Traveling Solo Yet Never Alone

Who said being single won’t make a vacation a memorable one? Being single is fabulous.

We say so because people celebrating their love of adventure, without the fear of traveling alone, might be one of the best perks of being a solo traveler there is.  Traveling solo allows you to experience all the things that you want to do without having to miss out on things that you otherwise may have to.

The world was once, for many of us, a huge and daunting labyrinth

A difficult, expensive challenge to navigate, and a path best traveled with friends in tow. You had to be good at map-reading, for one, with the ability to overcome language barriers. Getting around was simply harder.  That’s changed considerably, and an ever-increasing number of us are these days setting off on adventures alone. Is it just that Google can now steer even the most direction-ally challenged among us to our next location, or translate words from any dialect back and forth?  Is it that more of us are single, and staying single, than ever before? Are we now by nature too impatient to wait for a suitable companion to show up?

Recently, FlightGurus spoke to a variety of accommodation providers to examine the rising trend of going it alone, to see how it is impacting everything from hotel bookings and Airbnb’s, to cruises and British cottage breaks.  According to the latest annual Holiday Habits survey, one in nine travelers reported that they took a holiday on their own in the previous 12 months – double the number compared to six years previous.

Hitwise, the UK’s largest online behavioral research tool, said that from analyzing searches made by 3 million consumers in the UK, across all search engines, there was a 143% increase in “solo travel” searches over the past three years. In the past four weeks, incidentally, the most popular destinations driving solo travel searches have been Costa Rica, South East Asia and New Zealand.

If we’re not doing it, we’re certainly dreaming about doing it. According to inspiration sharing site Pinterest, recent numbers are even higher – with searches for “solo travel” up by nearly 600 % this year.  Hotel booking at FlightGurus.com has already booked more singles vacation packages in 2019 than all of 2018.  An overall increase of 170 % just over the course of the 2 ½ months.  Those looking to book a room by themselves, the most popular destinations for this being Thailand, Peru, Sydney, Portugal and Vietnam.  And people aren’t always hopping on a plane to get away by themselves. They’re checking into their own British holiday cottages too.

Even cruise operators have had to adjust their offerings to cater for higher numbers of passengers traveling alone. Norwegian Cruise Line spied the trend all the way back in 2010, when it first launched studio rooms designed especially for single travelers.

This year Cruise Direct introduced solo cabins with no single supplements across their river cruise program and due to demand – 18 % of their customers are now travelling alone – this year introduced two new dedicated river cruise itineraries specifically for this sector.  Cruising and solo travelers could have been made for each other. Your travel arrangements are handled by experts, you’re looked after on board and are in safe hands when you join a shore excursion. You’ll make new friends and are unlikely to be the only one sailing solo.  A recent study claims that 50% of all solo travelers meet someone and fall in love while on a singles vacation.  So, if you’re single, yet open to the possibility of finding “The One”, solo travel might bring you more adventure than you bargained for!

“If you’re a female adventurer or businesswoman traveling alone, follow the steps in this guide to mitigate the challenges you may encounter. Our guide will cover several ways to protect your finances, stave off theft and deal with it if it happens to you. (Bankrate.com – Female Solo Travel Guide)”

What sort of travelers are going solo?

It’s a mixed bag, now more than ever.  As far as younger travelers go, almost one in eight in the age bracket of 18-24 year’s old are reported going on a holiday by themselves in 2017. In 2011, this question was asked to 15-24 year’s old and the figure was just 4.5 %.  What does appear to be consistent, however, is that women are much more likely to travel alone than men, and that’s only rising.  For all you single men out there looking to find a woman who’s as adventurous as you, one of the best places is to start is not local.