The Hardest Step for a Solo Traveler: Booking the Trip

Take a look at the photo that accompanies this blog post.  Every single one of them started as a solo traveler as long as 15 years ago.  Some of them are now celebrating their 10th trip together.

For many people thinking about solo travel, the hardest part is not getting on the airplane.

It is not eating dinner alone. It is not navigating a new city. It is not even arriving somewhere you have never been before.

The hardest part comes much earlier.

It is actually booking the trip.

It is that moment when you finally stop waiting for someone else to travel with you and say:

“I’m going.”

I know exactly what that feels like.

More than 25 years ago, I took my first trip to Paris alone.

I did not speak French. I did not really know where I was going. I did not know anyone there.

And I certainly had no idea where that one trip would eventually lead.

I simply knew I wanted to go to Paris. And somewhere along the way, I realized that if I kept waiting for someone else to go with me, I might never get there.

So I booked the trip.

Looking back, taking that first step changed my life.

The First Step in Solo Travel Is the Hardest

There are always reasons to wait.

A friend says they would love to travel with you—but the timing is never right.

A spouse or partner may not be interested in the same destinations.

Someone has work commitments. Someone has family obligations. Someone thinks the trip costs too much. Someone says, “Maybe next year.”

And before you know it, years can go by.

For someone considering joining a small group tour alone, there can be even more questions.

What if everyone else already knows one another?

What if I am the only solo traveler?

Who will I eat dinner with?

Will I feel uncomfortable?

Will I fit in?

Those are understandable concerns.

But after years of traveling with thousands of people, I can tell you something important:

The worry before taking the trip is usually far greater than anything that happens once the trip begins.

Because once you get there, something wonderful starts to happen.

You meet people.

You May Arrive Alone. You Probably Won’t Stay That Way.

One of the great advantages of small group tours for solo travelers is that you are never really traveling alone.

You may have booked the trip by yourself.

You may have boarded the airplane by yourself.

But once the tour begins, you are sharing the experience with a small group of people who came for many of the same reasons you did.

They wanted to see someplace new.

They wanted to experience something different.

And quite often, they wanted to meet other people too.

In a small group, conversations happen naturally.

You sit next to someone on a train. You talk while walking through a historic neighborhood. You have breakfast together. You share a table at dinner. You laugh about something that happened during the day.

Before long, the people who were strangers on the first morning do not feel like strangers anymore.

That is one of the great surprises of traveling on your own.

You may leave home alone, but you don't necessarily travel alone.

Stop Waiting for Someone Else to Travel

We hear it all the time:

“I would love to take that trip, but I don't have anyone to go with.”

Maybe your friends can't get away.

Maybe they don't want to spend the money.

Maybe Europe isn't their thing.

Maybe they don't want to walk that much.

Maybe they keep telling you, “Next year.”

At some point, you have to ask yourself a difficult question:

How long am I willing to wait?

You don't have to wait until someone else's schedule, budget and travel dreams happen to line up perfectly with yours.

You can go.

Sometimes the person preventing you from taking the trip of your dreams isn't the friend who won't go with you.

It is you—because you are still waiting for them.

Don't Think of Yourself as Traveling Alone

There is another way to look at it.

If the words solo traveler make you uncomfortable, don't think of yourself as someone traveling alone.

Think of yourself as someone who is simply:

Joining the group on your own.

That is a very different idea.

You aren't signing up to spend ten days by yourself.

You are joining a group of people who want to see the same places you want to see.

You have already found something you have in common.

Travel.

And sometimes that is all it takes to start a friendship.

One Trip Can Change Everything

When I boarded that plane for Paris more than 25 years ago, I could never have imagined what taking that first step would eventually mean.

I certainly wasn't thinking about becoming The Traveling Professor.

I wasn't thinking about leading tours.

And I definitely wasn't thinking that someday I would have thousands of travel friends.

I was simply going to Paris.

But one decision led to another trip.

And another.

And another.

Travel opened up a world I could never have imagined when I was standing at the beginning wondering whether I should go by myself.

Today, I look back at that first solo trip and realize something remarkable.

Because I took that first step, I now have nearly 10,000 travel friends.

The Travel Community We Never Could Have Imagined

One of the greatest satisfactions Linda and I have had in our lives is seeing the community of travelers that has grown around us.

And when you think about it, almost every one of them had to make that same decision at some point.

They had to take the first step.

Some came with a spouse.

Some came with a friend.

And many joined us on their own.

But particularly for those traveling without a companion, making that first reservation required a little bit of courage.

They clicked the button.

They filled out the reservation.

They made the deposit.

They said:

“I'm going.”

And we have watched what happened next.

People who didn't know anyone found themselves surrounded by welcoming fellow travelers. You can see that experience reflected in our traveler reviews.

Strangers became travel companions.

Travel companions became friends.

People who once wondered whether they could travel on their own began asking us:

“Where are we going next?”

For some of them, that first trip literally changed their lives.

It opened their world not only to travel, but to companionship, friendships and experiences they might never have had if they had continued waiting for somebody else to go with them.

Linda and I take tremendous satisfaction in knowing that we helped create a place where that can happen.

Your Next Travel Friend May Be on Your Next Trip

Twenty-five years ago, I didn't know anyone when I went to Paris.

Today, I have thousands of travel friends.

But none of that would have happened if I hadn't taken the hardest step of all.

I booked the trip.

If there is somewhere you have always wanted to go, but you keep waiting for someone to go with you, perhaps it is time to stop waiting.

Not tomorrow.

Not next week.

Not next year.

Now.

Take the brave first step.

Book the trip.

The world is waiting for you.

And somewhere out there, your next travel friend may be waiting for you too.