Last July, at a relative\u2019s wedding abroad, I reconnected with a cousin who lives one state over, but who I hadn\u2019t seen in years. She? Single and thirty-something. Me? Single and thirty-something too. Our respective mothers felt that our similar statuses could only mean one thing:<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy don\u2019t you go on a singles\u2019 cruise together?\u201d<\/p>\n
This is a lot like fixing up the only two [insert race here] friends you have because you think they\u2019re bound to have a lot in common and get along swimmingly. Nice idea, but it doesn\u2019t always work. Traveling with someone can be a lot like getting married: you\u2019ve got to have similar ideas and goals about what\u2019s going to make your trip a success. More often than not, I\u2019ve found that my ideas and goals don\u2019t always mesh well with others. In the few instances where I\u2019ve met people who have similar travel aspirations (and tolerable personalities), there are often spouses and children and work considerations which make a joint trip next to impossible, so what\u2019s a girl to do?<\/p>\n
Hit the road solo.<\/p>\n
Not being an heiress or independently wealthy, this is often a very expensive proposition. Most travel sites, when offering deals, create these deals with the \u201cdouble occupancy\u201d default, meaning that this deal is only a deal if two people share the cost. But what about when you\u2019re shouldering the cost alone?<\/p>\n
There are ways to get around the sometimes exorbitant price of traveling by yourself without selling the firstborn-you\u2019re-never-going-to-have-because-you\u2019re-single. My favorite? Saving on lodging by staying at a hostel or a campsite.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve done both. Last year, a solo trip to the Caribbean was made possible by an incredibly cheap airfare and the hospitality of a campground. For Thanksgiving, I scooted up to Montreal on a cheap train ticket from New York and stayed at a hostel. So what if one of my roommates smelled like weed and slept the entire time? It was all part of the experience.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m looking for great tips on keeping costs down while traveling alone because right now the travel account is close to running on empty and I\u2019m craving an infusion of the unfamiliar.<\/p>\n
Any thoughts?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Last July, at a relative\u2019s wedding abroad, I reconnected with a cousin who lives one state over, but who I hadn\u2019t seen in years. She? Single and thirty-something. Me? Single and thirty-something too. Our respective mothers felt that our similar statuses could only mean one thing:<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy don\u2019t you go on a singles\u2019 cruise together?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-622","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-news-updates","7":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\n