Boldly Go Solo

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

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  • Solo travelers can live like locals in cities around the world


    Amsterdam, travel, live like a local Fellow travel writer Laura Byrne Paquet ended up in Amsterdam's Red Light District doing…well…not what you think. Paquet and her husband, tourists     from Canada, had arranged a special meeting.

    No, not for what you think!

    They had arranged to have dinner with a local couple. A company called Like-a-Local arranges for visitors to have dinner with local residents in cities in Europe and the United States.

    Paquet chose dinner at the home of a couple who wrote on the site that they loved to cook traditional Dutch food. She whipped out a credit card to cover the cost for a four- to five-course dinner and voila. She had a "reservation" for dinner. At someone's home.
    Amsterdam, travel, live like a local, Laura and Dutch couple

    One of the highlights of such a dinner, in my mind, is learning about a neighborhood in richer detail than you can from a guidebook. Paquet's host described a project to restrict prostitution in the famed red-light district and encourage upscale businesses to move in. 

    Over multiple glasses, the foursome also talked about the intricacies of Dutch politics. We get some of those stories here in Washington, D.C. I would have enjoyed hearing a Dutch point of view.

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  • Free stuff in cities around the U.S.



    Paddle board    $500,000 in free stuff in 16 major cities around the country. I don't know much about this site called zozi but that's what they're giving away. Starting today. But not for long.

    It seems like it's another one of those discount sites that slashes prices so you will frequent a local business. I recently wrote about groupon and livingsocial deals and this seems similar.

    Go. Now. Get something free.

    I just went to the site and it tells me I'm eligible for a free paddle board rental at Chesapeake Beach in Calvert County, Maryland. Hm, never heard of that. But why not try it?

    Anyway, I'm putting this out there without an endorsement, since I'm not familiar with the organization and I've never used it. Just in case you want to read the fine print and explore what you can get for free in your city.

    Report back if it's something amazing!

    According to the press release I received, you can get two free Zumba lessons in Chicago, a rock-climbing class in Los Angeles and a half day biking trip in Moab if you're in Salt Lake City. Among other things.

    Sounds great. Let me know if it works. 

    Photo: Courtesy of zozi

  • Could you travel the world with no luggage? Wouldn’t it be great?

    Could you travel the world with no luggage?
    Rolf Potts, travel with no luggage, solo travel

    We're talking none. No checked bag. No overhead bag. No backpack. No fanny pack. Not even a plastic grocery bag. None.

    Just a lot of pockets to stuff with necessary items and some soap for washing out clothes. This is the six-week travel challenge for Rolf Potts, which began Saturday and will take him through 12 countries in 42 days. You can follow the no-baggage challenge trip on his round-the-world blog.

    (Compare this light load to President Obama's. The prez has been traveling on Martha's Vineyard with 20 vehicles, an ambulance and vans full of reporters, not to mention a whole lot of bags, clothes, toiletries and the nuclear football.)

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  • The book and movie Eat, Pray, Love wouldn’t have been possible without solo travel

    You can't have the same experiences you get while traveling solo if you go as part of a pair. So says Elizabeth Gilbert, in a recent CNN travel piece on Eat, Pray, Love, the book she wrote that came out as a movie this past weekend.
    Heron on the rocks, Sooke, Vancouver Island-Ellen Perlman

    Anyone who has traveled solo knows this. Traveling solo compels a traveler to open up more. See more. Explore more.

    And be distracted less by conversations that could, and should, have been held at home because they weren't about the place being visited.

    A story on the website Gadling says the movie has caused a surge in solo women's travel. "Suddenly, it's viewed by mainstream America as 'okay,' " the writer Laurel Miller says.

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  • Costs of solo travel vs with friends or family

    The New York Times' Frugal Traveler recently wrote about the costs of traveling with two different sets of people. A couple of high school friends. And his parents. During separate trips in Colombia and Nicaragua.

    He thought traveling with his friends would be cheap, while having to provide his parents with creature comforts would take a bite out of his budget.

    Turns out it was the other way around. It's a good read about the different things people like to do when they travel.
    Popayan, Colombia, on solo travel blog And their different needs.

    And it reminds me yet again why solo travel can be so much more relaxing in many ways.

    For instance, he says that it's easy to skip meals when you travel alone. But when you travel with people and one of you is hungry, usually all of you stop and eat, he points out.

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  • Do freebies result in biased travel stories?


    Moonrise, Maui, boldlygosolo, solo travel A debate rages in the travel writer community about whether to take freebies when traveling or not. The writer of this Huffington Post blog post on travel writing says she takes them and doesn't have a problem with it.

    This is somewhat off topic for boldlygosolo but I'm interested to hear what you think.

    As the writer says, the freebie topic is controversial in journalism circles. Hard-core news journalists don't take subsidized travel. No free food or lodging. No airfare. Major metropolitan newspapers ask freelancers to sign contracts that they haven't taken subsidized travel. (which often leads to a "don't ask, don't tell" policy by writers and editors who don't routinely ask if a trip was subsidized.)

    And yet, newspapers pay freelancers mere hundreds of dollars for a story. If that. Not close to covering the costs of a trip, let alone allowing a writer to earn any money. So many, many travel writers go on press trips (read: free) or FAM trips (read: free).

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  • Solo travel stories offering travel tips

    It almost seems as if solo travel is becoming the vogue. 

    The Los Angeles Times has a story on 10 vacations for solo travelers. It covers just about every option you can think of, from road trips to special-interest vacations to choosing villages over big cities.
    Maui biking

    Another highly useful LA Times story suggests ways to avoid the single supplement, from setting up a Google alert using the words "single supplement waived" to booking with companies such as Adventure Life to letting a tour company pair you with a roommate, which many will do.

    A story in the Guardian offers strategies for traveling alone by a veteran solo traveler. And the rationale. "You travel alone, you do exactly as you want," says author Jenny Diski. Being on vacation with others makes her anxious. "Are they comfortable, happy, restless, bored?"

    I totally get this. You feel selfish if you don't consider others' needs and yet you've paid all this money for a short time in a vacation place. Compromises make you feel resentful.

    My absolute LEAST favorite words while on vacation are, "Do you mind if…" If I've had to say those words it means I've had to ask permission to do something I want to do.

    Not permission, exactly, but I've had to let someone else know I want to do it and hope they come along happily or want to do the same. If not, I find myself thinking that I'm boring them or keeping them waiting. And how many times am I willing to do that? Argh.

    Solo Friendly offers five reasons for solo travelers to take an organized tour. They include the ability to socialize, letting someone else do the driving and navigating and hearing the interesting stories of locals who are hired as tour guides on these trips.

    And finally, (although there are plenty more sites to mention), National Geographic lists the Asia "Tours of a Lifetime" here. In case after reading Solo Friendly's reasons for taking a tour you're looking to book one.

    National Geographic says it chooses these tours for the "outfitters' commitment to authenticity, immersion, sustainability, and connection."

    One example is a tour in northern India that "has you riding camels, rickshaws, rafts, and jeeps
    to observe leopards, rhinos, monkeys, mongoose, and more at five
    national parks and wildlife refuges." Er, except that it costs more than $7,000 for the 19-day trip.  

    My rich friends, please tell me how fabulous it was when you return!

    On the less expensive side is a bike trip in Thailand, around the Chiang Mai area. 

  • Norwegian Epic offers Caribbean cruise with no single supplement


    Norwegian Epic ship on boldlygosolo blog Norwegian Epic's solo cabins rated a major travel story in the Los Angeles Times today.

    The reporter went on a Caribbean cruise specifically to check out the solo sailing on a cruise line has taken notice of the solo traveler market.

    Norwegian Epic offers private rooms on a seven-day cruise for $1,271-$1,409. It would cost nearly twice as much for a solo traveler to book a double room, as they have to on most cruise ships.

    The Epic "shows promise of being great fun for those who travel solo," the reporter says. The 100-square-foot studios are, however, a "small shock," although there was plenty of storage space for her stuff.

    And the size didn't seem to bother other folks who took advantage of the low price to stuff two people in the room.

    The writer met other solo travelers who told her they chose the ship not for the destination but for the solo cabins. Still, Epic could lose up to $5 million in the first year due to the lost revenue of two people in a cabin.
    Norwegian Epic posh day on boldlygosolo blog   

    I sure hope they find some major advantage in offering benefits to solo travelers. And that other people in the industry take note.

    I don't want to rewrite the whole story here but I was amazed to read that not only are solo travelers freed from the nasty single supplement, they actually get special treatment. Like a lounge for solo travelers only.

    What a great way for people traveling alone to connect. I'm impressed.

    Photos: Courtesy of Norwegian Epic

     

  • Solo travel and solo camera work in Cartagena, Colombia

    Window, ColombiaThis travel guide to Cartagena, Colombia entertained and intrigued me for two reasons:

    1. I've thought many times about visiting Colombia, ever since traveling in Ecuador several years ago. But I've never seen a travel video of Colombia to know much about what it looks like.

    2. After watching the Colombia travel guide for a few minutes, I realized a solo traveler made the video. Yes, the solo traveler you see in all the shots.

    At first, I presumed a fellow traveler was filming because there are several shots of the subject walking away or toward the camera.

    But then I started to see that funny hold-camera-at-arms-length type of shooting and I realized he'd done this all by himself, setting his camera up at various places or walking along with the camera aimed at himself. I was impressed by what he managed to pull off to record parts of his trip.

    (I think my arms are too short for this style. The few times I've tried it I looked rather grotesque. But after seeing this video, I might have to try again.)

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  • Travel tip for getting deep discounts on food and drink and more


    Dessert, boldlygosolo, Ellen Perlman Looking for discount travel? Have I got deals for you!

    Find discounts on food, drink and attractions in major American (and other) cities, discounts that can be steep indeed.

    Just remember these two words: Livingsocial and Groupon.

    Okay, those aren't really words. They're web sites. I've used them in Washington and I love them. And the deals are available in dozens of cities.

    Anyone else out there heard of these or using them?

    I've been receiving one email a day from each of these companies, offering the deal of the day in the Washington, DC, area. I've seen offers such as:

    – Half off a $24 cruise with DC Cruises

    – Half off a $60 pedicab ride

    – $25 for $50 worth of food at 1905 Restaurant and AGAINN gastropub (new and trendy)

    – $10 for $20 worth of drinks at Iron Horse Taproom

    – $10 for $20 worth of vegetarian food at Moaz

    – $25 for a pottery class worth $45

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