Nobody to go on holiday with

I holiday on my own regularly. I have a couple of “happy places” which I know well and can fly in and chill without having to do all the exploring of a new place. Do you have anywhere like that?
I intersperse with more exciting trips; last year to Uzbekistan and next up to India.
Uzbekistan was my first organised tour - I’d been a bit nervous of feeling “organised” but was very pleasantly surprised.

fancyflowers

I would love to go on holiday with DH but he isn't keen, and I have very limited mobility, so I can't see it happening.
I have thought about hiring a mobility scooter to enable me to go on short holidays.

You could buy a smallish scooter & take it on the plane. Save bothering with a wheelchair.
Few in our hotel had their own.
Quite expensive per day to hire one.

I would love to get on a coach trip but since COVID lost the use of my leg muscles. I am living in a first floor apartment but have to crawl up the stairs.

Janussi

I would love to get on a coach trip but since COVID lost the use of my leg muscles. I am living in a first floor apartment but have to crawl up the stairs.

Oh that’s so hard. I’m sorry. Have you no chance of moving? I guess not else you would have done so.

Find Saga a bit iffy tbh with really awful customer service. Also they are only really interested in the South Coast brigade.The ones that can easily fly from Gatwick Airport.

Do try a weeks holiday alone at hotel where you are not overrun with kids. Serve the school holiday dates.

I always go on holiday alone and have met some top people over the years.

Bon Voyage
🤞🏝️🏖️🏜️✈️

granto3

fancyflowers, I have just purchased a mobility scooter for myself as a birthday present. I have turned 70 today and feel life will pass me by if I don't get out and about by myself. My partner passed away 18 months ago and I felt I couldn't go on holiday due to my limitations of walking. Now that I have my scooter, the "world in my oyster" as they say. I am going to plan a week abroad by myself (and my scooter) and see where my fancy takes me. I have never gone abroad before, but I am sure it can't be that difficult. You should be brave and give it a try!

You are inspiring me to try a mobility scooter. I know I will never be able to walk more than a few steps so a scooter sounds the most logical solution.

Withnobsonit
Hello
When you say : serve thé school holiday dates , what do you mean ?
And how have you managed to meet people when holidaying on your own ?
It sounds great , was it just random?

Swerve ?

Avoid …

I went on a solos holiday to Turkey. It felt strange standing on my own at the airport check in.

I got to the hotel later than everyone else (it was a small hotel with just our group) and beyond the darkness everyone was seated in a fairy lights area. I was greeted with shouts to come over there they had a glass of wine ready for me!

It was a wonderful week not having to reserve a sun lounger. We were a mixed bag of both sexes aged from 30 to 65 and we bonded well.

We used to eat on a long table by the pool and also went out to restaurants, sight seeing coach tours etc I’m still corresponding with several of the group 10 years later. Go for it, I’m sure you won’t regret it!

I have been trying to find a holiday for the last few weeks and failing dismally!

I know what I want .... to be well again and able to do the sort of holidays that I have loved over the years - a quiet cottage near the sea or a lake where you can do your own thing, relax and savour the beauties around you. Excursions and evening entertainment are not my thing!

Now other factors come into play as I need ground level accommodation (or a lift) and easy access to flat walks - beach or lakeside.

I don't want much!

Mostly we have gone to West Wales or the South West, simply because it is more accessible to here - but I have an open mind.

If anyone is reading this and thinking: "I know the very place!" - please let me know!

I was at my mother-in-law's house yesterday, Notjustaprettyface and looked in her files for who she had used when she booked her successful holidays - to no avail I'm afraid.

I think it may be worth looking at these:

Https://www.andantetravels.co.uk/

www.martinrandall.com/en-gb/?hl=en-GB

www.petersommer.com/?hl=en-GB

www.hfholidays.co.uk/holidays/special-interest/discovery-tours?hl=en-GB&mhVisitorId=1489931123

Good luck.

I used to travel all over the world both for business and pleasure when I was a bright young thing (well, at least into my 60's).

I then gave up work to care for my Dad so I didn't go away too much for around 8 or 9 years. When my Dad died I spontaneously booked myself a 10 day holiday to Lake Garda. The Italian lakes are beautiful. However, I was the only English person in the hotel, and apart from some hotel staff, a couple of restaurant waiters and the lady in the gelato shop opposite the hotel I didn't speak to anyone else for the whole holiday.

I think maybe your confidence goes a bit as you get older< and I would much rather find a like-minded soul to go away with now.

Notjustaprettyface

It’s holiday season.
My husband is in a care home and bed bound .
I have quite a lot of friends but most of them still have husbands to go on holiday with.
Another widowed friend has an unmarried daughter who goes on holiday with her and another friend , now divorced for a long time , has an unmarried sister who she can go with or she goes with her adult children.
I have 2 adult children; my daughter has told me that she just wants a holiday with her husband and kids .
My son and his wife are expecting their second baby early august .
I know there are companies that do holidays for solos and I haven’t tried that yet .
I be been on a couple of short breaks in this country on my own with my dog but it’s not much fun .
So I feel a bit sorry for myself.
I have joined U3a recently and there are quite a few ladies on their own but they all seem quite a lot older than me. .
I know it’s early days yet and we will see.
Does anyone have any encouragement they could give me please?
Thanks in advance

NJaPF, yes I have a whole couple of hours encouragement
for you !

rent buy or borrow Shirley Valentine,
glass of wine,
be inspired,

if you are part of a group or a couple other people
tend to leave you be
however
a lone lady will always be able to meet other people,
you don’t need to follow other people’s holidays,
have your own,

chips and egg!

For those who mentioned a mobility scooter. I spent about eighteen months unable to drive Heart op stopped me having my hips done. Being on a scooter was remarkably sociable I do live just outside a small seaside town and and met more people than when driving. Also could get much closer than when parking Not so good in the wet windy weather

I confess I havent read the whole thread but would recommend HF holidays for solo travellers. Walking and other special interest holidays.

Are you a walker. Try HF holidays. Not solo holidays but lots of people go alone. Meals served at large round tables and low key evening entertainment such as team quizzes. Guided walking and different levels so you don’t need to be super fit. Some venues allow dogs but not inthe walks

HF isn't all walking holidays.

I'm going to repeat a solo holiday I did in December to Cotillo Beach Hotel at a little village in Fuerteventura (Jet 2 or TUI).
Single prices are ok at that time of year, I just went out walking short distances every day, very safe, met plenty of friendly people on the beaches while exploring and lovely pool at the hotel.

Also travel with Neilson Beachclubs - single deals available early and late season (they get snapped up), social yables for dining - and you know you will be totally looked after and safe throughout..

I am in a similar situation to you and just bit the bullet and went to Morocco by myself last year thinking that the worst that could happen was I would get the sun and my meals cooked even if I spent all week alone. I had a fantastic time and spoke to so many people. I have just come back from a holiday with saga which I’m not sure about yet . Great they picked me up from home but all solos seemed to stick together so a bit too organised for me. Felt you had to join them or you would be considered odd. I find all inclusive good because you don’t have to leave the hotel to eat if you are nervous. Good luck and just remember if you try it and hate it it is only one week but you may be like me and love it

just remember if you try it and hate it it is only one week but you may be like me and love it

Great advice!
I must try to remember this in life in general.

It's so easy to stay at home!
I am off tomorrow to something I'm not excited about.

I have travelled alone and with company and lived abroad, so have done a variety of things. As others have said the pleasure of going alone is freedom of choice in times and places, and a halfway house to try this out might be courses in interests you have, where you learn more but are free to come and go as you please. Then I have been on Fred Olsen cruises, which again have many different things to do on them and you can do a lot of things and meet people , and bolster your confidence in travelling alone.

Another possibility if you drive is to choose a town or country area that you dont know and then get a b/b there. I am interested in art and music and gardens , so there could be an art exhibition or garden festival happening. That way you have one longer journey and then you have the freedom to go about and discover things from a base, but not committed to being back for meals so you have the choice.

Perhaps sounding a negative but there is also just thinking , if someone said you could not travel anywhere any more , where or what would you feel you had missed out on? for example at my age and with the various hassles I would not think of flying to New Zealand now. So that might make you realize that there is somewhere you really would like to go to and look into doing it while you can. Travelling alone for many years I think that there are a few things that matter. I am safety conscious in not carrying lots of things obviously, that might be snatched, wear suitable and appropriate clothes , always with a scarf , head covering etc, but most of all just go on my way feeling I have the same right as everyone else to be there. That sense of confidence and expecting everyone to be decent in the first place , has meant that I am fine going into cafes etc on my own. The more you do it , the more you relax into it. Try it out, go to a cafe, or a pub you dont normally go to and get a coffee. Maybe have your paper or your phone but look around and listen. You can see and hear people together having a good time, but also families or groups that are moaning or complaining or spending for ever making decisions and be glad that you have no one to please but yourself. Go on start today and good luck