travel INDEX
perverse delight in rubbing it in your face. Christmas and New Year’s Eve can be bad enough but the mother of all offenders is Valentine’s Day. Even if you’re happy with your solo status, an army of ad men, retailers and, yes, even one’s nearest and dearest, can all conspire to
Going solo T
Romantic getaways? Huh! – with single people now outnumbering married couples, it’s no wonder travel companies are offering so many great options for solo travellers. David Leck reports
here are times in life when, if you’re single, the world seems to take a
make you feel something of a social deviant.
And if you’ve survived February’s annual ‘celebration’, there is then the vexed question of how, when and where to holiday as the single man or woman. But with 14 million singletons in the UK and the number of single and divorced people continuing to rise, is the travel industry of 2012 catching up, or are single travellers still faced with scant choice and penalised with
there is a huge number of people who want to –
stinging single supplements? Andrew Williams is MD
of Solo’s Holiday and sees the single traveller market as one that is evolving and responding to growing demand. “We specialise in holidays for the single traveller, but we do realise that, if you are anything less than a totally confident individual, the idea of going it alone can seem daunting,” says Williams. “One thing we have
developed is a successful and well-used forum that enables people to go online, see what others have to say about our trips and ask questions. “For a variety of reasons,
or have to – travel alone but they might not be aware that companies like us exist. What we do find is that, once they look at us and see what we offer, they get drawn in. We have a high level of repeat bookings and people do forge friendships through the sharing of a particular interest or travel experience.” Lyn Hughes, editor-in-chief of travel magazine Wanderlust (
www.wanderlust.co.uk), has written at length advising the growing band of single travellers: “’I can’t go travelling – I’ve got no one to go with’. This common excuse for delaying, or dismissing altogether, plans of seeing the world is one of the worst. Although the prospect of setting off solo can seem daunting, there are plenty of options for people who don’t have a willing partner at the ready,” says Hughes. “There are downsides. When you’ve
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