You are not Alone

While the vast majority of grey nomads travel as part of a couple, solo travellers are by no means a rare breed. If you are considering taking to the open road on your own, take comfort from the fact that – ironically – you are not alone. Unsurprisingly, within the solo travellers group, females are in the minority but again perhaps not as unusual as you may think.

While the reasons people travel on their own are many and varied, often it is because a spouse has passed away. Sometimes the remaining partner chooses to live the dream that he or she had spent years planning with his or her spouse. Solos are often among the most sociable of grey nomad travellers, anxious to meet new friends, share a joke or a cup of tea, and to garner information about the road ahead. It makes sense as well that solo travellers will sometimes travel for a while with other people they have met along the road.

However much you enjoy your own company it’s always nice to share a special experience with someone else or to create memories together. Then, when the time is right, to part company again and add the name of a special new friend to your address book.

It is dangerous however to generalise too much about the solo travellers you meet. As well as bereaved partners, there will inevitably be people who find themselves single following a divorce or those who have simply never married. Occasionally too you come across a single traveller, normally a man, who has left a partner at home to follow his dream for six months or a year or whatever.

Tom has been on the road for four months, having left his wife back in their Melbourne home.

“I was always on at Angie about how we should join the grey nomads and see Australia ... it was my dream,” he said. “I think she got fed up of me nagging her and eventually she just said ‘why don’t you go on your own’ and I thought ‘Why not?’ ... and so I did.”

Tom laughs at any suggestion that his solo travels must mean his relationship is somehow under pressure.

“No, I’m afraid Angie and me are stuck with each other for life,” he laughs. “It’s just that she didn’t fancy being away from the grandkids for months at a time and I have always wanted to do this ... this just seemed to be the obvious solution, and I think it actually shows just how strong our relationship really is.”

Tom is probably quite right. For many of us, the lure of the open road is pretty overwhelming and, for partners who haven’t been bitten by the bug, it takes a special effort to understand and to let go. So, hats off to Angie!

In the end, it doesn’t really matter why you are considering travelling alone, what matters is that you know that you can find what you are looking for out there. You can see what you want to see, go where you want to go, and do what you want to do. It’s a different experience but it can still be an absolutely wonderful one. So, as Tom said ....”Why not?”

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