Have you traveled alone, solitary, in recent years?

I made a few trips alone between NY and FL when I was much younger. By airplane and Greyhound bus. A few trips I made with my son, but he was a child then so not really much help to me. I haven't taken a trip anywhere in a very long time unless it was a short day trip in a car. I don't really want to travel now.
 

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Well, I am leaving for the Atlantic coast beach for a week. Never been there. Didn't go anywhere
last year. Hotel prices are high. I hate making connections between plane, car, hotel. Annoying, stressful. I regret not staying at better hotels in previous trips.
 
When I was single, I did things by myself. Now DH will meet me a few days later when I visit my family. I’ll overnight alone before travelling on to meet them. Sometimes we met up somewhere when our arrivals from different destinations were hours apart.

I follow a blogging group for women travelling by themselves. With my poor vision, I doubt I could do this now.

I have no trouble chatting with strangers along the way. On a long trip, I want company now.
 
Murrmurr said:
No, not very recently. But between 2018 and 2020 I did. All by myself, I went to England, Argentina and Venezuela, Thailand, and Okinawa Prefecture. I stayed in Venezuela for a few months, working on my cousin's farm to get by, and stayed in Thailand for a couple of months, where teaching English got me by.
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I spent some time in Venezuela many many years ago, before the country's complete collapse.
What a beautiful place and all the people I met there were very friendly and gracious! The fact that all buildings in the town I was in had steel bars on the outside of their windows should have been a clue I suppose. Terrible that one can't safely go there anymore :(
 
Several years ago, we met an 88 year old man who had been traveling by himself in his big motor home since his wife died 8 years before.

Watching him maneuver himself in and out of the motor home with his walker was painful but he seemed to be perfectly happy and was very friendly and cheerful.

Not sure I'd recommend traveling around the country by yourself in an rv at 88, but it seemed to work for him.
 
MrPants said:
I spent some time in Venezuela many many years ago, before the country's complete collapse.
What a beautiful place and all the people I met there were very friendly and gracious! The fact that all buildings in the town I was in had steel bars on the outside of their windows should have been a clue I suppose. Terrible that one can't safely go there anymore :(
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I'd been there about 25 years before the trip in 2018. Didn't even look like the same place the 2nd time. Well my cousin's farm hadn't changed much, except he had way fewer cows and a lot more chickens.
 
I have and do travel alone fairly often. My wife only likes traveling if it’s somewhere she has never been to before, but I gave been trying to get her to go to Africa and she won’t budge. I even threatened to ask a former girlfriend to go along and she told me to go ahead and take her, but she wouldn’t be there when I came home. I told her, “Hmmm, let me think about that.” Needless to say, it did go well after that.
 
I think some of yalls got off on the path. travelling alone I think meant like in a car not on a plane. planes cover great distance in a short time unlike driving all day in a car....and I have driven many times alone ten hours at 65mph about 600 miles. boring.
 
cdestroyer said:
I think some of yalls got off on the path. travelling alone I think meant like in a car not on a plane. planes cover great distance in a short time unlike driving all day in a car....and I have driven many times alone ten hours at 65mph about 600 miles. boring.
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Oops! Oh! okay! Then no because I don't like road trips. Driving for hours looking at blacktop is not enjoyable. For me, it's planes and cruise ships.
 
The last time I travelled alone was in 2015... to my aunt's funeral in Corpus Christi. It was a long trip and I almost fell asleep driving. I suddenly felt the loose gravel underneath and knew I was swerving. :confused: I stopped at an Exxon and drank a soda and just rested for a bit.
 
Well the last 3 trips I made this month alone were 1800 miles round trip each. I was solo and not only that, each time I was pulling a trailer of some kind. :eek: I tell you, I wouldn't know how to act if there wasn't some kind of trailer behind me. :)
First trip was bringing the motor home and Suzuki down to Florida, while a friend followed my Trailblazer. Then, I drove the back to Arkansas in the Blazer with a 16' enclosed trailer behind it. . Turned around in Ar. and drove the Dodge truck with another enclosed trailer behind it, Then, drove the Dodge back to Ar with a smaller enclosed trailer hooked to the back. Spun around and drove the Blazer back to Florida with the loader smaller trailer.
Before I left Arkansas that time however, I loaded my backhoe on my huge trailer and delivered the backhoe to it's new owner. (didn't want to forget how to tow don't you know).
Now, I can't be sure, but, I may have passed myself somewhere along the line. :p

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Quite often. For the past ten or so years I have traveled alone (unless you count the dog) to my niece's home for Christmas which is a trip of almost 800 miles one way. I stop about half way and stay in a motel. I much prefer to drive since the only time I went by air it was a mess of delays, reschedules, etc. and I did not get to my destination until late Christmas day. That's the last time I flew and don't plan to again unless I have no choice. My neighbor is always worried about "a woman traveling alone" but it does not concern me. I watch my surroundings and am careful about where I go and who I talk to. I've never had a problem. I'm thinking seriously of planning an Amtrak trip sometime next year if this crazy virus is under control.
 
I rarely travel alone. When I get an urge, I ask around. If no one wants to come with, I just don't go. They also have to be like-minded. A trip alone is a trip wasted, in my opinion. It's nice when someone has your back and you theirs. Especially when I get to places where I don't speak the language.
 
RFW said:
It's nice when someone has your back and you theirs. Especially when I get to places where I don't speak the language.
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I have traveled for business to many places where English was not the first language. Most of the trips alone, I actually found that I enjoyed the challenge, met a few more people and learned a few more words than had I been with someone. It was however intimidating at first, and not something I would have chosen to do, I just had to do it.
 
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Alligatorob said:
I have traveled for business to many places where English was not the first language. Most of the trips alone, I actually found that I enjoyed the challenge, met a few more people and learned a few more words than had I been with someone. It was however intimidating at first, and not something I would have chosen to do, I just had to do it.
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Certainly not me. I don't like to be challenged. :ROFLMAO:
 
I love traveling by myself. When I did travel nursing, I drove from Seattle back to GA via southwest to gulf coast. I was able to visit my sister and her husband for lunch in Arizona, and also got to go to my Daddy’s hometown in Louisiana (happened to be the day for their version of Marci Gras—great fun watching the parade and meeting ppl) and stopped off in Monroeville, Alabama, the real-life town that was the setting for H Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” (one of my all-time fave books).

I enjoy planning but also being able to be flexible with my itinerary.

I love watching the different terrains in various states and describing them on my FB page.

Now traveling outside the US, (especially non-English -speaking counties) it would be a different story.
 
From 2000 until 2016 when I retired, I traveled internationally quite often for business purposes. I traveled all over including Japan, China, Sweden, England, Germany, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, etc. etc. I was always on my own, although I met associates from our company in each place that I traveled. I have very little opportunities to see the country, except in Japan. I enjoyed the travel and the work, but I do not miss it now that I am retired. I would like to share some of these places with my wife, but the world has been so messed up, that we have decided not to travel outside of the USA until things get much better.
 
My most memorable trip alone was to Budapest. It was not long after the wall came down and things were in transitional chaos. I arrived by train from Vienna and was greeted by a confusing mob at the station. Fortunately the people I was going to meet with had someone there with a placard and my name on it.

Seems there was a taxi drivers strike and they were out in force to make sure no vehicles could get around. Lots of road blocks and tires being slitted. The guy I met helped figure out how to get to the meeting I was there to attend and to my hotel. I was there a couple of days and things just got worse. I was supposed to fly out, but there was no transit to the airport.

The hotel arranged for a strike braker taxi. He picked me up in the basement of a nearby building and we made our way through a real maze of back alleys to avoid the road blocks and angry crowds.

After a hour or so he pulled into an abandoned sports field and indicated that we had to get out and walk. He spoke no English and I no Hungarian, he tried speaking to me in German, but that was no better.

I could not see an alternative so I got out with him and began walking through an abandoned field, not another person in sight. I figured I was going to get robbed or worse... He did help carry my luggage.

Then we came to a hole in a fence, climbed through and came out on a runway. Had to run across it to the terminal. I made my flight!

The fare he charged was quite reasonable, low by most standards. I gave him all of the cash I had, probably the biggest tip I have ever given.

Not sure a traveling companion would have made much difference on that one.

I also had an almost as interesting trip, solo, to Novosibirsk, Siberia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novosibirsk ), but that is a story for another day.
 
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