Going on holiday alone.

[Boliviabae]

I love going on holiday alone.

I love travelling. However I get really judged if I do! I have no partner and kids before anyone asks.

Earlier in the year, i went to Spain by myself. At the hotel , the man beside me at the bar started chatting to me. He said that he was here with his friend and he asked who was I with.

I said that I was travelling alone. He looked at me in shock and said "why would you do that!" I said "because i like it". He said "are you not afraid". I said "afraid of what?". I said to him "its a weekend in spain, I have been having a great time"

He said "But i like my friends, go with then" i said "I make new friends when i go places" etc etc. I said to him "when you are in your home country, surely you would go to the next city by yourself? It's not that different"

Anyway, I always get some man saying this to me when I go abroad alone.

I have also met lots of male solo travellers on my journeys , no one says anything to them, yet people seem to be absolutely shocked when women do it.

I am going to Spain by myself next week. My annual leave is written on the rota for all to see. My male colleagues have been coming up to me asking me where i am going (fair enough), then they also ask me who i am going with (which i think is a bit of a weird question and.none of their business anyway).

This time , I actually just lied that i was going with a friend, as I cant face all their judgy comments about travelling alone.

Why do men get so shocked at women travelling alone?

My DP and I often go away alone (no kids). He's just headed off on a weeks fishing adventure - one which I would have zero interest in - and I'm thinking about a little interrail trip later this year. We've been away together this year already and have another trip planned together but we both enjoy our own solo trips. An acquaintance of mine asked me whether my OH 'allowed' me to go away alone and he would never allow it of his partner!

Did you point that out?

I'm 68 next month (happy birthday lol). I have a partner who is not very interested in travel abroad and has health issues and is a stick in the mud so two years ago while he was sitting in the garden doing the soduko and crossword I decided I'd go away. Shock horror, without me he yelled! Well you won't go anywhere now so I'm going on my own.

I went to France (speak the lingo a bit) and stayed in Bayonne and went down to San Sebastian on the bus. I stayed in a converted convent in a little studio with a balcony overlooking the square at the cathedral. OMG I was in heaven. I didn't go out for dinner at night as that was too formal for me alone, and the French do like their dining out rituals. I went for a cheap n cheerful casual lunch and cooked something at night and sat on my little balcony and watched it all happening.

San Sebastian was just amazing. I stayed in a little pension in the old town and it was like my own house, just gorgeous and cheap! I did venture out at night there as they have a fab Pintxo scene like tapas and it is very informal. Folks, if you don't try it, you will never know. It has increased my confidence 110% doing this.

Yes of course. He was just one of those men who had the attitude of "it's okay for me to do it, but it's not okay for women to do it".

I have seen some men genuinely get annoyed at the thought of a woman enjoying life by herself. They think that she should be with a husband at all times

I have a partner and kids, but still travel alone. Some highly anxious and imaginative people wonder why. I do not care.

And yes, many of these people wondering are women. Many people, both men and women, cannot envisage a couple not glued together or paired off like Noah's Ark.

It sounds great. I’m planing a solo trip as H is so miserable and I really enjoy travelling and he doesn’t. But strange that it’s a thing to ask about when surely loads of youngsters do it for their gap year nowadays?

Oh I get from women "but don't you get lonely?" "what do you do?" "wouldn't you rather go with someone?" 🙄

I've been on holiday on my own, it was fabulous! My friend is happily married and often holidays alone.
I'm into fitness and think I'll do a fitness bottcamp holiday on my own next year, as it's not my husband's thing.
Ignore other people OP. They're a bunch of idiots!

If want to travel alone but feel nervous about it, try solo tours. People travelling alone but on a tour with fellow solo travellers. Make friends, travel in groups, eat meals together.

It's not just men that do this. When I regularly holidayed on my own I would get women pulling pitying faces and expressing 'ooh how brave' in patronising tones, or 'i couldn't do that'. Well I didn't have a bloody choice, it was either go on my own or not have a holiday. And I largely enjoyed it, pottering around and pleasing myself. People need to piss off with their nosiness and fake concern about others holiday plans.

I did a group tour once and it was awful! The people in the group just didn't gel. We didn't like each other, and then we were stuck together all day for five days.

Exactly, just enjoy yourself!

Exactly, they think the planet revolves around them

I had the most fabulous solo holiday in Crete. In my own self contained accommodation with my own little pool (now that was utter bliss!!), little hire car to explore, nice relaxed welcoming restaurants that never made me feel uncomfortable on my own. Heavenly

I love travelling alone and before marrying I regularly travelled overseas by myself. My last true alone trip was to Cairo. It was fantastic but I was careful where I went and made sure I was very conservatively dressed. Never had an issue. I was in Amsterdam alone with my young child and met some older ladies who were very surprised and called me daring. I never thought it out of the ordinary.

I've never been on holiday alone, as I have a DH who does enjoy the same holidays, or I go with friends. However, I'm sure I'd be very happy pottering about a city for a few days, or chilling by a pool. I'm very happy eating out alone in the UK, or popping into a pub/bar for a drink alone, and the cinema.

I'm late 50s and DH was unwell on holiday a few months ago. So I went down to the hotel restaurant for dinner on my own. The lady on the reception was so rude ... "haven't you booked" ... the place was half empty. "You need to book on the app", huffing and puffing. Eventually let me in reluctantly.

I sat there thinking I could be newly widowed ... I could have spent ages plucking up the courage to go down there alone ... awful way to treat people.

I have noticed a lot of women stop travelling alone when they marry. Some have very insecure and possessive husbands.

The audacity!

Make a pledge to only speak to women on this holiday :p

I used to do a sport that none of my friends were interested in
I would book the sport & accommodation & drive.
I would do the sport for a few days & visit local places in that area too in the evenings.
Sometimes I would visit my friends (lived 8 hours away) & do the sport before or after I visited them.
On the journey up or down, I would stop at different places to explore at my leisure too.
I have had some amazing holidays.

I have also travelled alone on overnight buses

I have flown alone

I have been on ferries alone

No issues so far

I have not had any issues being alone

Same.

I find it more odd that people don’t have the experiences of commuting or traveling alone in some form.

I walked to and from school alone, take public transport to appointments or home when my parents couldn’t pick me up, then to college on a bus and a tram. Went to uni which often involved traveling on two subway lines, traveling back to see my parents via a train or a bus, taking flights alone, etc before I married DH.

People do a lot of things alone without their partners and mates, many with long commutes that would be the time equivalent of taking a holiday somewhere else.

Sounds like utter bliss to me!
Many people (possibly extroverts?) can’t contemplate how much some people like being alone, following no agenda but their own, doing exactly as they please.

Precovid I used to travel a lot for work (one week a month) including to touristy places (beach town outside Colombo Sri Lanka, Plaka, Athens, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong etc). I decided I could either go to work and then come back to hotel room and have room service or I could enjoy the opportunity and see some sights, eat on my own etc. Occasionally I would do room service, pyjamas, face mask and netflix but mostly I went out. Other people didn't understand (esp people who asked what was happening to my children- err their dad is looking after them like you look after yours when your husband travels fornwork.)

I travel on my own all the time, currently heading back from a long weekend in Copenhagen. Noone has ever responded like that to me. Sometimes people ask who I'm going with, but there's no judgement when I say I'm going on my own.

I don't actually much like going away on my own, but I'm really used to it. Maybe people say stuff and I just don't notice. In your example I would not have continued talking to that man after he asked me if I was scared, I'd have just picked up my book and started reading.

I love travelling alone and actually prefer it! I’m so used to it, but I usually get the ‘who are you going with?’ Or ‘you’re so brave’.

If I’d waited around for a partner or friend to travel or do things with, i wouldn’t have done anything in my life!