65M American here. I think I have at least one more hard trip in me, and I want to go to India. I would be there for a month. My husband and I spent a month in Sri Lanka last year, and we had a good time, but he is D-O-N-E, done with travel in the developing world. He wants to see the canals of Venice, I want to see the Black Hole of Calcutta. You get my drift.

I’m casting around for a different travel companion but coming up empty-handed so far. So I’m beginning to contemplate going by myself. So, the question: Wise or unwise?

To give you the background, my husband and I have been together for nearly 42 years. Travel is one of our great loves, and we have done a lot of it, in both industrialized and developing nations, and everything in between.

I have traveled alone relatively infrequently. The primary example was seven weeks in China, the first four taking a class in Shanghai, which was fine, and then three weeks traveling the country alone, which was very difficult.

As a traveler, one becomes accustomed to getting by in unfamiliar environments, but, for a Westerner, as you may know, Asia is in a class by itself. I suffered greatly from not having a companion who I could talk to and figure things out together. If I got into a difficult situation, I was on my own.

I have been to India before, with my husband, for five weeks, 20 years ago. That trip was in the North, this one will be in the South. So I have some idea what I’m getting myself into.

I’m not an ostentatious traveler, but of course it will be clear that I am a well-off, Anglo, American tourist, and a potential mark. I try to lay low, but there’s only so much you can do when you don’t look like anyone else. I am also, by the way, unfailingly courteous to and appreciative of hotel staff, drivers, merchants, etc. I’m not an ugly American, in other words.

I will have an itinerary with the cities and hotels arranged beforehand. I’ll arrange as much of the travel as I can, as well, which may require hiring an agent, but I will be essentially an independent traveler.

I think that about covers it. I’m an experienced traveler, and I know what I’m doing, but I also know that India can be challenging on multiple levels at once, and that it isn’t always strictly safe.

So, the thoughts of the group?