Society of Certified Senior Advisors: Traveling Solo: More Older Women Are Taking Trips on Their Own

Whether in an organized group or on their own, older women are discovering the joys of solo travel.

For many Americans, retirement means travel. Today, more and more seniors are flying solo: 17% of baby boomers are looking forward to an international solo trip this year. And many of these new solo travelers are women.

According to Road Scholar, one of the leading senior travel companies, 30% of their tour participants are solo travelers, and of those, 85% are women. When Road Scholar surveyed solo women travelers to investigate this trend, they found that 60% were married. While some other solo travelers were recently widowed or divorced, only 6% of respondents said that they traveled solo because they didn’t have anyone in their lives to join them.

So why are so many older women choosing to explore the world on their own? For some, they simply don’t share the same travel goals or habits as their spouses. Joanna Moorhead, 61, an avid international solo traveler, says her partner’s schedule isn’t as flexible as hers. For Rosalind Duhs, whose husband has dementia, travel is something she does for herself. “Of course, my thoughts turn to our excellent holidays together,” she says, “but those days are gone and I’m lucky that, for me, still working hard and earning, carer’s respite can be exotic. I look forward to getting back to see him.”

Other women, partnered or not, simply love the freedom of solo travel. Waking up and deciding to do exactly what you want, when you want, can feel exhilarating—especially if you’ve spent every vacation of your adult life keeping the whole family on schedule. Traveling alone might be liberating for women who have never had the chance to get to know themselves in places that are outside their comfort zone. “You also learn to dig deep and realize that you have resilience and abilities that you never thought you had,” says solo traveler Janice Falconer.

And women for whom solo travel has always been a way of life? They see no reason to let their age stop them from venturing out on their own. Sam Mendes says she never got a second glance when she traveled solo in Brazil in her late 20s. But now, she says, in her 50s, “with the same sense of wanderlust I had three decades ago, if I mention that I’m going to Mexico for a month, or have just returned from a trip to Cuba alone, I seem to get a response from women of my age of either horror or awe: ‘What, on your own?’”

Before Packing Your Bags

There are valid reasons to hesitate. For solo travelers, the risk of getting lost or becoming the victim of crime in an unfamiliar place is compounded when you know you’ll have to deal with unexpected problems yourself. And for older adults traveling solo, knowing your physical limits is important. Janice Waugh, of Solo Traveler World, cautions: “Know how far you can walk, how far you can ride, how far you can hike, what stairs are like for you, what it’s like on uneven surfaces — just take account of this, because it can really affect your enjoyment of the trip once you go.”

Traveling alone can be expensive, too. Instead of sharing the cost of a hotel room, for example, you’re paying for it yourself. And some would-be solo travelers worry that, once on the road, they’d feel too lonely to enjoy the trip.

Consider Group Travel

Group travel helps to put these concerns to rest. Traveling in a group offers a built-in support network in case of emergency, and buying a package can make a trip more economical overall. Group tours like those offered by Road Scholar and alumni associations also provide an easy way to make friends, something that women say they’re looking for from solo travel. Waugh told Travel and Leisure that, with a tour, “You know you’re going to be sitting with someone to have dinner; you know someone’s going to navigate the whole destination. So that’s a really valid and useful way to travel for seniors.”

Whether with a group or on a self-designed trip, women who decide to travel alone tend to report that loneliness doesn’t characterize their journey. In fact, meeting new people, in the tour group or through chance encounters, becomes a highlight. “Much travelled but always with family, I feared that I might feel melancholy. Far from it,” says Rosalind Duhs, the traveler whose husband has dementia. “Apart from my itinerary, which was planned with a travel agent, I’ve felt liberated by doing what I wanted…The only problem I’ve encountered is mansplaining—on long-haul flights and in restaurants.”

Are you an older woman considering a solo international trip? Start with these tips:

Start small. Pick a “practice” destination close to home, like a city an hour away, and plan a mini solo vacation. If you’re not sure if you’d enjoy spending a week on your own in Amsterdam, see how it feels to get to know Milwaukee by yourself for a weekend.
Do your research. Talk to other solo women travelers to get answers to your questions before you go. Two active Facebook forums to check out are Solo Travel Wisdom and Solo in Style.
Choose the right destination. Some cities and countries will be easier to navigate as a solo woman as compared to others. According to women in the Solo Travel Wisdom group, some top destinations for women over 70 traveling solo are Vietnam, Portugal, Mexico, and small towns in Europe.