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As a woman, I would be kind of careful. It wouldn't be so bad on the plane, ship, bus, whatever mode of transportation, but when you got there it might not be so great. There's the security issue of staying in a motel alone. I have stayed in a motel alone but it was for one night and not that far from home.
But if you were in a different country or even 500 or more miles away from home and anything happened while you were alone, what would you do? No matter how we may think that things have changed, a woman alone can still be vulnerable. Hmmm, even two women traveling can be vulnerable if they're not careful. But two is safer than one.
My grandmother used to travel back and forth to England by ship when she was in her 80s BUT she had her family here to see her off and when she got to England, she had her family there to pick her up and for her to stay with.
So I'd travel at my age if I had people to stay with when I got there or at least had some contacts once I got there just in case of emergency.
I, for one, wouldn't want to go on a cruise alone. But it's not for the sake of safety, it would be because I'd be lonely. Few go on cruises alone (yes, probably there are singles cruises but they would be for younger people.) If you went on a cruise for older singles, it MIGHT be different (if there is such a thing.)
I guess I'd drive 200 or so miles, stay in a motel, come back home if the place was safe. I can imagine driving up to Maine, staying in a motel, seeing a musical, going back to the motel, driving home. But I'm familiar with the area and it's safe too.
I would not take a train to NYC (where I would promptly get lost!) and try to figure out the subway system and walk around the streets, getting exhausted and lost, on my own. But then I wouldn't have done that when I was younger either!
Small trips to safe places--pretty much the same when you're 70 as when you're 20--at least as a woman. And I can speak only as a woman.
I have a neighbor who is 76 and she travels all over the world on organized group tours. I got to know her by house and pet sitting while she traveled. Once in these countries she goes off on her own and explores off the beaten path. She's got more guts than I do! LOL She's been to India, Chile, Turkey, Russia, and more.
I have advised several of my older male friends that my cruising experience says there are plenty of available woman on cruises. Two of them took my advice and booked the cheapest room they could share. They had a ball and still do it. Book when children are in school.
We book cruises on Regent and there are always some single people on the ships, and almost never any children. Their cruises really aren't for children, no activities for kids. They are smallish ships and the service is wonderful. EVERYTHING is included, even alcohol. It's very relaxing and people are very friendly. https://www.rssc.com/
Yes there are trips that are geared to single travelers, but also even in a group tour, you get to know the folks on the tour and they're like family by the end of the trip. I was with my Mom on a trip to Ireland; she couldn't really hang at the bars at night, so a single guy and another couple and I hooked up and would go out.
My issues now are physical -- driving long distances (back/leg pain), driving at night (hard to see), doing a lot of walking on tours and in airports, though now I'm just flat-out asking for the wheelchair. Also, I get awful jet-lag both coming and going on European trips. Would still like to do one final trip to Ireland before the passport expires this year though. Scatter my Mom's ashes in Donegal, where her Mom was born.
Wondering if I will feel odd man out on an esccorted tour and feeling lonely.
When I first looked at the thread, I thought "Well, sure." But seeing the focus now on an escorted tour, I would have lots of doubts myself.
I have traveled alone probably 99 and 44/100% of all the trips I've taken as an adult. It always worked out fine, even when it didn't go my way. At 79 I have to walk with two canes to be safe, but walk surely and rapidly with them. Thus, traveling is now about how much noise, low-level service, etc. I want to put up with before I get to my destination, and I do not drive outside of my hometown so the availability of local transportation is a factor, when once it was not.
But a tour? I have been on very short ones in the middle of a longer vacation and did not really care for the experience. I am a dawdler, my interests are often very academic or quirky, etc....I suppose I am setting myself up for a bad time to some degree. But traveling alone for a lifetime I have spoiled myself, plus I am not as fussy and interested in the quality of the amenities as many folks seem to be.
But if I were going to a destination I regarded as very exotic, on the other hand - someplace in Central Asia for example, I would nowadays definitely go as part of a tour.
I think contacting the tour group & asking them about single travel is the answer, there are also agencies that specialize in singles or senior travel groups. I have almost never taken a tour but a spa I have frequented will match you up with a roommate which helps for company as well as $$$.
I actually have the opposite concern, having spent my life as a singleton (mostly) & traveling abroad as a solo since 19yo, I have had issues sometimes traveling with someone, I remember a trip to Paris being ruined because my companion copped an angry attitude in mid trip. I wonder if I am able to deal with traveling with others now as a 65yo since I have strong feelings about travel & don't "tour" like most folks. I certainly don't want to be sitting at some chain hotel buffet listening to a group complain about the guide or the local food or that there's graffiti in a city. Nor do I want to be sitting in a bus for hours watching the destinations pass by in fast succession.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Hefe
... I have almost never taken a tour ...
I actually have the opposite concern, having spent my life as a singleton (mostly) & traveling abroad as a solo since 19yo, I have had issues sometimes traveling with someone, I remember a trip to Paris being ruined because my companion copped an angry attitude in mid trip. I wonder if I am able to deal with traveling with others now as a 65yo since I have strong feelings about travel & don't "tour" like most folks. ....
^^^^
At age 65 you still have at least 10 yrs of capable 'single' travel.
While you get chastised here for being 'non-conventional'... traveling is very much 'non-conventional' in locations, interests, experience.
Keep going while you are able, you will not regret, even if eventually you are sequestered to home or a tour group (I will choose home, thank you very much). As we age... our 'tolerance' for less-than-adult tour guests can get pretty frustrating. Personally... I am not much for WAITING... making decisions, getting documents in order, loading bus / van / train / plane / serving meals (I seldom eat during lunch time, there is TOO much to see and do during daylight, I can catch a snack and see 2-3x as much as a tour group.
The older you get, the less likely you will feel comfortable being alone, unless you have a group of people to congregate with on your travel.
This is my opinion and mine alone. BUT after traveling to Arkansas recently, and to Greenville SC, and Columbia, MO previously, looking at areas to move to, I will not do it again. Oh, yes, also Asheville, NC too.
I felt really OLD. I am 74 and my traveling alone has ended. If I find a group tour, that will be different, but otherwise, no. This is just me. Probably not you.
The sheer angst involved in airplane travel (stuffed like sardines in a tube), the rental of a car that has "gadgets" I don't recognize (like I had to ask someone at the gas station how to open the gas cover on the car) and finding places to eat besides fast food, and the same old breakfast daily at the hotel, made me feel like a fish out of water. And the hotel was empty. Hardly anyone to talk to there.
I had a GPS in the car, thank goodness. But I needed to go buy clothes for cold weather (it snowed) and could only find Walmart. I did not sleep well for 5 nights and never got to see what I wanted to see (Osher program). And the internet lies. Places are alot further apart than you think. And look very different once you get there.
Yes, this is a rant. I did not have a good time, but I learned alot about myself.
I LIKED this rant! It is truth and thanks for sharing this. Maybe the trick is to plan better, all the details. like tha car you will rent, what you will ear, what you will see. I get nervous as the day for travel approaches but planning the details helps.
I have traveled but now my spouse prefers to stay home.
So this will be my first alone experience.
I went on birding trip to Costa Rica by myself as spouse had no interest. With Road Scholars. There were 2 couples and rest were all single women. 12 altogether, a small group. Loved it. I think the trick is to have an active trip so you are doing something and exhausted at the end of the day.
Travel how? Rail, plane, driving? How far? To where? Why? To see relatives, to see the world?
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