Women over 30, have you taken yourself on a solo vacation and can you share about what the experience was like? Cost, time, travel, things you did?
Women over 30, have you taken yourself on a solo vacation and can you share about what the experience was like? Cost, time, travel, things you did?
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Yup! Did a couple years ago. Went to Montreal. Spent a week there. It was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had. It was actually one of the smoothest vacations I’ve ever had as well. Felt so good to be able to call the shots on literally everything. I was able to do almost everything I had on my list of things I wanted to do and places I wanted to go.
As for cost….I think I took $1500 for spending money. Room was….around $700 maybe? Flights were also around $700 round trip. I spent about the year planning and saving for this trip.
I did a lot of sightseeing and visited a lot of cathedrals. Explored a lot of the different parts of the city. Went to a couple museums. Got a tattoo. Did a Tripadvisor day trip to Quebec City. Visited Mount Royal. Check out a couple bars. Rode the ferris wheel at the old port. Went to a couple parks.
All my vacations are solo.
For too many years, I had to consider others’ feelings, wants, and needs when on vacation. Not being allowed to do things I wanted, and struggled to have fun in their boring places
So now I travel alone. We have a timeshare and I can pick a week in many places in the southeast. They are condos, and I always stay on the beach, and always in November or December.
My time is not centered around food like it is when I am with other people. I like to get outside and explore, walk, and take lots of pictures.
I never spend that much money and only spend what I have put aside.
I have never felt lonely, just very free!
This year I am spending a week in Panama City Beach.
I did my first solo trip and it was to Europe! France specifically. I went for a week. I did everything for around ~2500 USD. I used public transportation the entire time and it was easy to navigate with the apps I downloaded. Took the train to Giverny to see Claude Monet’s gardens and explore Vernon. Went to Sainte Chapelle and listened to a string quartet with a harpsichord play Vivaldi’s Four Seasons (cried the whole time it was so beautiful). Roamed around a few days site seeing and popping into little stores I thought I would like. Ate all the baguettes and croissants I could, took a baking class where we made Madeline’s from scratch, and then went to Versailles to the palace and shopped in the towns outdoor market which was divine.
I stayed in an airbnb in the 5th arr. where the host was on site and she was wonderful. Made breakfast every morning, had the most engaging conversations; she even took me to dinner one night and we walked around and she showed me all of the architecture close to where we were staying. She was a documentary filmmaker and the movie “Civil War” had just came out so we went to see that together.
I never felt unsafe, and everyone was kind and helpful. I don’t speak very much French, and they were excited when I tried to communicate in French before it failed and I had to switch to English. lol.
Biggest advice: just take the damn trip.
I did a couple solo days in Portland, Oregon before meeting up with someone in Bend for a bike race, so I was traveling with my bike.
It was pretty cheap, probably only cost me about 1500 for flight (flew Alaskan air because they’re cheaper to fly with a bike) and a couple nights stay at a cheap hotel, plus rented a van.
I went to the Japanese garden, Powell books and walked as much as I could to a couple donut shops, restaurants and local shopping areas. I chatted with a bartender at one of the restaurants and he gave me some ideas for food including Blue Star Donuts (instead of voodoo) and I ate some great food from the food trucks/small buildings in downtown.
It was my first fully solo trip and I realized traveling solo is alright, but not for me in the grand scheme of things. I’m always happy to explore something on my own but I found dinners to be dull and I was missing chatting with someone or having someone else there to help decide on where to go.
The second part of the trip in Bend was a different story because it made me realize how important it is to travel and coordinate with the RIGHT people.