Boldly Go Solo

How to set out solo, but not travel alone: Trips, tips and ideas for the active traveler.

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Category: -North America

  • Single supplements are going the way of the…well, they’re not quite going away yet.

    I’m in shock. Two things. One, hotels and tour operators are recognizing that lots of people travel solo. Two, they’re actually giving deals and discounts to solo travelers. Scrape me off the floor. One of the biggest complaints I hear from solo travelers is that they get rooked by the travel industry. Either they have…

  • Table for one, and I don’t care who’s looking

    Early in my career I went to Atlanta on business. I didn’t know anyone in town so I was on my own for dinner. I could have grabbed a burger but hey, the company was paying. So I treated myself to a nice dinner, or rather, I had the company treat me to a nice…

  • Solo traveler dreams about future trips. And just might take one or two.

    For me, love of travel includes daydreaming about where I might go next, and what I might do. At the moment, I’m in Park City, Utah with friends. We’ve skied Deer Valley Resort, Park City Mountain Resort and The Canyons. The snow has been awesome. (that’s ski-dude speak for "awesome"). So we’ve been having a…

  • Row, row, row your raft

    I talked to my friend Laura into going alone on a river rafting trip. We were in our 20's. I'd loved my trip and insisted she would have a great time too. Risky recommendation, I suppose. I couldn't guarantee her happiness. Her trip was on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River in Idaho with…

  • Hitting the slopes solo

    It was just one day, but I didn’t want to go skiing alone. But I was in Denver on my company’s dime and it seemed a shame not to take advantage of Colorado’s gorgeous snow and sunny skies. So I steeled myself, booked a rental car and headed off to Winter Park, an hour away…

  • Don’t leave home without your credit card…just without your friends.

    After a stellar mountain biking and rafting trip on the Colorado River in Canyonlands National Park, I couldn’t help going on and on about it to a friend. Of course, she then wanted to join me on my next river trip. I panicked, and tried to come up with a polite way to tell her…

  • Anatomy of a solo trip, day six. All done.

    Due to high waters in the nearby canyons, we do loops around the hotel instead of going out to do a breakfast hike. We end up eating near a waterfall. Since this whole trip is about healthy eating, breakfast "on the trail" consists of fruit, peanut butter, cottage cheese, fruit, whole grain tortillas, nuts, fruit…

  • Anatomy of a solo trip, day five. Pain.

    I wish it hadn't taken me slamming into a prickly pear cactus to make a great point about traveling solo, but it did. Here's the sad tale. In heavy hiking boots, on a trail marked "difficult," I tripped and pitched forward. Under normal circumstances I think I would have been able to right myself. But…

  • Anatomy of a solo trip, day four. Laughs.

    Bridget, a fellow hiker, had some of us laughing all morning, after she showed us the "Michigan mitten" at breakfast. Someone asked her where she grew up and she held up her right hand and pointed to one side of her palm. "Right here." Huh? Apparently, Michigan children learn that their state is shaped like…

  • Anatomy of a solo trip, day three. Rain.

    Yesterday’s hail dusted the mountaintops here in Tucson, changing the desert palette. By this morning it was raining. If I had been out West hiking on my own, I might have spent a lonely day in my room, or hanging around the hotel, today. Maybe I would have gone shopping or to a movie. But…