A reader whose name you may recognize from our discussions, Wiebes, would love to hear your answers to his question. He wants to go on a vacation on his own, but when he googles the obvious phrases, such as “vacation singles,” guess what comes back?
Yes, of course, his inquiry returns all sorts of links to vacations boasting of their opportunities for singles to become unsingle. That’s not what Wiebes wants. He would like to go on a vacation that is singles-friendly but not trying to pair him off or hook him up.
Any suggestions for particular destinations or good travel-booking services?
I just do short local trips to places of interest. Not particularly exciting but also not demanding of too much time and money. And you avoid the crowds too.
I do long-distance bike touring alone, but you don’t need a bike to enjoy staying at hostels. Hostelling International has a great directory and the people are really helpful, and you can stay in private rooms or dorm-style setups. You meet people from all over and you can go to the kitchen and just sit with other lone travelers; I’m never lonely on a hostel trip. I’ve actually made friends I kept in touch with! The hostels also have organized activities, like trips to local concerts and attractions, or bar-hopping, or restaurant excursions. It’s quite acceptable to stand in the lobby and yell, “Anyone up for Thai?” and see who wanders over. If you get bored, you can sign out a computer and blog about it here. >: ) All in all, hostelling is a lone traveler’s paradise.
My neighbor is an older widowed woman who is obsessed with owls. Her last name translates to “owl” in some ancient language. Anyway, she’s going to a conservatory in London to see over 700 species of owls. Any trip like that with a focused agenda would be doable alone. Just be sure to leave some time for spontaneous side trips. I’m into beadwork and I keep the Bead Museum in Tempe, AZ in my back pocket for vacation ideas. Some day when the wet NW winter gets to be too much, I’ll go.
Okay, one more and I’m done. I’m currently planning a trip to the Free Spirit Spheres lodge on Vancouver Island. They have hanging spheres suspended from the trees that you can sleep in; it’s supposed to be a very Zen experience. Windows look out into the tree canopy and you cross a rope bridge to get from the tree trunk to the door. The smallest of the 4 available spheres sleeps one. Yep, there’s a rental accomodation out there for one! For once you can use a room and not feel like there’s an extra place setting staring at you all emptyish.