Browsing: Solo Travel

I’m not a man designed for transport really, be that public or otherwise. My limbs are longer than they should be, my posture is terrible, and I have trouble sleeping in anything other than a bed. So it’s no surprise that my least favorite bit of traveling is that spent in actual transit. And as most know, an unhealthy amount of most traveling is exactly that: mastering the art of sitting still for hours at …

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Some of early-America’s greatest painters and writers called this one of the most beautiful spots in the world. On the map, it’s only two hours north of Manhattan. But it may as well be a world away.

The Kaaterskill Clove is a Catskill Mountain ravine of stunning beauty, with dense forest and thundering waterfalls. And the biggest of those waterfalls — Kaaterskill — is higher than Niagara.

This region is a place of Technicolor surprises …

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Hostels sometimes used to be thought of as dingy, crowded, last-resort lodging that was only for hippies, students, random backpackers and possibly criminals — and perhaps that is the impression that some people still have of them. That old stereotype is completely outdated in the many shiny and modern new hostels that have been popping up around Europe lately and competing with one another for a chunk of a highly coveted market. Hostels cater to …

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Antigua’s small sister island  Barbuda is truly unspoiled Caribbean at its finest, and we were enroute to Lighthouse Bay Resort www.lighthousebayresort.com sandwiched on a thin sandbar that snakes for some 17 pristine, private miles and accessible only by air, (small plane or helicopter) or a  long ferry ride (three hours) and water taxi.  But we were arriving in high style via Caribbean Helicopters http://caribbeanhelicopters.com/, as complimentary return passage by whirlybird is included with a seven …

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Want a Halloween celebration full of fantastical costumes, throbbing music and jumping bodies?   Welcome to the West Hollywood Halloween Carnaval, the world’s largest Halloween street party.  It’s a Halloween celebration that’s both family-friendly and hedonistic at the same time.  If you love Halloween, dressing up, or just partying with thousands in the street, then making a pilgrimage to West Hollywood for the Carnaval is a must.

West Hollywood – known to locals as WeHo – …

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With the US Presidential election just a little over one year away, New Hampshire residents once again get the unique chance to meet most – if not all – of the hopeful candidates face-to-face.  If you’d like to shake hands with future world leaders while touring a quintessential New England state, this fall is the perfect time to visit New Hampshire.

New Hampshire is among the smallest states both geographically and in population, with only …

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Krakow is a city known for its long and colorful past, and the priceless and awe-inspiring, original surviving remnants from all different periods in its history and the people that came and went over the years. While these magnificent structures and relics are major tourist magnets, and rightfully so, Krakow also has had a boom of modern construction and new attractions to keep things interesting for the millions of annual visitors that come to Poland’s …

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Every summer, Irish Counties such as Mayo, Kerry, and Waterford celebrate the “Pattern,” or their Patron Saint feast days. Ardmore, a sea-side village in County Waterford, upholds the true Irish spirit of its yearly Pattern Festival with full pints and traditional Irish tunes.

Having been settled by St. Declan before the introduction of St. Patrick to the Emerald Isle, Ardmore is said to be Ireland’s oldest Christianised settlement. Aird Mhór, meaning Great Height, has been …

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When I arrived in Miedzychod to visit a friend who had relocated there, we went for a drive and soon were turning off the narrow one-lane, main road onto where there was no road at all–only a forest. The car, a creaky red Polish hatchback, crunched it way over the gritty forest floor, through a thicket of spindly pine trees. After parking in a small clearing, we got out of the car, gathered up the …

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Holidays have become all about the destination, not the journey. We cram ourselves into an airplane, jet off for a couple of weeks in a different culture, and often return more exhausted than when we went away. Maybe that’s because we’re forgetting that life is a journey, not a destination.

Yet in today’s fast-paced, instant-access world, there are still amazing journeys to be had if you take a trip on a freighter ship. Deep within …

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I stood on the edge of the boat peering into the water in full scuba diving gear, hoping to catch a glimpse of what I knew lay below the surface – sharks and lots of them.  Sharks were the reason I had made the 36 hour journey to Cocos Islands, located 600 km off the west coast of Costa Rica.  But all of a sudden I wasn’t so sure this was a good idea.  Before …

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Getting lost in a new city is not usually on a traveler’s to-do list. But it is highly recommended that you cull your skills in the art of getting lost if you wish to throw off the tiresome stereotypes that come with being a tourist.

It might be harder than you think to truly move off the beaten path and have no idea where you are. When you feel a little disoriented, your survival instincts …

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I’ll admit:  I have a complicated relationship with solo travel.  On the one hand, going solo allows one the most freedom, the most time for reflection, the most opportunity to meet new people (because, really, you have to) of any travel experience.  It also means you can, whenever you’re ready, just go.  No working around other travelers’ schedules, no begging potential travel partners to see the value of an adventure.  Just hop on a plane, …

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