45 and never went on holiday alone… where could I start?

[SparklingZebraShoes]

Separated several years now and I have to start moving on with life.

Ive taken the children on holidays 10/12 but it was for them, not me if that makes sense.

Im a teacher so find the summer very lonely when the children are with their dad.

I can’t spend my life not going on holidays because I’m too worried about going by myself. It has to be somewhere I can travel from Belfast so I know this makes it harder to get advice on here.

Any ideas where is a good starting point for travel? It would be a mixture of rest and sightseeing as I do have an extremely busy life.

I will no doubt be nervous and I know that sounds a bit embarrassing .

You can literally travel anywhere from Belfast though? For example, you could go to Dublin and fly from there to New York.

I know they’re not for everyone but I’d love to go on a cruise on my own. You don’t have to socialise if you don’t want to (but equally you can if you wish) but it’s such a safe way to travel as a lone woman, lots of staff around, new destinations all the time etc etc. Really suggest watching some blogs on you tube from travel blog Jamie and cruise with Ben and David - you’ll get a feel for what’s out there.

What’s your budget? Where do you fancy?

I’ve been on a few group tours (Central America, Thailand, India) and they’re great! As long as you don’t choose the 18-30 one there will be lots of people of different ages.

First thing to think about is what you mean by going on holiday alone.

Do you want to spend time with and have proper conversations with other adults? If so have a look at a few companies that run group holidays. Explore, Riviera Travel, Jules Verne and HF holidays are good to give you an overview of what is available. Once you have a better idea there are hundreds of these type of company depending on where you fancy going. These holidays there will normally be a tour guide to lead the holiday and deal with any problems.

Do you want to be mostly on your own, do your own thing but have small talk with other adults? in that case a resort somewhere is good idea. Jet2 are a good package holiday company for places where there are pools, excursion and culture.

Or do you want to go the entire week without talking to anyone other than the waiting staff (This is me). In which case decide where you fancy going, book a flight and a hotel and go for it. Companies like Expedia can be good to let you book everything in the same place.

I love city breaks alone. Florence, Venice, Valencia or London would all be great options.

Oh, my first every 'your thread has been hidden until MNHQ can look at it'. No idea what I've written that is possibly a problem!

I went solo to the Canaries last year.
I’ve been to London recently.
Im just home from a trip up north.

My plan is to take at least one abroad holiday a year, additionally maybe a cruise catering for solos too at Christmas and travel to as many capital uk cities as I can.

Start local and grow your confidence from that. There’s plenty of Solo Women’s travel groups on Facebook. They go all over the world.

I love solo travel.

There are loads of tours with other solos to test the waters. Or just pick a nice, interesting, safe location and book!

One tip; it’s easy to stay busy in the day and eating alone at breakfast and lunch is ‘normal’. Evenings feel long and lonely and eating dinner alone can feel weird. So plan for that!

Don’t be nervous, there’s a whole world out there to explore. Ex Travel Rep here, I’d recommend a European River Cruise.

Barcelona! Read a book on the beach and go sightseeing.

My first trip was Antigua, learning to sail, next Egypt learning to dive and last year Rhodes learning to sunbathe in 40 degrees

Depends what you want and how long?

city breaks on my list include Athens and Rome - I like Munich a lot

i go away a fair bit alone - for sun I like Tenerife and for sun and culture south west France and the Dordogne - I drive in France and fly to Spain.

i also camp / Air b&b round the uk which I love

I’d make sure I had a nice hotel then be out all day and haul up in a comfy bed with some nice food in the evening and watch films.

How about a series of city breaks? I absolutely loved Vienna, admittedly one of the reasons why was the unusually high number of cafes selling amazing cakes but it was lovely. Paris, Berlin, world is your oyster.

I prefer to allocate a big budget chunk to self contained accommodation where I can cook for myself.

Arrive, stock up on food, then you can just stay in the accommodation and do nothing. I actually enjoy the random foreign supermarket food.

Holiday loneliness can strike - so if you're in a big city look up expat Meetups or Timeleft dining (or even use a dating app if you feel confident enough) and then you can have a group night out.

Don't have massively high expectations, just play it by ear and be patient.

I only had the time/budget to travel solo over last few years.

It took time to build up my confidence and get a feel for what "I" really enjoyed.

I did have a few solo trips where honestly I felt they were duds. Nothing drastic, but horrible customer service as a solo woman, wish I'd stayed at home and saved money!

But I've got my safe/welcoming places now and I can redo them which fills up my schedule, and then I will "add more" as time goes on. So it's an iterative process.

I went on holiday solo earlier this year. I joined an exodus group and it was fab. Nice group. Some couples. Some singles. And we all got on well. It was a cycling trip but they do other things. Highly recommended. I have also been alone in cities usually for a day tagged in to a work trip, but depends what you want!

I love going on holiday on my own.

I started out by going somewhere I already knew so I wasn't worried about finding my way around etc. I could just concentrate on finding my own rhythm of holidaying by myself.

If a whole holiday is too big an idea, start with a weekend. I often link a weekend to a plan: x is on in y city so I'll go to that and see what else there is to see there.

Try Amsterdam in September, OP, 3-4 nights. The weather should be decent. There's probably a direct flight. It's a city organised well for non drivers & has nice parks, pretty buildings, museums, history, interesting 'culture' etc. Most locals speak enough English to help you. You can book a decent place all to yourself via Airbnb & probably find a flight in your budget.

As pp said, what sort of experience would you like to have? Meeting new people, learning something, immersing yourself in a book?

Does it matter if you speak the language? Do you want to go abroad or somewhere more local?

Depending on your answers, your ideal solo holiday might be a yoga retreat in Portugal, a diving course in Antigua, backpacking around Thailand or joining a group to climb Annapurna. It might be renting a shepherd’s hut in Devon, holing up with a stack of books and podcasts and spending a week knitting and reading (ooh, now actually…)

There are even homestay holidays where you immerse in a language in order to learn it.

I know someone who goes to banjo camp every year. Almost the only limits are budget and imagination!

Join solos in the sun on FB...loads of help on there it has solo events where you travel solo but can meet up with other solos should you wish.

Thailand, exploring the beaches and towns ☀️

Would you consider a cruise? I did a Mediterranean one last year which started in Majorca and we stopped somewhere different every day. I went sightseeing on my own but had dinner with other passengers so it was a good mix of being on my own and in company. I loved it.

When I was unexpectedly single in my 30s I went to Vietnam and joined a group tour thing. It was brilliant! Also did the same sort of thing in Bosnia.

I went to Budapest on my own and made friends whilst there doing one of those walking tours and had a great day.

I went on a solos group holiday - a short city break, and found it a great intro to travelling alone. Some structure and an itinerary, and people to eat dinner with, but also individual time to explore.

Exodus. Friendship travel. Etc if you want company.