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One particular trip I took by myself was a bicycle ride from New Jersey to Montreal. The scenery in upstate New York, from the Catskills thru the Adirondacks was breathtaking, but I thought I'd burst because there was nobody there with me to share it. That was before cell phones and instantly posting everything online and constantly being in touch with everyone.
Maybe it would be different today, but I'm married and I never travel alone for pleasure!
I prefer traveling alone and driving alone, especially on road trips, to having a passenger along and concentrate better when driving alone. Passengers distract me. And yes I like being able to listen to my country and bluegrass music as loud as I want and stopping whenever. And then being able to keep my weird late night schedule without inconveniencing someone else or having to adapt to their time clock and see what I want to see when I get there. But I've also traveled with friends and family and enjoyed their company although I need some alone time.
I've been making road trips to the National Parks and have enjoyed exploring the southwest. The National Parks are less crowded in the later afternoon and early evening, that is when the wildlife comes out, and the night time ranger talks are better. Having to get up early to sightsee and then being done by 5 pm for the rest of the day is not my preference. But I would like a travel companion who had more outdoors experience than me, a good high clearance 4WD vehicle, and was not nervous about driving on the backroads. I tend to stay on the main roads and trails.
It 's encouraging to hear that there are other people, especially single women, who travel alone internationally and enjoy it. I see that as my next phase of retirement travel although I will probably start with a group tour but one that is flexible and stay a few extra days at the end to explore on my own.
I find this thread very interesting. We are at the beach and getting up in age and just this morning I had this terrible thought that if I should lose my wife I may never return. Oh sure I would take mini solo vacations by myself here but most of that time was spent playing golf. Going to the beach or out to dinner for days on end without her just wouldn't be the same and I have nobody else that I could do that with.
Oh yeah, baby! Crank it up! I could listen to that one a hundred times in a row. I once did that driving alone, played the same song for an hour, LOL.
That would drive someone else batty. I really loved long road trips alone. Especially ones I knew well, so no hard concentrating. And sorta deserted and scenic, like I-70 headed west.
Just got back from a solo trip to Canada. I met up with a group tour of some very nice folks. People were very curious about me traveling alone and asked if I enjoyed it. I have travelled with friends and family, but solo (for me) is the best. I really feel like I'm having an adventure.
Oh yeah, baby! Crank it up! I could listen to that one a hundred times in a row. I once did that driving alone, played the same song for an hour, LOL.
Ah, yes, the music. DH did not like classic rock. I LOVE classic rock. My son and his family live 3 hours away and the rest of my family (siblings and widowed Dad) are a 2-day drive from me. Sometimes I listen to sensible and informative podcasts.
Outside of the advantage of having someone to share the driving, I vastly prefer to take driving vacations on my own. I stop and eat when and where I want. I stop to sightsee when and where I want (without hearing "why would you want to see THAT?"). I stay at MY choice of motels.
I love that! Wish I could remove the passenger seat -- Mercedes calls it the co-driver seat -- in my van.
There may be some people in the world who are wonderful company on road trips. Even then I think we solitary ones want to be alone with our thoughts and our peculiarities.
On a trip back from Arizona a few months ago, I was listening to a podcast of Steve Morse being interviewed by a guy from a guitar magazine. No way would anyone else want to sit through an hour of that but I found it fascinating.
Hahaha, I would!
I make a thousand-mile round trip drive alone approximately every month. I stop in the same place six hours in and finish the trip the next day.
The past couple of trips, I binge-listened to a true crime podcast that already had 80 episodes. I'm saving the last four or five from this month for my next drive home. I've also started looking for other true-crime podcasts.
I'm far from retirement age, but yes! I've been traveling around California alone all summer. It has been pretty amazing.
I've also traveled through numerous countries in Asia by myself.
I've pretty much always traveled alone. It would be nice to have someone to travel with, but in my age range, so many people are locked down with mortgages, kids, 9-5 jobs... I would love to meet some people who have the freedom to enjoy this sort of lifestyle.
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