![]() ![]() ![]() “I was devastated – it was the end of November and I thought: I need a break,” she says. She got back into solo travel after her dog died in 2020. When we speak, she is enjoying the sunshine in a park in Málaga. One is Kay Johnson, 58, a nutritionist, who has enjoyed solo travel since she hitchhiked around the UK in her teens. There are women in their 50s into their 80s in the group.” In a group you’ll always be waiting for someone, or people can’t decide what they all want to do. “About 60% are from North America most of the rest are from the UK, Australia and New Zealand. “We’ve now got 485,000 members, with about 15,000 joining a month,” she says. Then, as the world started to reopen, the group’s membership shot up. She half expected the group to fold during the pandemic, but they kept it going with virtual journeys. “For a long time, it was me, my sister and a few friends and we’d post something occasionally,” she says. In response, she set up a Facebook group called Solo in Style. Photograph: Courtesy of Kay Johnsonīack home, telling her friends about the trip, she sensed some were keen to try solo travel, but had worries and wanted advice. View image in fullscreen Kay Johnson watching the sunset on Mount Sinai after an overnight hike in 2020. I remember days when I thought: no one knows where I am right now. It gave me a real sense of adventure and freedom. “I remember feeling absolutely petrified as I was about to board my flight at Heathrow. “I’d loved planning it and thought: sod this, I’m not going to let it stop me going,” she says. Fourteen years ago, shortly before her 50th birthday, Ives split from her partner and decided to go on her own to Borneo, a trip they had booked together. In the UK, the Association of Travel Agents says solo travel is up from 6% of trips in 2011 to 16% in 2023.ĭeborah Ives, who works in international marketing, is not surprised. Phocuswright, a US market research firm, reports that there was a 46% increase last year in people over 55 travelling without their significant other – and most were women. ![]() Like many women who travel alone, I have a partner, but his life is a lot less flexible than mine and he doesn’t always want the kinds of breaks I do. ![]()
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