Boldly Go Solo

Singles tours to Ecuador, Ireland, Italy and Peru

I now throw out the idea of "singles" travel for those who might be interested in joining a tour composed solely of people traveling alone, who are presumably not married.

I have not gone with the group Singles Travel Service, but I'm on the email list and they recently sent me a newsletter on some of their future trips.

Such as: Ecuador, a multisport and multicultural adventure; the Inca Trail in Peru,including Machu Picchu, of course; Ireland's Cities - including Dublin and Galway; and an Italy Cultural tour, that includes Rome, Florence and Venice.

Single supplement waived on cruise lines in 2011

'Tis the season to go cruising. And, I'm seeing a lot of offers from companies waiving the single supplement.

What astounds me is how much people have been willing to pay to travel solo on a cruise. Avalon Waterways' announcement about waiving the single supplement on some 2011 cruises in Europe says that you can save up to $5,396.

Yikes. If that's the savings, how much is the cruise? Not only am I not going solo, I'm not going at all unless somebody treats me to it! Then again, some of the cruises are 23 days long so the price may not be outrageous for what you get.

But clearly the clientele is wealthy and retired. Either that or these cruisers saved vacation days and money to take the trip of a lifetime.

But there are other, less expensive, cruising choices. USA Today says that MSC Cruises is reducing the cost for solo travelers as much as 30 percent on 7-night Caribbean voyages.

Ripley's Believe It or Not on solo travel. Walk the Amazon anyone?

Some solo travel is a tad more difficult than I'd care to do. For instance, a British ex-Army officer is in the midst of walking the length of the Amazon River in South America.

That's, um, 4,000 miles. As the crocodile swims. But longer, really, since the river widens in many places and Ed Stafford can't always take the shortest route. By February, Stafford had passed the halfway point. 

He's accompanied by a guide named Cho, so though he started out solo in April 2008, he now has someone along on the trip.

When I set out solo, I usually go to some cushy place with all the amenities. And often meet up with a guide, too. Stafford, on the other hand, has had to deal with venomous snakes, flooding, electric eels, piranhas and jaguars.

Costs of solo travel vs with friends or family

The New York Times' Frugal Traveler recently wrote about the costs of traveling with two different sets of people. A couple of high school friends. And his parents. During separate trips in Colombia and Nicaragua.

He thought traveling with his friends would be cheap, while having to provide his parents with creature comforts would take a bite out of his budget.

Turns out it was the other way around. It's a good read about the different things people like to do when they travel. And their different needs.

And it reminds me yet again why solo travel can be so much more relaxing in many ways.

For instance, he says that it's easy to skip meals when you travel alone. But when you travel with people and one of you is hungry, usually all of you stop and eat, he points out.

Solo travel and solo camera work in Cartagena, Colombia

This travel guide to Cartagena, Colombia entertained and intrigued me for two reasons:

1. I've thought many times about visiting Colombia, ever since traveling in Ecuador several years ago. But I've never seen a travel video of Colombia to know much about what it looks like.

2. After watching the Colombia travel guide for a few minutes, I realized a solo traveler made the video. Yes, the solo traveler you see in all the shots.

At first, I presumed a fellow traveler was filming because there are several shots of the subject walking away or toward the camera.

But then I started to see that funny hold-camera-at-arms-length type of shooting and I realized he'd done this all by himself, setting his camera up at various places or walking along with the camera aimed at himself. I was impressed by what he managed to pull off to record parts of his trip.

(I think my arms are too short for this style. The few times I've tried it I looked rather grotesque. But after seeing this video, I might have to try again.)

Solo female travelers shouldn't let safety concerns put the world off limits

I've often been terrified before traveling to foreign countries outside of the "safety" of Europe.

I planned a trip to Ecuador and worried for weeks before going. Someone told me about a woman he'd met in Brazil who'd been harassed in Ecuador. I read about pickpockets and thieves and how careful women had to be at night.

The same thing happened before going to Egypt. All I could think of was the massacre I'd remembered that had taken place there 15 years ago. As if the next one were planned for the very time, place and day I'd be at, say, the Valley of the Kings or the Pyramids at Giza 15 years later.

And people around me freaked out when I said I was going to Mexico last fall. They'd read too much about kidnappings and drug-related killings. As had I. Although in that case, I wasn't very concerned. Can't explain why.

But while staying with a family in Guadalajara, Mexico, taking the city bus to Spanish classes and sightseeing around the downtown, I have to say, I didn't see one person carted off by a drug cartel member or shoved into a car and driven off for a ransom call.

Life seemed pretty normal despite the horror stories in the paper. Which are mostly about the border states, in any case, not all of Mexico.

This kind of thinking is understandable (I've GOT to say that, don't I, since I engage in it sometimes) but also not particularly rational.

I live in Washington, D.C. I watched the smoke from the 9/11 plane that crashed into the Pentagon rise into the sky as I made my way home that day. Terrorists had attacked within two miles of where I worked and within five miles of where I live.

Food shopping in foreign countries is as worthy as museum going

I was in a supermarket aisle in Buenos Aires staring at the boxes of yerba mate tea. I'd drunk a fair amount of it during my vacation and I wanted to take a box or two home.

But I wanted tea bags, not loose leaves, and since I didn't know the words for that I couldn't tell what was inside the colorful boxes.

A woman came down the aisle doing her shopping and I asked, in my typically inventive Spanish, if she could help me. I might have said something like "es este te en bolsas papeles?" which I think means "is this tea in paper bags?"

This was on the heels of an attempt during a separate shopping excursion to buy tissues at a little cafe shop near the Perito Moreno glacier.

"Tiene papeles para la nariz?" Do you have papers for the nose? Or maybe I said "servillettas para la nariz," meaning, I hope, "napkins for the nose."

(Now perhaps you get a better grasp on why I continue to need Spanish lessons.)

In both cases I got the answers and the products I needed. And cracked myself up while doing so. And perhaps made the people I interacted with chuckle too, though, if so, they were too nice to do it in my presence.

I love shopping in food stores and little convenience markets in foreign countries. For one, there are few tourists inside. And I learn a lot about the culture and the food. And I usually ending up buying all sorts of interesting-looking things to try and often bring food favorites home.

In Argentina, that meant a jar of dulce de leche and packages of alfajores, a sandwich cookie.

10 highest waterfalls in the world

When I wrote about the top 10 train rides last week, a reader commented how beautiful the photo of Norway was (no, it wasn't mine.) Funny, then, to find on Twitter a link to the 10 highest waterfalls.

Because I started scrolling through and whaddaya know? Surprise, surprise, five out of the 10 highest waterfalls are in Norway.

It seems with all these travel lists I post, I end up having been to one or two places but no more. I'm at least glad I experience that many of the 10 best this and that.

The highest waterfall in the world, according to the site, is Angel Falls in Venezuela. Named for a guy who, oops, nose-dived into them, and survived, as opposed to something to do with the heavens.

The sad story for me about Angel Falls is that I was traveling through Venezuela with a boyfriend years ago and we couldn't fit in everything we wanted to do. The Angel Falls trip would have taken several days and we just didn't have the time.

Hm, maybe I should have gone solo...and set the proper priorities! But that's water under the bridge now. Lots and lots of water.

Photo: Benedict.adams care of wikimedia

Trips and tours for singles, also known as solos who are looking

A Brazil cultural and multisport tour. A Napa Valley long weekend wine tour. A Montana camping trip. Skiing in Chile in July. These are some of the vacations offered by Singles Travel.

I can't vouch for this particular tour operator. But I'm impressed with the variety of adventure trips they offer all over the world. It's worth taking a look and weighing them as an option. Especially of you are single and looking. Or single and looking for a vacation fling.

I like the fact that they offer a fair number of camping options. Those are great for saving money, although I know a lot of you like your luxuries. But these are not cheap trips so you may be a convert to camping for the sheer economics.

Be aware that if you want a private room on some of these trips, you might still pay a single supplement. But the organization does offer roommate matching if you're willing to bunk with a stranger. I've done that many a time. Let me clarify. I've bunked with a roommate of the same sex.

I can't say I love sharing a room. I like my privacy as much as the next guy. But the match up was never a disaster and I got to go on some pretty amazing vacations, for less money, by willing to make that compromise.

Photos: Singles Travel

Five high-adrenaline adventures for daring solo travelers

After writing about adventure travel ideas for men, a reader checked in with suggestions for VERY adventurous travelers. From what I can tell, most blog readers don't check back to the blog for comments (since many of you get it through RSS and email notification of new posts) so I thought I'd alert you to the adventure suggestions from Tom, the e-mailer.

These are not trips so much as activities to build a vacation around.

They are:

1. Tandem HALO jumping--High Altitude, Low Open--parachute jumping. Which basically means you're free falling for a looonnnggg time. Love this caveat on the site:

"Skydiving is inherently risky. You could die. You will be required to sign a release of liability. That said, the guy strapped to you throughout your HALO tandem jump has no desire to die young. He’s an expert jumper who will be using the best possible equipment and taking all steps humanly possible to make your adventure as safe as it can be."

2. Then there's El Caminito del Rey, or the King's Little Pathway, a walkway along the steep walls of a narrow gorge in Malaga, Spain.



3. Next up, shooting the rapids on the Gauley River in West Virginia.

"Your heart will pound with great anticipation as you witness the release of raging whitewater shooting from 3 colossal tubes. You will navigate through five Class V+ rapids. Insignificant, Pillow Rock, Lost Paddle, Iron Ring, and Sweets Falls (a 12' waterfall). Previous rafting experience is recommended and good physical condition is highly recommended."

4. How about the "Tough Guy" challenge, open to both sexes. It took place in February this year. Start training now for next year.

"Billed as "the safest most dangerous taste of physical and mental endurance pain in the world", the Tough Guy Challenge took place yesterday, February 1st, on South Perton Farm, near Wolverhampton, England. Thousands of challengers (men and women) started the endurance race, with hundreds dropping out along the way due to exhaustion or injury - broken bones, dislocations, and over 600 cases of hypothermia. Even the overall winner, James Appleton, was treated briefly for hypothermia. The course takes racers through 21 obstacles - through mud, freezing water, across ropes and burning terrain."

5. And finally, bungee jumping into an active volcano Whaaa??

"How about bungee jumping from the skid of a helicopter into the gaping maw of a bubbling active volcano? No. We're not kidding and yes this is for real! Our Stunts division set up this jump for MTV a while back. We loved the jump so much, we knew we had to bring it to the small percentage of the public who, like us, has that something special in their genes."

I release myself from any and all responsibility for what happens if you choose to engage in these activities! But have a blast. Well, not a blast in the dangerous sense...well, you know what I mean.