Solo Trip Late November / Early December - Where to Go

Those places are a long way to go for such a short stay. I would study the options available on the specific airline to maximize your time on the ground. That said, New Zealand is on my list, too.

Tokyo has nonstops from Minneapolis, my home airport so that would certainly give me more time on the ground. Auckland is a one-stop flight from here and roughly 19-20 hours travel time at a minimum. With my current job, it’s not an issue of not having enough vacation days but it’s hard for me to be gone for much longer due to our staffing levels.

I like all three possibilities....
To throw another option out there, that is the perfect time of year for a low cost cruise through the Panama Canal. Either start in Florida and go to Los Angeles or do it in reverse. Very relaxing. Example: Princess Cruise leaving Fort Lauderdale on Nov 6, 16 days transit through the Canal, up the coast of Central America/Mexico ending in Los Angeles. Price for a solo traveler in an Oceanview Cabin $2578 or $161/ day includes transportation, lodging, food, entertainment, etc.

Another option:: With two weeks you could certainly do any number of guided tours through Southeast Asia with Gate 1 travel. For example, 12 Day Classic Vietnam tour is $929 with a solo supplement of $400. That lodging, transportation, sightseeing and 15 meals for around $120 day.

I am also a solo female traveler. Some places are pretty easy to do independently, and others there is a real benefit to a tour.

I travel solo and have a mobility issue as well.

I went to Yokohama in October and sailed to Seoul on the Norwegian Spirit. It was a very long cruise, 14 days and I spent about three or four in Yokohama.

I do not think that you have enough time but there are shorter cruises that sail from to Japan to Korea or vice versa.

Chances are that you might port in places you have not beem.

WE have visited Japan and New Zealand.
Japan is our favorite East Asian country. It deserves at least two weeks.
Kyoto is amazing, plan three days there.

New Zealand you need at least two weeks to do both the north and south islands.
You can do NZ on your own renting a car, but do your research before. We loved Wellington.
The weather will be nice in December in NZ, since it will be Summer there.

I would consider doing Japan on a group tour. We love Gate 1 Travel, they may have tours there.
We did Japan with a combination of a cruise and 8 days prior to the cruise taking local tours (did a three day tour from Tokyo to Kyoto).

I’m doing a solo trip at that exact same time. I looked at a lot of options and I chose Japan in the end. I’ve been to Japan once as well and so I chose a Road Scholar tour that gets me out and about to a lot of other places, plus a week in Tokyo on my own.

New Zealand was my second choice - and it will surely be at the top of my list for 2027. But it’s two flights each way for me… and one of those flights is 13 hours…and Japan is a single 9 hour flight and that was my ultimate deciding factor.

It’s going to be Japan, and it turns out I’m not going to be solo. I told my older son I was looking at going back to Japan and he will be joining me. We will have 14 days in Japan, not including the travel days. I haven’t worked out our itinerary yet but I have time so I’m hoping to get the more detailed plan together over the next few weeks.

I will be looking at New Zealand hopefully for 2027 if I can convince my boss to give me a little bit more time off.