38 countries & counting—26 of them solo!

38 countries & counting—26 of them solo!

Solo Travel Through Film & Fiction:
Guides, Itineraries & Tips Based on
20 Years of Adventures

Solo Travel Through Film & Fiction:

Guides, Itineraries & Tips Based on 20 Years of Adventures

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Welcome to Travel HerStory

Hey! 👋 I’m Michelle, a millennial with a love of history and storytelling who often travels solo. Over the past 13 years, my goal with this travel blog has been to share my adventures to guide you on your own!

Here, you’ll find destination itineraries I’ve personally planned and tested. Being budget-savvy has helped me visit 35+ countries! I adore tracking down the real places behind my favorite film, TV show, or book.

I’m also a AAA Travel Writer, a GetYourGuide Creator, and a member of the Atlas Obscura Adventurers Program. Additionally, I’m querying an action-adventure novel inspired, in part, by my adventures.

What you’ll find on this blog…

  • Europe & N. America travel guides
  • History, literary tourism & set-jetting
  • Solo female travel advice
  • Packing & planning tips
  • Reviews of hostels & hotels
Michelle L. Jensen (Travel HerStory) dressed in a winter coat with faux-fur-lined hood, wool hat, and a scarf stands in a snowy landscape at the Ukka-Luosto Fell hike in Finland, with her hair coated in ice crystals.
Learn More About Me

🧭 Latest Expeditions

📖 More Blog Posts

Steal My Action-Adventure Novel

While reclaiming looted art, Alex cluelessly stumbled into something much more dangerous.

During what should have been a routine heist, Alex discovers something that shouldn’t exist: a 2,000-year-old Maya codex. But before she can learn more, enemies emerge, capture her, and brutally tase her, damaging her pacemaker.

Now she’s racing against two clocks: her failing heart and her captors’ deadly agenda.

With time running out, Alex must escape, assemble an unlikely team of allies, and decipher an artifact that could reshape the world… assuming it doesn’t kill her first.

Subscribe to get it 1st!
Book cover featuring a Maya temple and a blonde woman with a title 'Deferring Death,' laid over a blue green background written by Michelle L. Jensen (Travel HerStory).
Book cover featuring a Maya temple and a blonde woman with a title 'Deferring Death,' laid over a blue green background written by Michelle L. Jensen (Travel HerStory).

Steal My Action-Adventure Novel

While reclaiming looted art, Alex cluelessly stumbled into something much more dangerous.

During what should have been a routine heist, Alex discovers something that shouldn’t exist: a 2,000-year-old Maya codex. But before she can learn more, enemies emerge, capture her, and brutally tase her, damaging her pacemaker.

Now she’s racing against two clocks: her failing heart and her captors’ deadly agenda.

With time running out, Alex must escape, assemble an unlikely team of allies, and decipher an artifact that could reshape the world… assuming it doesn’t kill her first.

Subscribe to get it 1st!

✈️ Discover Where to Go Next

Not sure where to travel? Get inspired below!

Exterior of Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, Austria, with its yellow Baroque façade and lush green lemon trees below under a blue sky.

Austria

Vienna & Salzburg

Low-angle view looking up at El Castillo, the imposing dark stone pyramid at Xunantunich Maya ruins near San Ignacio Belize. Intricate carved stone friezes depicting Maya deities are visible near the partially ruined summit. Lush green grass covers the foreground terrace and vegetation edges the stepped stone walls under a bright blue sky with wispy white clouds.

Belize

Ambergris Caye & San Ignacio

View of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France, from a side street framed by trees, Parisian buildings, and a blue sky.

France

Paris & Pierrefonds

The Church of the Holy Cross in Santorini, Greece, featuring a large white facade and a bright blue dome topped with a cross. The church stands out against a clear sky, as a stone path leads to it with pink flowers blooming to the sides.

Greece

Athens, Santorini, & Rhodes

More Destinations

Solo Female Travel

The first time I found myself alone on a plane was in middle school (mom was working, so I visited family by myself), but my first real solo adventure was at age 23 when I landed in Ireland.

And I haven’t looked back since! Over the past decade, I’ve enjoyed traveling solo to 26 countries, mostly in Europe.

My top solo female travel guides:

A hand holds up an empty crystal-cut whiskey glass in front of a glowing screen displaying the Irish Whiskey Museum logo and the tagline The Authority on Irish Whiskey, framed by a Single Pot Still display shelf inside the museum in Dublin, Ireland.

Dublin Solo Travel Itinerary

Michelle L. Jensen (Travel HerStory) poses in the sunlit garden of the Royal Alcázar of Seville, Spain, surrounded by trimmed hedges, palm trees, and ornate Moorish architecture while wearing an audioguide, Travelon purse, and sunglasses.

Things to Do in Seville Solo

Michelle L. Jensen (Travel HerStory) and a friend smiling in bikinis at the SPARTY night pool party at Széchenyi Thermal Bath in Budapest, Hungary, standing poolside with steam rising, blue laser lights, and the illuminated arched architecture of the historic bathhouse glowing in the background amid a crowd of party-goers.

Budapest Solo Travel Itinerary

Michelle L. Jensen (Travel HerStory) seated on the iconic serpentine bench at Park Güell in Barcelona, Spain, designed by Josep M. Jujol. The bench, covered in vibrant tile-shard mosaic, winds along the terrace edge and doubles as a balustrade overlooking the park’s architectural landscape with the city in the background.

Things to Do in Barcelona Solo

Hand holding freshly baked pastéis de nata with golden custard centers and flaky crusts on top of a box from Manteigaria at the Time Out Market in Lisbon, Portugal.

Lisbon Solo Travel Guide

Michelle L. Jensen (Travel HerStory) standing before the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (Fountain of the Four Rivers) in Piazza Navona, Rome, Italy. Designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini in 1651, the fountain features personifications of four major rivers representing four continents: the Nile (Africa), the Ganges (Asia), the Danube (Europe), and the Río de la Plata (Americas).

Rome at Night Solo Guide

🎥🍿 Film Tourism

More Film Tourism

📚 Literary Travel

More Literary Travel

FAQs

Travel HerStory is a travel blog created by solo female traveler and writer Michelle L. Jensen, covering destination guides, tested itineraries, travel tips, and solo travel advice. After 13 years of independent travel across 35+ countries, Michelle shares practical, firsthand guidance to help you plan your own trip with confidence.

Michelle L. Jensen is the founder and writer behind Travel HerStory. A millennial with a love of film, literature, and history, she has traveled solo for over a decade, visiting 35+ countries through budget-conscious planning. She also teaches blogging as a business and is writing an action-adventure novel inspired by her travels.

Travel HerStory features destination itineraries, city guides, packing lists, budget travel tips, solo female travel safety advice, accommodation recommendations, film tourism, literary travel, planning templates, and gear reviews based on experience visiting 35+ countries, with a focus on Europe and North America. The site also includes a Travel Blogger Guide section for readers building their own travel blogs.

Travel HerStory offers step-by-step destination itineraries that Michelle has personally planned and tested, plus money-saving tips drawn from 13 years of solo travel. Whether you’re picking a first destination or refining a multi-country route, the guides are built from real, firsthand experience rather than generic advice.

Yes, budget travel is central to the site’s approach. Michelle credits budget-savvy planning with helping her visit 35+ countries, and Travel HerStory includes money-saving itineraries, cost breakdowns, and practical tips for stretching a travel budget without sacrificing experience.