Growing up, I wasn’t allowed outside after dark alone, so the idea of traveling somewhere outside of my comfort zone by myself did not occur to me until after college. I didn’t take my first big trip alone until I had to do so for work, to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Friends and family delivered dire warnings of what could happen to me if I went (a young woman! alone! in Asia!), but go I did, and never looked back. This issue, WOMEN, opens a window on some experiences women have when they go it alone. For so long, the travelers’ stories we heard were owned by men. Great writers such as Paul Theroux and Bruce Chatwin, sure, but a singular perspective. It’s time to explore women’s writing outside of hearth and home, too.