Boldly Go Solo

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

recent posts

about

  • Solo travelers from Iceland check in with Boldly Go Solo

    I’d like to extend a warm welcome to all the Icelanders who have been visiting this site after reading about it on an Icelander’s blog. Here’s what the blogger said:

    Boldly Go Solo
    http://boldlygosolo.typepad.com
    Ellen Perlman um að ferðast einn, kosti þess og galla, hættur og gildrur. Gefur góð ráð og veltir fyrir sér kostnaði.

    Thanks! I think…

    A few years ago, I wrote a travel story on Iceland. About the Northern Lights and hakarl and "black death" (a liquor). It ran in the St. Petersburg Times in Florida. You’ll probably laugh at how smitten I was with your beautiful country.

  • Even shy people find a way to travel solo

    Shy people travel solo too. So says Catherine Bodry, a self-admitted, eyes-cast-down kind of person. I don’t recommend her way of coping: tears, phone calls home and beer. To "overcome my small-talk impairedness," she says.

    ReykjavikBut I do like an idea she mentions. Joining a guesthouse tour. You’ll likely spend some time with other people from your guesthouse. And that evening you’ll have something to talk about if you’re not great at cocktail chatter. "Hey, how’d you like them ruins, eh?" For example.

    I’m not overly shy, but I have my moments. I don’t think I’ve stayed at any guesthouses that offered tours, as Bodry mentions. But when I was in Iceland on my own after college, I took a day-long tour that I signed up for after arriving in Reykjavik. I wanted to see as much of the "land of fire and ice" as possible.

    (more…)

  • Guess who’s coming for dinner? And fado.

    Tiles_in_national_palace_sintra_por
    I had just one day to spend in Lisbon and I wanted to hear fado music. I didn’t actually know what fado was until a Spaniard clued me in, as I was  leaving Madrid for my Lisbon stopover. Then I just HAD to experience it. Because, when in Lisbon, do like the Lisbonians do, that’s what I always say.

    So after a day trip to hilly Sintra, with its many palaces and castles, I cracked open a Rick Steves guidebook. That led me to a fado place called Campo do Camoes in the Baixa Alto section of town. (No, I wouldn’t be able to pronounce those for you.)Fado_singer_lisbon_ellen_perlman

    The place was mighty empty. Then again, it was a Monday night. While I was examining the menu out front, Antonio, who "belonged" to the restaurant, motioned for me to come inside. I was still deciding. He then offered to take me out for a drink after the performance. As soon as he was off for the night.

    Uh, no. But, thanks for the offer, Antonio.

    Then a couple came by and began scanning the menu too. Tracy and Jeremy from Cincinnati also had ended up at the Campo place because of the
    Rick Steves guidebook. We had a laugh over that and debated
    whether the place was too touristy. We decided to go for it anyway. Tracy invited me to join them for dinner.

    (more…)

  • Last minute travel. If you’re traveling solo, it’s a snap. And a click. And a credit card number. Then, voila! Off you go.

    Boss out of town? The beach beckons? Got vacation days? Okay, then. Jump on a plane and get out of town. Or country. When it’s just you, you don’t have to coordinate with anyone. You don’t have to wonder if both of you can get the time off.

    I subscribe to a site catering to last-minute travelers called, cleverly enough, lastminute.com. I’m armed and ready, just in case the mood strikes.

    Passport_stamps_ellen_perlman_2
    I get emails signed, "Live every minute," followed by the name Patty Griffin. On Wednesday, she wrote how much she loves traveling to other countries and getting those stamps in her passport. Me too, Patty!

    Passports_ellen_perlman_2For the first time, I noticed that there was a bilingual list of specials: one for the double-occupancy people. Another for the "solo traveler." Specials included packages to the Bahamas, Mexico and Puerto Rico. The site may have been pricing packages for solos for awhile, but I’ve been too busy traveling lately to check in with all my travel Web sites.

    (more…)

  • 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 to pay a single supplement. Or they have to share a room with a stranger (an option on some, but not all tours). One solo scribe called it, "A Hobson’s Choice" (see previous post). Rehoboth_117

    But this just in from msnbc:


    "We’ve found four beach vacations where your solo self can revel in the same benefits usually extended to couples – without paying a single supplement for the privilege."


    They exaggerate a tad. Not all of the single supplements have been waived at the places they mention. And these places aren’t inexpensive.

    (more…)

  • The jewels in the crown that only tour operators can find

    View_from_sheep_shearers_quarters_e
    I used to think that package tours were for retired people, the elderly and the infirm. That buses took them right up to, say, the rim of the Grand Canyon. Then they could peer out the window and ooh and aah without ever having to leave their seats.

    Then I discovered active tours. The biking, hiking, kayaking and other trips I’ve been writing about here.  Clearly, there are tours beyond bus tours. What I’ve also learned is that these tours, planned by experts, often can give you a leg up over independent travelers.

    Tour operators extensively research the places they’re taking people. They’d better if they want to stay in business. They have experience with the roads, the restaurants and the hotels. And they often get special privileges that "regular" people do not. Ellen_at_sheep_shearers_quarters

    That might be admission to sites closed to others. Or private tours separate from the madding crowd. Or, tour operators may have a relationship with vineyard owners or park rangers or whomever, that garners benefits for their guests.

    (more…)

  • Short trips in the United States

    USA Today yesterday wrote about "10 quick, affordable U.S. vacations for women." From hiking and kayaking in the Blue Ridge Mountains to five days of golfing in coastal California. See if there’s anything you like.

  • It’s good to be alone when they’re handing out the upgrades to first class

    How many times in life do you get upgraded to first class? In my case, twice. So far.

    The first time, a ticket agent and I were flirting. Hey, he started it. When I got to the jetway, he winked. Then he waved a magic wand that sent me to first class.  Pub_saddleworth_england

    The second time was this past October. I was expecting cattle-car misery for an overnight flight to London. Nothing worse than sitting in claustrophic coach with just five or six hours to sleep before having to stay awake for a whole other day.       

    At check-in, a desk person took a pencil to my ticket and changed my seat. I wasn’t sure why. Should I be angry? Did she just give me a lousy seat?

    Something about the high number and the "G" – I think it was a G – in my new seat assignment made me think I was headed for a non-reclining middle seat near the lavatories. I
    braced for the worst.

    (more…)

  • Arthur Frommer says: Read this blog

    Arthur Frommer says he has undertaken on "ongoing effort" to pass on blogs on the subject of solo travel. And then he mentioned Boldly Go Solo. Thanks, Art! (hm, may I call you Art?)

    He says:

    And then there’s freelance travel writer Ellen Perlman, who has recently begun blogging about the joys, perils and pitfalls of traveling alone at Boldly Go Solo with recommendations on everything from tour operators and tips to accounts of her own adventures (skiing, hiking, rafting and more) and musing about the relative benefits and costs of traveling alone versus with companions.

    Always nice to get a pat on the back. 

    (The post appeared on his site on Jan. 22 at 3:21 pm. I tell you this minutiae because you’ll have to scroll down to find it.)

  • A warm welcome at the clubhouse for solo travelers in South America

    HeyQuito_side_street_ellen_perlman, you missed Peruvian food and drink night a couple of weeks ago at the "clubhouse" in Cusco, Peru. And, you missed poker night last Friday. But you still have time to make it to the pub quiz tomorrow night.

    The Cusco clubhouse of South American Explorers, hosts these events and others. But Cusco isn’t the only place where you can find a clubhouse. South American Explorers has clubhouses in Buenos Aires, Argentina; Quito, Ecuador; and Cusco and Lima, Peru. They are aimed at the "independent" traveler.

    I joined a few years ago while planning a trip to Ecuador on my own. The Quito clubhouse calls itself a "home away from
    home." What a great invitation for a solo traveler.  Especially a nervous one going alone to South America for the first time.       

    (more…)