Discover Freedom: The Unique Benefits of Solo Travel for Seniors

Now , I I've traveled solo for many years , off and on and for a lot of different reasons , and today you will find that there's a lot of seniors traveling solo . In fact , I met a fellow a couple of years ago .

He had worked his whole life in the same job , living in the same city , had never traveled outside of his own state , he was married but didn't have any children , he said shortly after he turned around 66 , 67 , I believe it was his wife , who had been married to for over 20 years , died unexpectedly died unexpectedly , he told me , after sitting around that empty

house of his for almost a year , he just decided to retire from his job and start traveling and seeing the world . He told me he travels for a couple of months at a time and he goes back home for a couple of months , and he's traveled outside of the country , which he never thought he would do , and he is living his best life .

He said when he travels overseas , he likes staying in those hostels because there are so many people around and everybody starts talking . And he said believe it or not , people are interested in his story because he's a little older than most people staying in a hostel .

So that's just one of the people that has decided to live his best life by starting to travel , and travel solo . Now I will tell you in my own case . The reason I travel solo a lot was for many years I worked overseas as a contractor and , due to tax benefits , I could only be in the States so many days a year .

So what was I going to do on the rest of my time off ? Well , I traveled to other countries for a week or two at a time and then I would go back to my contracting job . And since I stopped doing that , I still travel solo a lot . And yes , I'm married , and the reason I do is me and the wife have totally different thoughts about travel .

Her idea is she likes to go to a nice resort or an all-inclusive . Wake up around 10 o'clock in the morning , maybe have something to eat , take a nap , get up later and go hang out by the pool , have a few snacks , go to dinner somewhere and maybe once or twice during the trip , wander off the property and go see something .

My idea is travel is totally different . I don't care where I stay , as long as the place is safe and clean and got hot water . I like hot water . I hate cold water showers .

I wake up in the morning around 5 or 6 o'clock and I leave and I go out and explore the town and I don't come back until around 10 or 11 o'clock at night , go to sleep , wake up the next morning and I'm gone again . So I really don't care about the hotel .

Now , nice hotels are nice and I will spend some time in one , but my idea is to get out of the hotel and go see things , and she just does not want to do that . So our ideas for travel are totally different . But nowadays you will find that more and more seniors are traveling solo , and there's a couple of reasons for it .

Well , seniors have more freedom , more time and more resources since they retired . It's just easier for them to travel . I looked up a few statistics and 25% of women age 65 and up travel solo . In fact , 84% of solo travelers are women , so the women are leading the way . They're getting out there and going places on their own .

63% of travelers 50 plus are planning to travel domestically in the next year or two . Now , when it comes to the most popular destinations or the most visited destinations for seniors who travel or travel solo , or even just seniors in general , I cannot find any stats .

I found a whole lot of articles that said here are the best places for solo seniors to travel . Here are the best places for seniors to travel , but it was just made up . I mean , it was based on their opinion . You know , one article stated the top domestic destinations for seniors in 2024 included Florida , california , las Vegas , chicago and Michigan .

Now , where they got the stats from , they don't tell you , so I'm not sure how they're coming up with these lists . I know Europe is a planned destination , with Italy , spain and Great Britain are all hot , and you can get that information from places like kayak and booking sites , but that still doesn't tell you the entire story .

And , like I said , I found a lot of articles stating where someone thought the best destinations to travel were , and each one was either a list of places where they may have been , or a list based on some made-up criteria for what they thought seniors needed . So here are my thoughts on the best places to travel for solo travelers .

I've traveled to Asia and Europe and all over the United States solo . So there's your list . It's basically wherever you want to go . There is no best place . Some places are a little better than others . I'll give you an example . I went to Nepal , beautiful country . Always wanted to Nepal , beautiful country , always wanted to go there .

I actually went there a couple of times and it is challenging for someone like me who has bad knees . My knees are shot . I mean , they are in tough shape . Walking on flat , straight ground , I'm all right . Going up and down hills and stuff it tears them up , so it is a challenge . In Nepal I just wore knee braces .

But there are some places that are a little easier to get around and that's what you got to look at . When you travel , what do you think you can physically do , physically not do or just not interested in doing ? If you're the adventurous type , there's all kinds of places you can go .

When I was in Thailand , I saw a lot of solo travelers , male and female over 50 . When I was in the Philippines , I saw a lot of solo travelers , male and female , and a lot of senior couples who were there . Same thing in Europe . I spent 30 days in Prague . One time the wife flew over and met me for about a week .

Then she went back to the States and I spent the next three and a half weeks just roaming around Prague and the Czech Republic just seeing everything I wanted to see , and I met a lot of folks there who were traveling solo , both male and female . So there is no good place or bad place to go . It's where you want to go .

What's on your bucket list , what have you always wanted to see and just never gotten a chance to do it ? Well , here's your chance . Just do a little research , look at where you want to go , take a few things into consideration and hit the road . There's no better time to do it Not getting any younger . And there's group travel .

I mean you don't have to travel solo . You can go in small groups that are designed to go places and they usually build in time for you to take time off and explore things on your own . And there's meet-up groups that you can meet up at your destination own , and there's meetup groups that you can meet up at your destination .

You're not alone when you travel . But traveling solo does have a lot of benefits . First of all , you get to create your own schedule and you follow your own interests and you move at your own pace . Like my wife , her pace is wake up at 1030 in the morning , grab something to eat and maybe take a nap . That's what she wants to do . God bless her .

She loves doing . It Drives me absolutely nuts . I'm like we travel all this way . We're in this beautiful destination , let's get out and see something . Oh , I don't know , maybe later this afternoon , all right , well , you have a nice nap , I'll see you later .

And Maybe later this afternoon , all right , well , you have a nice nap , I'll see you later and I'm out the door . So you get to create your own schedule . When you're traveling solo , you don't have to abide by anybody's schedule . You can do what you want to do . You find a really cool museum ? Well , go back another day and see it a second time .

You want to skip an early morning hike ? Well , that's entirely your call . I mean , somebody says you got to hike up this mountain to see this absolutely gorgeous monastery and you're going not today , my knees hurt , maybe tomorrow you can do whatever you want to do . You're not bound by a group doing something .

Traveling solo also fosters independence and encourages you to try new things . If you're out there by yourself , you get to interact with locals , whether it be in the state somewhere or traveling overseas . You get to mingle with people . You get to ask them questions about where's a really nice place to eat lunch at , or where would you suggest I go .

If you had a friend visiting from out of town , where would you tell them to go ? And you will find that they have just a wealth of knowledge that you're not going to find in some guidebook somewhere . Also , I found that when you travel solo , you're more approachable , making it easier to connect with the locals and experience destinations authentically .

People have a lot easier time coming up the locals and experience destinations authentically . People have a lot easier time coming up to you and saying you're not from here , where are you from ? And you just strike up a conversation .

I've had great conversations with people all over the world that have told me about some fantastic places to go , to eat , to see , places to experience that I would have never known about , had we not had that quick chat .

And if you haven't traveled much , some people get really nervous about traveling overseas , especially if you're traveling alone . You're like well , I don't know the language , I've never been there . Trust me , it's not that difficult . I have never had a problem traveling anywhere in the world . You just take in some safety precautions . I mean , that's just normal .

I don't care if you're traveling to Houston , dallas , san Antonio or Manila , philippines , or Bangkok , thailand or London , england , it's all the same , just take in some safety precautions . But as far as language barriers and things , you will find a lot of people overseas international locations .

They speak English , or they speak enough English that they can get by , and there's nothing stopping you from learning a few words in the language of the location you're traveling to .

If your goal is to travel to France and you plan for eight months to take that trip to France , well , you've got eight months to learn a few words of French so you can get around . And with all the apps and software out these days that help you learn foreign languages , it's not that difficult .

And with the phones these days , there's translation apps built into your telephone . I've got one built into mine . I can say something in English . It translates it into the foreign language . So there is really no excuse for language being a barrier . And remember when I said that it fosters independence when you travel solo .

Well , traveling to a foreign country definitely fosters independence , because you decide where you want to stay , whether you want to stay in a hotel , a nice one , a medium-priced one , a condo , a weekly rental . How are you going to get around town ? You're going to walk , you're going to hail taxis , you're going to rent a car for the week .

It gives you a lot of freedom when you're traveling solo to do what you want to do and experience what you want to experience . And you will find , at the end of it , you're going . Man , I never knew I could do all that stuff in a foreign country by myself .

Like I said , all you have to do is take a few precautions into play when you're traveling solo , especially for seniors . Like I said , my knees are shot , so that's always a concern . I'm not going somewhere where I'm climbing 200 stairs . If it's got a road , I'll take a car , I'll meet you at the top , but I'm not climbing stairs , not going to do it .

But there are a lot of senior-friendly , solo-friendly destinations . What you want to look at is it a safe area ? Is it a walkable city ? You know , houston is not a walkable city . A lot of cities in the United States aren't , because they're spread out , they're built for cars and traffic . You go to Europe , you go to Asia . There's a lot of walkable cities .

You could be close to downtown and walk around the entire town . Is it an English-speaking country ? Now , we've already said that you can get apps , you can learn the language , but it does help if they do speak your language , but don't let that be a deterrent to go just because they don't speak English .

Like I said earlier , the destinations I've traveled solo all over the place , so there is no right or wrong destination , it's just does it fit your needs ? Like I said , I'm not walking up 200 flights of stairs Domestically . Well , national parks and state parks are always friendly places to travel solo .

You can rent cabins , you can go out camping and there's all kinds of towns in North America that are good places to go for solo travelers who are over 50 . But if you're traveling solo , you want to stay safe . You want to keep connected with the family .

Give them your itinerary , not what you're going to be doing every second of every day , but tell them where you're going to be . Hey , I'm traveling to London . I've got a reservation at this hotel . I'll be there for a week . Here's my phone number in case you need to reach me . Here's my emails in case you need to reach me .

In fact , I'll be gone for two weeks . I will check in with you once a week just to see how things are going back home . That way , you've got a connection with your family back home . You don't want to take a lot of valuables with you . It's always amazed me when people travel they carry all their jewelry with them .

I'm really not sure who they're trying to impress . You don't need to take jewelry with you unless you're going to a gala somewhere . I mean , why take necklaces and earrings and rings and jewelry and expensive watches ? I'm not sure who you're trying to impress the more stuff you take like that , especially to a foreign country , you're just begging to be robbed .

Why take it ? Leave it at home , okay . Whatever valuables you do take , keep them secured . Keep them secured in your hotel room . Keep them locked in your luggage . Make sure you use travel insurance , especially if you're traveling overseas . Travel insurance plays a huge part .

It covers everything from interrupted trips to emergency evacuation in case you get ill or injured , you name it . I mean there's all kinds of policies out there . Find a good one , they're not that expensive , and just name it . I mean there's all kinds of policies out there , find a good one , they're not that expensive , and just get it .

And , like I said , there's apps for translations . There's also apps for navigating your way around town . There's apps for emergency help . There's emergency apps that you can download that'll tell you if there's anything in a political situation that might go wrong . It notifies you hey , there's trouble over here or whether bad weather is breaking out .

So just download the right apps and stay alert . As far as accommodations , whatever suits you the best . I've stayed at guest houses where I had a blast . I mean , I stayed at a guest house in Macedonia I think it's called Northern Macedonia now or something , but back then it was Macedonia right next to Kosovo , and it was fantastic .

They were about my age , man and his wife . They turned their house into a guest house and they lived downstairs and the upstairs was four rooms that they rented out . I wound up having great conversations with him , drinking homemade wine that he had made and he's telling me all about the town and what used to be there and I had a great time .

I rented condos because they were less expensive , bigger and I could cook my own breakfast in there . I could stay at a condo for a week a lot and I could stay at a hotel and it was nicer . So there's all kinds of different options you have .

But look at things like guest houses or boutique hotels , because you do get to meet a lot of the locals that way and you can join a tour at the destination you're at . You don't have to just wander around on your own and discover things . When I was in London , I went on a walking tour of Jack the Ripper's haunts .

There was a guy who was hawking a sign outside of the Tower of London . It was Jack the Ripper tours . I asked him how much . It wound up being something like $10 . And it was a one and a half to hour walking tour of Jack the Ripper's haunts . The guy doing the tour was a retired Scotland Yard detective and his hobby was researching Jack the Ripper .

It was a fantastic tour and there was about 10 of us . We did a walking tour , but I was traveling solo in London at the time . So you can find little tour groups whether they're day tours or something else where you can interact with people and go on places with a group . You don't have to experience everything on your own .

So the bottom line is get out , do a little traveling . You're not getting any younger , don't have to worry about traveling solo and if you have somebody to travel with , fantastic . If you don't get out there on your own , it's not going to kill you , you're going to have a blast .

If you're a little worried about making a big overseas trip , travel solo somewhere in the States for four or five days . Dip your feet in , get your toes a little wet and get ready to do some international travel . Next , just figure out , you know where have you always dreamed of going , and then go there , because there's nothing stopping you .

You might want to go with a small solo trip . Just research your destination . Join , maybe , an online travel community , ask for some recommendations of where some good places to go or good places to eat or good places to stay are . Do your research and then hit the road . Now , if you've ever traveled solo and you're a senior , drop me a line .

Tell me how it went your first time . Tell me what you learned , what you liked about it . If you haven't , drop me an email . Ask me questions about it . The email is editor at thetravelingfoolcom . Oh , and here's something else before we go .

If you haven't subscribed to the newsletter , please do . I only put it out once a month and sometimes it doesn't get out , so you get one every two months . To subscribe to the newsletter , just go to thetravelingfoolcom , sign up for it .

When I send it out , it's full of travel news Everything from what's going on in the cruise industry , the hotels industry , sometimes stupid passenger articles that people have done A little bit of everything Travel news . And then I also list travel contests that you can sign up for and get that dream trip that you've been dreaming for for years .

It's not very long . Like I said , I only put it out once a month , so sign up for it and if you have any questions , drop me an email .

If you have questions about traveling solo , where to travel , or if you've got a trip planned and maybe you want to know something about it , chances are I've either been there or I know somebody who has , and who knows if you share your story about some place that you travel to solo . We might feature it in one of the upcoming episodes .

So until next time , safe travels , thank you .