To think going on holiday alone will be shit?

[balune]

Be honest here. And don’t answer as if you’re a frazzled woman with a job and parents and kids and husband and are lucky if you get to have a wee alone.

Every day is alone for me. So if I go on holiday alone, won’t it just be more of the same? Can’t decide ...

keyboardkate Interesting comment regarding introversion. I'm an introvert but present as an extrovert. I love my own company as it energises me. I enjoy company too but too much drains me so it's nice to be able to get away from everyone and I also shy away from things that are too regimented and organised.

I have holidays alone, month in India, walking, cycling, loved it. Now I am part of a family, I do not like 'holidays', children need constant supervision etc. I think group walking, activity ones are good or a few days in a nice hotel followed by a group one? Surely the idea of a holiday is not working, away from the grind and the ordinary, you can achieve this or alone, though might be that mixing with strangers is also a burden.

I've been holidaying alone for years. I absolutely love it.

@MaudlinMews

I can be extrovert when it is required lol.... and I enjoy being social. But too much of it exhausts me. So I decompress by being alone after say a wedding or a birthday party etc.

As you know, there is nothing wrong with being like this. Extroverts energise by being the life and soul of the party, Introverts get their energy from being alone.

I didn't figure it all out until I saw Susan Cain series on You Tube (Ted Talks). Right I said, now I know, and it's normal for some!!

I think the expectation is always out there that everyone is happy clappy full of chat and fun and interraction all day every day. NO.....

being stuck with a weirdo on holiday

the brilliant thing for me about being on holiday on my own is exactly that i simply won't get stuck doing anything i don't want to do. How would that even happen? If a random person tried to 'team up', you just excuse yourself , 'oh, i must just...mumble' and you are gone, far away from them, off on your own adventures.

's brilliant

I am quite sociable and have very much enjoyed long weekend type city breaks on my own, where one of the greatest pleasures is to research all the things you might do. I enjoy the research, and always have loads of things that i would be interested to do, book a few things so there are some fixed points in my schedule then see what else i fancy doing hour by hour. No need to consult anyone else's schedule, to agree to do 'x' if they then do 'y'. Visit a art gallery and only look at one item, or take an audio tour and see everything, s9 exactly as you want to do. It's part of the fun for me to find some books or plays which are set in the place I am visiting, to give me an insider view.

For a longer holiday, i have very much enjoyed activity holidays, such as sailing, walking, yoga, which provide a loose structure to the day, shared meals and activities available if i want to join in but equally options to slope off and do my own thing if i prefer. Always take a kindle or iPad, loaded with lots of books and audiobooks, too. Lovely weather, a view, a glass or cup of something, Lovely.

I can honestly only see great possibilities and am genuinely wondering why you might not be convinced. Tell us what you are afraid might happen, I'm sure the hive mind here can think up a solution.

Some things that i used to do at first, holidaying on my own was to have my 'main meal' at lunchtime, then just have a snack in the evening. Nowadays, I would want my own room, with ensuite but in days gone by I was very happy to sleep on a train on my way somewhere else to save the cost of a hotel. Now I love to have a balcony, with a view, and a 'fridge so i could have a chilled glass of wine and maybe a handful of olives in the evening. Reading or listening to a good book. Bliss.

It really depends on you. I had fun on holiday alone but I don't get bored easily, am not scared to go out alone in a strange city and I don't feel lonely quickly. I love doing museums on my own as well and I can spend days reading on a beach someplace. I think you need to find a holiday that suits you and gives you the holiday feeling that you're looking for.

I've had a really rough 10 years and the one thing that has kept me going is planning, looking forward to and going on holiday alone. I have done this as a disabled person.

I have been to so many amazing places and done them all in the cheap (as in 3. 5 week safari, including all flights, safaris, campsite fees and all meals for under £1,500). I do hostels, camping and homestays (in India).

I book my return flights and one night accommodation (hostel or campsite); after that I go where I fancy, whether that is staying in the same country or going to another, whatever I fancy. I booked return flights to Bangkok, 4 week stay, and went to Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia all on the spur of the moment. Getting a tad nervous just adds to the excitement and adventure!

I spent 3 weeks in India, starting in Delhi and travelling to Agra (the Taj Mahal is amazing) and down to Tamil Nadu where I visited a hill station, staying with an Indian family, Mamalapuram where I sat underneath the famous "Butter Ball" (see photo) and Chennai.

Revisited India as I loved the rural places so much.

I've been to Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Botswana camping then hostels in South Africa (Johannesburg, durban and Cape Town) and camping in Namibia.

I've been to 17 European capital cities and by Road from in the US from North Carolina, through South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and Luoisianna and flew up to New York.

A few days in European capitals doesn't have to be expensive, cheap flights, hostels away from the expensive areas and buy a travel card for cheap bus and metros.

Not once have I felt lonely, scared or bored. There are always people to chat to, a bar to be sat in with a vodka and a sky full of stars to look up at.

There are also groups online where you can arrange to travel with someone else, in case you aren't ready to go it alone.

And, if for some reason you aren't enjoying yourself you can fly home early!

GO FOR IT - HAVE A GREAT ADVENTURE

I went to the Maldives on my own when I was single and in my late 20s. Absolutely loved it! Total downtime and break for me. Spent every day sunbathing, eating, sleeping, drinking and reading - bluss

I spend a lot of time alone, I like my own company. I would love a holiday alone (just cant justify the expense).

To be fair, my holidays alone were always last minute and in the good old days when you could buy a seriously reduced package if you went a few weeks after buying it! That added to the decision, because if I hated it then the worst that happened was I got the sun for a week and didn't waste much money doing it. I remember the Greek holiday was about £150 for bed and flight for the whole week!

I'm not so sure I'd have let myself take the chance so easily if I had to pay full price. Tight git that I am!

Travelled alone for five months last year, did a city break alone in February, been to Greece twice alone.

I live alone and most of my friends are married or would drive me nuts! It's a different type of trip but still love it. I'm pretty outgoing through necessity, take a book with me as a useful barrier if I don't want to talk to people but I've met some great people and stayed in touch with them.

I'd rather not be single but I'm not going to let it stop me having fun!

How old are you and what do you love?

We can find you a holiday...

I've holidayed alone many times.
Miami, Australia and Rio de Janeiro.
Had an amazing time.
This was pre children and I always preferred to go alone rather than with friends so I could totally please myself and do exactly as I wanted.
Go you'll have a wonderful time!

Oh yes and I'm off to Paris in a few weeks!
Just overnight(first time leaving my daughter!)
I'm so excited!

I have done it and though I've enjoyed it I cringed at spending the money in just myself . Overall it was worth it but I went to a lot of landmarks that made me think "this is a bit shit without someone to talk about it with". Museums alone were ace though!

This thread has fired me up!

I have just booked a flights to Pisa and back from Bologna. 8 days away.

I will enjoy figuring out the itinerary, but that's easy enough. TrenItalia is easy enough to use at the stations and very few journeys in that area require pre booking.

Pisa, Lucca, Florence, and Bologna. Wooop a dooop.

Only using a backpack, no wheelie case. I reckon no one will remember what I wore last night if I rinse and repeat and use only clothes that do not need ironing!

I never buy anything bigger than a fridge magnet when away, so I might survive!

That's in the third week of September. Not booking accom until later.

I went to New York myself when I was 21, and travelled from there to Connecticut, d.c. and West Virginia. It was amazing.

I loved alone for over a decade and started travelling by myself as I got fed up waiting for friends to be available.

I did city breaks on my own - I got up early and saw everything I wanted to ( it works best with cities with lots of thing to see - not hang out and enjoy the vibe type places)- I usually had a big lunch out I preferred that to eating by myself in the evenings. Then in the evening I wandered round the shops (Italy was great for that - passagiata) or went to the cinema maybe taking some snack/ wine back to my hotel room. I rarely spoke to anyone.

Then I did the organised trips one 2 weeks with explore/exodus. Everything organised, the guides often found great place to eat, sharing of rooms if you wanted. I made one great friend and met lots of interesting/ annoying people.

I meant Lived alone!

Also I did a weeks drive in the US between visiting friends - I used to have really long conversations with waitresses in the evenings as I realised I hadn’t talked to anyone all day!

I holiday mostly alone. I think you have to consider what you are going to do more carefully. The idea of sitting beside a pool all day can seem tempting when you are at home in the rain in the middle of a busy week, but as a person alone, that can get boring very fast (to me anyway). Group trips can be fun with the right group on the right kind of trip. I'm not a big fan of walking around in a crowd, so I prefer traveling alone to places where there is lots to interest me. I prioritize staying somewhere where it is safe to go out at night, and I take masses of books to read. I´ve got a bit anti-social in my old age, but I've never had trouble finding people to chat to of an evening when I was younger and interested in that.

I'd be tempted to do an activity where others would be alone too..maybe cooking in Italy or scuba diving or cycling. Or a very interesting tour in a place like Sri Lanka. The national trust do volunteering holidays where you get to build a dry stone wall or something useful, I thought that sounded fun.

I LOVE going on holiday alone. Doing NYC on my own a couple years back was honestly one of the best things I've ever done.

I actually chatted to a lot of people, too, so it's not necessarily the case that going away on your own means no social interaction.

i did it when i was sad and single and it was a bloody miserable lonely experience but I'm super introverted and failed to make friends. if you are the making friends type you'll have a grapes time.

When my mum got divorced, she went on a Thames Valley walking tour. She did it alone; they basically give you a map and forward your luggage on for you every day.

She loved it.

It was like she rediscovered who she was properly and she realised she would be fine on her own. Incredibly empowering for her.

I went on holiday on my own as a teenager, back in the days of 1p Ryanair flights took off to Germany for a couple of weeks - loved it.

There is a company called One Traveller that specialise in single holidays for over 40s, 50s and 60s (apologies if that’s not your age) but everyone on the holidays will be single travellers so hopefully you wouldn’t feel awkward talking to people?

Do it! You’ll never know otherwise!