Increasingly, women over fifty are turning to alternative, supplementary income streams such as Airbnb, to assist with the rising cost of living. As a result, mature women are the fastest growing segment in this unique hosting community, and are often the highest rated hosts on the platform. Our own Airbnb aficionado, Nadine Cresswell-Myatt takes a look at some of the benefits of becoming an Airbnb host, and the many ways it is empowering older women financially.

Travel is the only thing one can buy that brings happiness, or so the saying goes. So why do so many women let a relationship status or difference of opinion on where to go, ruin their plans? If your friends don’t share your travel dream, why not make some new ones?

When my brother set off for his backpacking adventure in the 80s I was at Melbourne airport, blubbering. His friends thought I was going to miss him. But no. I was howling because he was going, and not me.

Decades on and history had repeated itself. This time I was seeing off my 18-year-old son. He was off for the summer, backpacking through Europe. My concern for him was stabbed with feelings of jealousy. Why did the males in the family have all the adventures? What about me? When would I ever get to travel solo?