Boldly Go Solo

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

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  • Online chat about solo travelers not wanting to pay single supplements

    I landed on this chat about a traveler wanting to find a place to ski that offers rooms for one without a single supplement.

    The comments range from "Singles are losers to be exploited" to "unfortunately the economies of being a hotelier make it difficult to achieve what you want" to "I travel on my own mostly and do not find it difficult to get single rooms in hotels and do not pay a supplement."

    One of the people who posted about the "great single room debate" says she travels in a group of four people, none of whom want to share a room. I don't blame them. You hit a certain age and lifestyle…

    She says she and her friends have managed to find hotels that charge either a small single supplement or none at all because they have single rooms.

    She mentions hotels in the the ski resorts of Pila, Italy (Hotel Europe), Val D'isere, France
    (Chalethotel Moris, no supplement as they actually have single rooms),
    Sallbach, Austria (Bergers SportHotel) and Ischgl, Austria.  (Hotel Alpenrose). Write these down for the future.

    You might find it interesting to read the varying points of view, many resisting the idea that solo travelers are a group to be catered to. And the notion that it all comes down to cold, hard cash for the tour operator or the hotel. No news there. 

    The final comment, last time I read the thread was: Get a better job / marry a rich man / win the lottery / rob a bank, as suits and stay in nicer accommodation.

    Okay, gotta go buy a dual-purpose ski mask. First using it to rob a bank. Then to enjoy my week on the slopes in Europe.

  • Is traveling solo rewarding or horrible?

    A Brit has written a story in timesonline about avoiding the "heartache" of traveling alone.

    Oh please…

    Heartache?
    If you've chosen to travel alone, you didn't get into it to be
    miserable. Clearly you have some sense of adventure and a desire to see
    parts of the world that intrigue you.

    I
    personally would not pay big bucks to get on a plane to go somewhere
    and be unhappy. Know thyself. My highly useful advice is if you think
    you're going to suffer from wretched glumnitude and angst-ridden
    despondency (thanks Roget's) here's what I say: DON'T GO. (Okay, I made
    up the "glumnitude" part)
    Kauai from Helicopter-Ellen Perlman

    Putter in your garden, in your kitchen or online, safe in your happy home, where there's no heartache or misery.

    Okay,
    now, let's skip past that silliness to get to the useful bits of the
    story. I love the advice about trying not being so British, and
    channeling one's "inner American" when traveling solo. giggle.

    Apparently
    what that means is looking up from your feet and making eye contact.
    Who knew that every single American was so good at this? Good on us, eh?

    Another
    suggestion from the story: travel with a purpose. Learn to cook or
    dance or to speak another language. That's a better goal than trying just to achieve "plain
    happiness." I agree. Showing up in a city and expecting that to be enough doesn't cut it.

    The writer also suggests to find an English-language club as a way to socialize. People trying to
    learn English in their own countries will be thrilled to have an expert
    visit and speak in perfect English. The piece discusses an experience the writer had in China.

    All in all, a worthwhile post on solo travel.

    Photo: Ellen Perlman. Kauai from helicopter.

  • Solo skiers and hikers can find camaraderie via Maine Huts and Trails

    My friend Diane and her husband Wessel recently visited Flagstaff Lake Hut, one of the huts that is part of Maine Huts & Trails. As a cross country skier, I was intrigued by her account of the two of them walking into the woods with all their cross country ski gear for a little winter getaway.Flagstaff Lake Huts, Maine-Wessel Kok

    I want to do this! Though it will have to wait until next year at least.

    I first heard about hut-to-hut hiking and skiing in Norway, where they have a good system of backwoods huts. I didn't know they also have them in Maine.

    It seems to me like a really cool thing to do, hiking or skiing to a destination, rather than just taking a random hike or skiing for an hour then returning home. I like the idea of pushing toward a goal. It's why I also like week-long bike trips.

    The huts I saw in Norway were quite spare. Diane says the hut they stayed at in Maine was more like a lodge, (although the photos on the site don't convey that.) Diane does say the bedrooms are quite spare. All the more reason not to hang out in them but to join others in the common room.

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  • Solo traveler overcomes fear and other factors to get out on the road

    I want to share this amusing (to me) post about how you don't need to be someone with special skills or abilities to be able to travel by yourself and enjoy it.

    In "Confessions of a Solo Female Traveler," the writer says that she's scared, paranoid, a worrywart, introverted, unadventurous and neither rich nor physically fit.

    But…

    She likes to travel. And she does it solo. Not by choice at first. But now, she's seen the light.

    Every traveler has his or her own style. You don't have to be Ms. or Mr. Super Adventurous Person to go the solo route. You just have to want to travel and not let lack of a travel partner deter you.

    Our unadventurous solo traveler puts herself out there on the Internet to say that she's not the bravest or most confident kid on the block, but she still finds she wants to get out there and travel on her own. Because she can. And because she gets something joy out of doing so.

    She encourages others to do the same.

  • Solo travelers can find unique transportation methods around the world

    Old Ecuadortrain-Ellen Perlman Until I saw this article on "10 Unique Transport Modes Around the World," I never thought to add up all the different ways I've traveled. We're not talking planes, trains and autos here. More like camels, elephants and tuk tuks.

    So I was amused to see what the writer had experienced and to learn that I'd traveled five of the 10 modes she mentions. I can make a list too! And I'm sure you can.

    And, though I haven't ridden atop a bamboo train in Cambodia, as the writer has, I have ridden on the roof of a train in Ecuador.

    You can read more about the train ride through the "Avenue of the Volcanoes" on my website. Here's one little piece:

    "The train took us to the Devil's Nose, a steep portion of the ride where the tracks zigzag repeatedly to enable the train to make it down the steep slope. The mountain walls were so close we could inspect them for cracks."

    But the important question here is, what different modes of transportation have YOU ridden. Ones other than the ones listed in the "unique transport" piece? I'm going to add pony trekking in Iceland, snowmobiling in Canada and inline skating in the Netherlands.

    Who's got others?

    Photo: Ellen Perlman. Avenue of the Volcanoes, Ecuador.

  • Solo traveler tips on dealing with illness and whether to join a group trip

    Here's a round up of some good articles on solo travel:

    The Los Angeles Times offers travel advice to a 49-year-old man concerned about getting sick while traveling out of the country? Soothingly, "sudden death while traveling is not statistically likely." Well, I guess I can finally stop fretting about keeling over then.
    IMG_0013-Bird of paradise, Guadalajara-Ellen Perlman

    But just in case, you can leave a note for the maid on what to do with your body, writes Catherine Hamm, the paper's travel editor. Funny.

    As for fear of getting sick, she suggests some useful things, tips she got from calling around in the medical community. For one, register with the State Department before you leave the country. Also, keep a list of the generic names of medications you take in case you need to replace any. Yes, different countries call medicines different things.

    I also like her pros and cons on traveling alone vs. joining a group. When on a group trip, there will always be one "ultra-annoying" person. (True) On the other hand, you'll never be alone. As for solo travel, there's some tension in having to keep your wits about you at all times. (Not necessarily) But then again, you make all the choices.

    A travel review piece on the faxtravel.com site provides great information on how to choose the best group tour. It says to pick small group tours and local tour operators.


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  • Introverts can travel solo but differently than extroverts

    I enjoyed this story from worldhum on introverted travelers. It showed me how the other half of solo travelers explore the world. The introverts, that is. Clearly without gabbing with a lot with strangers:

    "I am terrible at striking up conversations with strangers and I am happy exploring a strange city alone."

    The writer doesn't seek out people to talk to but says she loves people watching. Fair enough.

    Snowboarder, Park City, Utah-Ellen PerlmanIt's worth reading this other story on solo travel, a story on solo snowboarding in Chamonix, just for the writer's take on his trip. Funny guy. As in this nugget:

    "As with all snowboarding trips, there seems to be a self-destructive desire to finish yourself off if you haven’t already collapsed from exhaustion or been carted off in an ambulance."

    Hm, and I've always wanted to try snowboarding. I don't consider myself self-destructive. I hope this doesn't mean I'll be terrible at the sport.

    I have a beef, though, with how the writer envisioned what he'd find when he arrived for a solo vacation:

    "It’s easy to build up stereotypes of the kind of people you expect to meet on a solo travellers’ trip. But instead of a bunch of socially inept nerds, those in my group are actually fairly normal."

    Nice to know one man's view of us solo travelers. Thanks, buddy. 


  • Vacationers mangle the language as they travel merrily along

    From Becky, who entered my contest to win a funny foreign language phrasebook, a story from Mexico about, um, cannibalism:

    I was learning Spanish and went to a local resturant in Ixtapa, Mexico. When I got back to my hotel I managed to mix up the words "waiter" and "shrimp" (In Spanish they are very similar – camarero and cameron). So when the parking attendant asked me how my dinner was I replied, "It was fantastic! The waiters were grilled and delicious."

    Becky wins a "hide this spanish booK XTREME" language phrasebook just for entering. And I"m totally emphathetic to that camarero/cameron thing. It might be time to switch to "mesero," another word for waiter. Not that I'm sure how interchangeable they are, depending on the country.

    Using a random selection process (Three different times I shook bits of paper with names on them, in my hands, then picked one) I have come up with the winners of the language phrase books, chosen from all those who submitted a phrase or story. The other two winners are Lorraine A., who wins the "hide this french book XTREME," and Linda T., who will receive, "hide this italian book XTREME." 

    Now here's Lorraine's story about studying the Nepali language but not having quite knack for speaking it:

    Traveling to the small country of Nepal had been on my mind for over 20 years. My dream was to go trekking in the mighty Himalayan Mountains. My dream came true last year when I made the journey to Nepal for 6 weeks. I wanted to immerse myself in the culture and be able to interact with the local people as much as possible.

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  • For solo travelers, highly useful phrases in other languages…or not.

    Over the next several posts I will run some of the entries I received for the contest to win a foreign-language phrase book. I love the following story from B, who did not want his name used:

    "My parents lived in Indonesia for a year while my dad was advising a company there. They were sent an Indonesian phrasebook to study before the trip. I distinctly remember (in English) two highly useful phrases in this book that every traveler should know:

    1. "You idiot! Just look at this pocket."

    2. "Quick, the Commodore's son is coming!"

    I can't help wondering how often the Commodore's son showed up and what were the repercussions of that visit, since it was considered important enough to be an item in a phrasebook. And, geez, how often did something terrible happen to these people's pockets? Soo funny. Thanks B.

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  • Travel story contest to win a language phrase book

    Just a few more days to enter the contest to win a funny phrasebook in Spanish, French or Italian.

    Surely you've got a story about mangling the language in a foreign country or not being able to get your message across? Click above to read more about the contest.

    Send your phrases and tales now by clicking on the email found in "About" at the top left above.

    The contest closes February 15. Don't miss out on the fun!