Italy, Go Solo, Enjoy

Solo Travel In Italy


I usually post anything about Italy on http://www.hometoitaly.com, but Solo Travel In Italy some challenges I shall add to this blog as well.

Italy may have more travelers than many other countries in Europe.   After traveling there for years and for 4 to 6 weeks at a time, I fully understand why.
With all those ‘tourists’ being a traveler has some challenges. 

I never thought it was ‘odd’ to travel solo.  I am solo but not sad.  I travel solo because I have no friends who would EVER travel in the style I do.   And the one  perception I continue to receive is that only gay people travel solo.  What?    During my 3 month sabbatical I became friends with two lovely much younger woman who I met at the local Internet café.  While having dinner early in our friendship the both agreed that ‘no Italian woman would this’.  I was VERY surprised.   Apparently it may not have been socially unacceptable but solo travel was NOT something an Italian woman would do…..

There are endless benefits to solo travel but I want to cover a few of the ‘challenges’ solo travel in Italy may present:
1.  With the crowds of tourists in Italy it can be difficult to visit ‘tourist spots’ solo.    Tour buses do not know what to do with a solo.  Other travelers do not want to sit with a solo person….
2.  Reaction of Italians that solo travel is ‘odd’.   In Italy the family has great importance.  It may not occur to Italians to go off by themselves and travel.
3.  Economics:  Italy as other countries are in an economic situation.   A solo traveler may be perceived as wealthy.    On one trip I wanted to compare living costs in Italy with the USA and as I compared the salaries with the USA, I understood this misconception.   Housing is expensive in Italy and this may be another reason family members remain at ‘home’ until they marry.
4.  Travel in Italy during tourist season means crowds on buses and trains.  Solo travel means you have no one to ‘watch your bags’ while you use the WC or even go to an ATM.
One year, before ATM’s were on each corner, I could not enter the money exchange at the Rome termini because they used a revolving door and my bag would not fit in the door!
5.  You spend more time planning and organizing solo, no one to share the work.
6.  For me dining is the hardest part of solo travel anywhere but the USA.  Here in the USA we have so many casual restaurants and my favorite, diners, that you are mostly unnoticed.  The disadvantage is you are unnoticed in some restaurants and service is ‘different’.  I understand the tip will be less than a couple, but I also don’t take up as much time at the table.

In Italy eating is VERY important.  Going to diner is the entertainment for the evening often taking hours.   I only remember seeing one other solo diner in a restaurant in Florence.  And they put us next to each other.   I have had waiters look at me with pity and surprise that I am sitting alone.    Why do people assume solo is sad?

While these may be some challenges to solo travel, some of the perks in Italy:
vendors in markets will often chat with you
You can often observe without being noticed….take a peek into daily life.
You can walk by the same corner countless times while looking for the correct turn and no
             one notices, no one ridicules you, no one gets impatient.
You can stroll the town center without dragging a reluctant companion or child with you.

One of the sadist days in Sorrento was hearing a couple just off the cruise line for the day.
The husband loudly insisted, pick ONE thing you want to see.......implying that that was         enough    and back to the boat.    One look at the woman's face was enough for me to pledge to always go solo.

Solo Travel: Have You Found A Travel Agent to Work With?

I choose to travel solo and unless a solo traveler is wealthy I expect we all have budgets. 

Each trip has a price and a trip has ‘value’ when it is a reasonable cost per day….no matter if it is a resort or a tour or if the cost of transportation, room, food total an amount that I find has a value.

Road trips are manageable n the USA, some city trips can remain within a budget but long distance, long term travel takes skill and planning.  Cruises (and I dislike the connotation of the term) offer some of the best Values in travel.
Crusies:
Ship travel has proved to be reasonable IF you sail off season, IF you take the cabin at the bottom of the boat and often you may go to locations you are not really interest in.

I know there are room mate matching services but I do not CHOOSE to spend $5,000 or more for a trip and sleep with a stranger.   Get real.

Now I am on my third ‘travel agent’  This year I was told to “search for a cruise myself on their web site”.   So I have searched for days and priced over 250 sailings to find something that offers a VALUE for a country I want to visit.

I prefer to travel often and long and therefore must remain within a budget.  But if I find an exciting location I will go over budget knowing I shall sacrifice another trip later in the year. 
So the search for this trip has taken weeks of entire days on the computer. 

Yes travel agents have programs that can search everything, but their goal is to find, sell, and go to the next one.  Having been in commission sales I understand the need to ‘turn’ clients. So no agent has been willing to do the searches I need.  Last year I was told they had to get off the phone I was asking too many questions.    Apparently they have a quota system.

But what they do not realize is the business they are losing from not doing a GREAT job.  As part of a very LARGE solo travel group, there are thousands of travelers who would travel if they could find a travel agent.

So, where to go in May?  Russia, trans Atlantic, Oz?   So many choices, so little travel assistance……  I know it will be a LONG trip and it will be EXCITING and I shall write about all the events, policies and difficulties a solo mature traveler may find.

More Solo Supplements Waived!

Overseas Adventure Travel Offers Solo Travelers Free Single Supplements on All 2013 Adventures and Trip Extensions

                                                                                                                                                                               Just saw this on line, MORE good news  Note the increase in the number of solo travelrs!   We are everywhere!

Overseas Adventure Travel Offers Solo Travelers Free Single Supplements on

All 2013 Adventures and Trip Extensions

Read more about Overseas Adventure Travel Offers Solo Travelers Free Single Supplements on All 2013 Adventures and Trip Extensions - BWWTravelWorld by travel.broadwayworld.com       Thursday, Apr, 4, 2013; 8:34 AM; - by Travel News Desk
Related: Press Release, News

      To accommodate the growing number of solo travelers aged 50 and older, Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT) is offering free single supplements on all of its adventures and pre-and-post trip extensions. With OAT, single travelers can save $500-$5000 over comparable vacations offered by tour operators that continue to charge single supplement fees.  "More than one-third of our travelers book solo these days," said OAT Vice Chair Harriet R. Lewis. "By waiving the single supplement fee, we've made it much more affordable for solo travelers to see the world. Offering free single supplements is just one of several actions we've taken to accommodate a fast-growing segment of older American travelers."

 In addition to free single supplements, OAT offers a free matching roommate program, a free online travel companion program, a Lowest Price Guarantee that refunds travelers if a departure is reduced in price after one books it, and a Solo Traveler Challenge that guarantees the best price for solos for a comparable international vacation. OAT also trains all of its Trip Leaders (guides) to welcome, integrate, and assist solo travelers on every trip and departure.  Solo travelers today make up 35% of OAT's travelers up from 20% five years ago. In the past two years, 78,766 Americans, aged 50 and older, traveled with OAT. Twenty-five thousand were solo travelers, including 20,000 women.  According to the U.S. Census Bureau, an American turns 50 every seven seconds12,500 people a day. By 2015, the 50+ population will make up 45% of the U.S. population (AARP). According to statistics from Bowling Green State University's National Center for Family and Marriage Research, one-third of adults aged 45-63 are unmarried a 50% increase since 1980, when 20 percent of middle-aged Americans were unmarried.  OAT offers Americans 50 and older culturally-rich adventures in small groups of 10-16 travelers by land and 14-25 by small ship with per diems that begin as low as $93 a day and eight adventures that begin at less than $150 a day. OAT destinations include more than 30 countries, including Botswana, the Serengeti, India, Burma, China & Tibet, Vietnam, Colombia, the Galapagos, Peru,Costa Rica, Israel, and beyond. For more information, please visit

www.oattravel.com.  ABOUT OVERSEAS ADVENTURE TRAVELEstablished in 1978, Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT) is part of Boston-based Grand Circle Corporation's family of travel companies, which also include Grand Circle Cruise Line and Grand Circle Travel. Since 1992, the organization's charitable arm, Grand Circle Foundation, has donated or pledged more than $92M USD to more than 300 humanitarian, educational, and cultural organizations worldwide, including 100 schools, in 50 countries.

  Read more about Overseas Adventure Travel Offers Solo Travelers Free Single Supplements on All 2013 Adventures and Trip Extensions - BWWTravelWorld by travel.broadwayworld.com