Astrid Clements has traveled to 35 countries on four continents through the past 45 years, which would be exciting enough for a typical traveler en route with friends or family. But Clements’ tales of adventure come with a special twist—she has experienced most of them by herself.

“When you’re alone you are open to people in a way that you might not be if you’re in your comfort zone,” she says. “It has almost a spiritual dimension about it.”

Inspired and empowered by her solo trips abroad, Clements launched her own website, Astrid Solo Travel Advisor, earlier this year, offering advice on everything a lone traveler would need to know through blogs, essays, pictures, restaurant and hotel reviews, and maps. Not that group travelers couldn’t also benefit from her advice. She has plenty to say about taxi rides, changing currency, packing, airline tickets and haggling with stubborn merchants in Marrakesh.

Having traveled alone since the age of 19, when she went to Germany to pursue an internship, Clements was a trailblazer in the world of solo travel in a time when few people—especially women—dared to do it. To learn more about her stunning travels around the world, check out the cover story of the June issue of inRegister, available on newsstands now.