New Year, New Adventures – What’s new in 2025 for you?

Wow, this is exciting! I can't wait to hear about your new trip plans. And I'm sure you'll be showered with help and support here on the Forum.

New year. Solo travel.

Don’t fear it. Embrace the freedom.

Congrats on your new outlook and sense of adventure. I can't wait to read your Trip Reports celebrating your new life style! Where to first?

Current government contract ending in February, pending contact from the new contracted company on my position. If my pay remains the same or goes up, then I'll stay another year for my planned retirement & slow travel to begin in March 2026. If a significant pay cut, then I retire and begin my slow travel in March 2025.

Good for you! I have a similar issue and have traveled solo for 8 years since retiring. It's liberating to be able to plan a trip that's just for you. I also find that we have a renewed appreciation for each other after I return from a trip, particularly because my husband sees how happy it makes me to travel and meet new people.

Wow, Mary! That truly is a major mental shift. First, while I am sorry your husband is at the point he is no longer interested in traveling, I am so glad he recognizes how it makes people like us feel and is happy to send you off on your own. Because we know you CAN do it!

“Solo travel” after “couple travel” takes a bit of getting used to but as you are beginning to discover, it is absolutely wonderful to be able to do exactly as you want when you want. It is travel on a whole new level.

As we all know, life doesn’t stay the same. We either move with the changes and hold on to our different joy - or we don’t. “Don’t” isn’t a great choice. All the above doesn’t mean I would choose not having my husband to travel with, but that isn’t a choice. The choice is continuing to travel (where my joy is) or being sad staying home.

I love your new resolve!

P.S. New for me is a 4 month trip - by far my longest. We’ll see how I like it. lol! I leave Sunday.

On New Years Eve, my spouse and I were looking back at our 2024 travels: Colombia, Kyushu, Corsica. Three awesome trips to three very different locations in places widely separated across the globe.

We have three trips already booked for 2025: Yucatan (Spring Break with family), Shetland, and Puglia.
We are currently developing our plans for 2026: Philippines & Thailand (half-planned right now), Iceland, and New Zealand (very tentative). We are also flirting with a week-long northern lights trip (most likely to Alaska) in early December; we'll see about that.

We had traditionally done one trip a year, then two, and last year we pushed it to three. Not surprisingly, on New Years Eve as we were looking over some photos, my wife smiled, looked at me, and said "maybe we should start doing four..." Uh-oh.

I now have a 5-year travel plan calendar on the wall with (moveable) sticky-notes for planned/proposed/speculative trips. Yesterday we had to go out and buy more sticky-notes.

Mary, this is such a great post and one I almost could have written. My husband also likes traveling, but doesn’t love it (really I’m obsessed), the way I do. However, when I suggest I might go alone, he always comes around. I also try to please him with some of our destinations, museums etc on our trips and I’m ok with that. However, I travelled solo for years before we met rather late in life, so I’m good with solo travel too. Enjoy your new found freedom!

Thank you, Jane, Claudia, Plumeria54.

Brushtim, I hope your slow travel gets here fast!

Pat, we have our thrice rebooked Budapest trip coming up in May and before that a long-awaited Florence trip in March which he will probably still go on, so I’d be looking at starting solo travel in the fall. I’m thinking Copenhagen and/or Paris. Will probably do a simple one city/one week for my first couple of trips. Make it easier until I get more confident.

TexasTravelMom, I think he’ll probably still come on one trip per year, which as he says is “still a lot for most people, you know.” Ha. Perspective is everything. (And I’m looking forward to having 4 months of trip reports of yours to read!)

Dave, this forum is definitely populated by "my people" because a 5 year travel plan calendar with sticky notes is my idea of fun!

Tammy you reminded me of something else I've considered. I know I'll constantly be thinking "he would love this" when I see and do certain things. He loves art and I'm going to go to the Louvre without him and not feel it's a shame he isn't there? Even a couple of times in London and Granada when he stayed in the room I was preoccupied with what he was missing out on. But he doesn't necessarily view it as missing out, or doesn't care as much... so I'll need to adjust my thinking.

Mary! You CAN do this! I'm glad your husband is good with you traveling solo and that you are willing to try it out.

I'm a solo traveler as I think you know and often combine it with a tour of some kind. At this point most of my tours are to places that are harder to manage with public transit. When I first started with solo international travel I found that for the first full day I needed to have a timed entry for something to get me moving. Once I was out of the hotel I was fine it was just walking out the front door that felt daunting, lol. It also helped to go to familiar places first...ie London and Bath, lol.

For your first solo trip I recommend doing a less complex trip with perhaps fewer moves. Where are you planning to go?

For myself, I'm returning to Orkney and Shetland in July with my regular small group tour company and adding some time in Edinburgh on before and after. I'm also going to do a tour of SW France starting in Carcassonne with a week in Paris on my own before and after.

I look forward to seeing your planning posts and then to your TR! What a fun time you will have!

I am excited for you!

I love to travel, and my husband likes it but not as much as me. When I mention a solo trip he changes his mind, or he will suggest I take our daughter along, which I often do.

Our travels for this year include Alaska next month, then in August Greenland and Iceland (8th visit). Hopefully a Christmas Market trip too, but that has not been planned yet.

For 2026, my husband is planning on sailing Between Iceland and Greenland again, and right now a friend of mine are planning to meet him at the end. We will get a camper van and do our thing first before meeting him, and then who knows. We are also hoping to squeeze in the Faroe Islands.

I still have Switzerland on my list, but it keeps getting pushed down with these other places.

mikliz97, those all sound great!

Thanks, Pam. I'm thinking Copenhagen (seems like a less intimidating first solo destination) and maybe closely followed by Paris. If I'm solo there's no "but we just got back, it's only been xx weeks since the last trip" LOL

Mary, if you need help on the May trip, just log in and ask. There are 4 or 5 that do a good job helping on Budapest. That suppoort network (Ive noticed its very good with Germany too) might help make the process more fun.

Mary - I am so heartened by your and your husband's discussion and decision-making. I know you are going to enjoy your trip with him and your solo trip(s) too.

Mary, there’s a phrase I’ve been hearing recently in a couple of different British TV series, so they must be true. When one door closes, another one opens. I think that’s a good philosophy.

As you know, I’ve been traveling solo for decades and I guess I don’t even know the difference because I’ve never traveled as a couple with anyone. A couple of friends from time to time, yes and my daughter, but it’s really all I know so I take it for granted.

But, that said, I can see where it would be a different experience for someone that is used to traveling with a partner. So I hope you will continue to come here and vent and ask and explore your new mode of travel. And if you ever have any questions or want some advice, I hope you know that you can always PM me and probably 99% of the people on this forum.

One other thing, if you’re ever thinking about a destination and maybe you’re a little worried about traveling there alone, why not post here and see if anyone else is traveling there or wants to travel there? There are several people here on the forum that do what I think of as “parallel traveling.” They don’t really travel together, but they stay in the same town or city and maybe visit a few sites together. That might be an option for some places. Most of us are pretty flexible and I, for one, would welcome the chance to meet up with someone and maybe even travel together a bit with another forum member.

I think you’ve got a very positive attitude and I commend you for that! Welcome to the wonderful world of solo travel!

Oops, I forgot to talk about my travels for 2025. New for me is a trip with two of my grandkids to London in Paris in the early spring, and also new to me is a 12 day tour (my first tour) that I’m taking in Romania. But I am tacking on a 3 to 4 week solo trip both before and after, probably heading to Bulgaria and then maybe Budapest. And that’s in September/October 2025.

My parents were my first travel partners; not only as a child, but (as my Mom puts it) they followed me around Europe for years. After they hung up their passports, and travel girlfriends found boyfriends to travel with, I tried my first solo trip. I was anxious at first and leaned towards a "my way" type tour company for help, before quickly realizing that I could - and would rather - do it myself. That first solo trip was a bit scary and also liberating.

My trips are coming full circle, as then-boyfriends / now-husbands (or now-exes) are "done" traveling, and I've met other independent travelers on the forum! So now I'm enjoying a variety: my own solo trips, tours with friends and girlfriend trips. I'm discovering that the mix of styles makes me appreciate each of the styles more. While intensely planning an independent trip, I can think "wow, I'm glad the tour company is taking care of all these details for my other trip." And while on a tour, I can think "I'll let go of control for this trip" knowing that I've got an independent trip coming up where I make all the decisions.

So, in 2025, I've got 3 tours booked, one friend trip and one independent trip. I'm even taking a domestic trip with my parents. I'm looking forward to all of them, with tour buddies, friends, parents - and myself!

Mary, bravo for your self reflection and putting yourself out there. There is only one way to know how you do traveling solo, and that is to do it! As a mostly solo traveler, I remember how many people were so "worried" for me to go alone, and I will admit I was nervous on my first overseas trip. But I decided going and doing was better than staying home alone and wondering. And now after many, many trips solo I can't really imagine traveling with someone and having to compromise/consider/adjust to make sure everyone is happy. I've done a few family and friend trips and those were quite a bit more stressful! I'm not saying one way is better than the other - they're just different.

And one of the nice things about all this modern technology is that even if you're solo, you're not out of touch. You can text or call your husband to check in or keep a travel blog to keep him and friends updated about what you're seeing. If you're feeling lonely while traveling you can take a guided tour (museum and food tours are my favorite).

You'll get great advice and support in this forum, a lot in this thread already. Ask away when you're ready.

Thank you all for the encouragement!

Mary, I’m very excited for you. I’m married (40 years this year!) and my husband is my favorite travel partner. That said, I do 100% of the planning for every trip I take, whether it’s with him or a friend I’ve traveled to Europe with a few times. Like you I try to choose places and things that would be of interest to who I’m with. In doing that there are sometimes things I would like to do that I don’t because of their lack of interest. We were in Paris for a week for my 60th birthday and I mentioned to my husband that I would like to have an afternoon to myself to just do what I wanted. This was his 4th time to Paris so it wasn’t entirely foreign to him. He couldn’t believe I wanted a whole afternoon! Lol! I suggested just a few hours was fine, but in the end it never happened. Thankfully he doesn’t care if I travel without him and in 2018 I went by myself to Europe. The reason was to visit with family in Germany. My cousin had just had twins. I had a lovely one week visit with them in Hannover and spent a few days with Ms. Jo before going to Paris. I was there for about 12 nights. The first week was in an apartment with a friend, but we didn’t spend much time together. After that I moved to a hotel. I wasn’t sure how I would do being solo and I have to say that I enjoyed it very much. I kept busy doing exactly what I wanted to do. I didn’t have to worry about whether my travel partner wasn’t having fun. That includes friends I sometimes travel with. I wouldn’t hesitate to travel solo again.

Edited to add that this Spring I’m going to Australia with a friend and in the Fall hubby and I will be taking an 11 week trip to celebrate our anniversary and both of our birthdays. Part of the trip will include places we cancelled in 2024 due the heath and subsequent death of my developmentally disabled btother. I’ve been taking care of him from birth when I was 12 years old and was his conservator. I am still devastated by his loss, but my trip that started two weeks later helped distract me a bit. This year is the first year of my life where I’m not responsible for anyone else.

I’m kind of in the same situation as you are, Mary, in that my husband isn’t terribly interested in traveling either, at least for international destinations that require a long-haul flight. We completed a trip to/from Barcelona last month to celebrate our 45th wedding anniversary that included a cruise. It took months of convincing him and while he enjoyed it and seems to be glad that we went, he much prefers less time in the air. He traveled quite a lot in his career and just doesn’t have the desire for travel. For international trips in the future, I probably will either go with friends and/or go solo.

I took my first solo international trip in August, 2022, flying in and out of Rome and spending the majority of my time in Siena (a new-to-me destination) and in Florence (where I had spent two nights previously with friends on a girl’s trip in 2015). To me, that was the perfect introduction into solo international travel as it combined somewhat familiar destinations with new ones. It was exhilarating to be able to do what I wanted, when I wanted on the trip without considering my husband’s (or my friend’s when we go on girl’s trips) wants or needs. It was lonelier than other trips but I got used to it and always spent some time each day or evening talking to my husband for a few minutes.

In April, 2024, I went on my second solo international trip, this time to the Netherlands. Again, my husband and I spent two nights in Amsterdam 2019 prior to a cruise, so it was familiar. I based myself in Amsterdam for a week and went on several day trips to other towns and went to museums and attractions that I hadn’t been to before. I had a wonderful time and it worked out even better than my first solo adventure.

On my next solo trip, I want to go somewhere that is completely new to me. I haven’t figured out yet where that will be, but I love trip planning and hopefully will be able to go somewhere solo this year also.

I’m so excited for you and am looking forward to hearing where you decide to go!

Mary, we are rooting for you!!

I started traveling solo a few years ago after realizing that my husband doesn't have much interest in traveling. He also has to travel a lot to take care of family, so the idea of travel for fun is just not working for him right now. I still enjoy traveling with my husband (we went to England together in 2024) and he enjoyed it enough that he wants to go back again (possibly in 2026). I felt a lot of guilt leaving him and our son home and going off on my own adventures, but I realized that I am a much better person when my travel itch is scratched. It was a little scary...but I got over it the very first day, and really embraced the freedom. I am also planning to take a few tours in places I do not feel comfortable traveling by myself, for example Morocco.

What's new for my travel plans in 2025? Not much, unfortunately. With our son in college, and a lot of family responsibility, we are definitely in the sandwich years, but I hope to turn it up a notch in a couple of years. Mostly family obligations this year but sneaking in 4 days in the UK on the way. A couple of trips locally to national/state parks. And dreaming. Lots of dreaming.

Allan, sounds like you need to find a luxury hotel that launches balloons from their rooftop.

Mr E., thank you! You've helped me a couple of times already but since I prepared and cancelled twice, I know I'll forget stuff by the time I finally get to Budapest. Strangely, the 100E airport bus is burned in my brain for some reason.

Thank you, Kim, Mardee, CWsocial, CL, Andrea, Sherry, MapLady. This forum is just lovely.

I'm looking forward to hearing your report of how everything works out on your first solo trip.

I always travel to Europe with my husband, and it's a little hard for me to imagine traveling solo, but I know that I probably will if the time comes when that's my best option. Like you, I've been inspired by reading the trip reports on this forum written by solo travelers. For now, what's new is a plan to visit two new countries in 2025--Greece and the Netherlands.

For us, our plan is to secure a long-stay visa (France) so we aren't limited to 90 days in Schengen. Most, but not all, of 5 months we plan to spend in France. We also plan to lease a car through the Peugeot program, and see places in France, Spain and Portugal that we've not seen before. High on my list: the Dordogne, Bilbao, Porto, Montpellier and the Algarve. Hope to play some golf in continental Europe this summer, too.

Mary, the 100E for me means I am home. It's a good thing. Let me know your plans and I am at your service.

And i believe we have a few other RS types coming in May, as well as some Texans I know. May would be my annual pilgrimage to Bosnia for fly fishing but haven't set the dates yet.

Mary, such a nice post! Oh my gosh, can I just say, “Me, too!”? I’m off in 9 weeks (but who’s counting?)…solo to Northern Ireland and London, and I’m so excited! My husband is my best travel buddy, and he’s also really happy to stay home with our dog lol. I’ve usually done most of the planning, which I love, and it really is fun to plan a trip with only my interests in mind. He would hate to spend hours visiting vintage bookstores in London! And Pam and Jean, you’re both such inspirations. Such a nice thread…so many supportive folks on this forum!

Barbara N, it's a bit hard to imagine for me too and I always knew it would happen someday, but didn't expect it this soon.

cathy, I relate! I enjoy traveling and sharing with my husband and although he enjoys what we see and do, I think deep inside he could take it or leave it. I'd love to read a trip report if you have time when you get back. bookstores + London <3