first holiday as this is a trip my late husband and I were going to take back in 2000, however it had to be cancelled on Government advice.  So!  here I go on my first adventure with a little trepidation, but so excited and I know my darling husband will be with me in "Spirit" !  I look forward to meeting my fellow travellers and hope to maybe chat with some of you on this site. :)

Hi Lizzie . I am in a very similar position to you - lost my husband late 2016.  This is not my first tour with Just You but I am still a bit nervous. I am booked on 5 Feb - you don’t say when you are going?

Maybe we will meet?

Lesley

Hi Lesley - sorry it's taken me so long to reply!  I am booked to go on19th February so you will be fully experienced with this tour before I even leave the UK!  Would be great if you could post some comments either during or after your trip.  It is going to be very strange going away alone, but I'm looking forward to meeting everyone and am very excited!  Not long to wait for you - have a wonderful time and I look forward to seeing a post from you.  All the very best. 

Lizzie

Hi my name is Lizzie and I just wanted to say hello to everyone who uses Just You Community.  I was widowed 2 years ago and have just plucked up the courage to book my first holiday alone.  I have chosen The Spirit of India as my first holiday as this is a trip my late husband and I were going to take back in 2000, however it had to be cancelled on Government advice.  So!  here I go on my first adventure with a little trepidation, but so excited and I know my darling husband will be with me in "Spirit" !  I look forward to meeting my fellow travellers and hope to maybe chat with some of you on this site. :)

Hi Lizzie

I was in a similar position to you in 2012, my lovely husband having died 2 years earlier.  I took my first holiday with JY and went to India. Not sure why I chose India something about it appealed and it was so different from anything I'd done before but I was so glad I did.  Actually it was the same tour Bob was on and absolutely great.  What an eye opener India is but well worth doing. 

This was to be my holiday of a lifetime and I wasn't really expecting to do many more that big but I caught the travel bug and a whole new world opened up instead. Since then I've been on quite a few holidays with JY including my two favourites, South Africa and Kenya. JY really look after you well without being too over powering and you get to meet a lot of very nice people, many of whom you find are similar to yourself.  So enjoy your adventure and have a wonderful holiday.  I bet you catch that travel bug too. 

Give the gorgeous tigers a wave for me.  :rolleyes:

Good wishes

Sue

Hi my name is Lizzie and I just wanted to say hello to everyone who uses Just You Community.  I was widowed 2 years ago and have just plucked up the courage to book my first holiday alone.  I have chosen The Spirit of India as my first holiday as this is a trip my late husband and I were going to take back in 2000, however it had to be cancelled on Government advice.  So!  here I go on my first adventure with a little trepidation, but so excited and I know my darling husband will be with me in "Spirit" !  I look forward to meeting my fellow travellers and hope to maybe chat with some of you on this site. :)

Hi Lizzie . I am in a very similar position to you - lost my husband late 2016.  This is not my first tour with Just You but I am still a bit nervous. I am booked on 5 Feb - you don’t say when you are going?

Maybe we will meet?

Lesley

Hi Lesley - sorry it's taken me so long to reply!  I am booked to go on19th February so you will be fully experienced with this tour before I even leave the UK!  Would be great if you could post some comments either during or after your trip.  It is going to be very strange going away alone, but I'm looking forward to meeting everyone and am very excited!  Not long to wait for you - have a wonderful time and I look forward to seeing a post from you.  All the very best. 

Lizzie

Hi Lizzie 

If I can I will try. I’m getting excited now but so much to think about on your own!! Hope you enjoy your holiday. Just You do this all so well it would be difficult not to have a good time. Just remember everyone else on the holiday is going solo - all with stories and reasons why they travel alone. I’m looking forward to making new friends! 

Lesley

I did my first solo trip last November and visited Borneo. The whole experience was incredible both from the actual holiday experiences and the realisation that's it's very empowering to travel in this way.

Good luck and enjoy India. It's definitely on my list although I'm doing Cambodia and Laos first!

Sue