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GoSolo
The Joy of Solo Travel
The surprising sociability of travelling alone
BY LIANE FAULDER
SELECTSTOCK/ISTOCK
WHEN TRAVELLING SOLO, I wander
between two states of mind.
The first is a carefree space, in which
I feel empowered and excited to be
on my own. On a recent solo trip to
Bangkok, I savoured the opportunity
to noodle along the throbbing city
streets, checking out Thai massage
shops (repeatedly), with no one to
suggest I was spending too much time
or money indulging achy muscles.
I happily sampled street food, like
charcoal-barbecued chicken wings, on
the advice of fellow travellers near the
food stall.
My second mental state sees me
scuttling back to the hotel come nightfall, with an unfounded fear that
Go It
Alone
darkness leads to danger. Still, the
upside of independent exploration
more than makes up for the occasional
pang of anxiety.
Increasingly, it appears I’m not alone
in my appreciation for solo travel.
According to a 2015 global travel study,
which surveyed 13,000 travellers from
25 different countries, 24 percent of
respondents travelled alone on their
most recent, non-business trip—that’s
up almost 10 percent from 2013.
AMA Travel product specialist
Shelley Stevens says a spike in travel
queries by potential lone travellers
prompted AMA Travel to launch
Go Solo. Travellers can choose from
three experiences: solo within an
Tips for going solo
program offers free
information sessions
throughout Alberta:
AMATravel.ca/GoSolo
Seek resources:
AMA’s Go Solo
Try an AMA Go Solo
tour: Try our Morocco
adventure—take a
sunset camel ride,
sleep in a Bedouin
tent, dine at the iconic
Rick’s Café (from
$3,999 plus taxes,
including airfare).
organized group plus a local guide, solo
in a group with an AMA host plus a
local guide, or solo on your own time
and schedule.
The Go Solo program also helps with
a traditional deterrent to solo travel:
the dreaded single supplement. This is
a fee that travel companies and hotels
often charge to lone travellers. Since
most customers want a private room,
AMA has secured suppliers that either
waive or dramatically reduce the fee.
“You still get your own room, but you
have people to go for dinner with,” says
Stevens. “You can be as alone as you
want, but with the security of a group.”
AMA’s first Go Solo departure, held
in January 2015, was a 17-person,
16-day guided tour of Africa, with fourstar hotel stays along the way. The trip
went so well that several participants
followed up a year later with a group
tour to Vietnam and Cambodia.
Most solo adventurers are women
over 55, and they aren’t necessarily
single—perhaps their partners just
don’t want to travel. Other voyageurs
may be divorced, widowed or emptynesters. Travelling entirely alone can
feel daunting at first, says Stevens. But
soloists quickly find like-minded folks
with whom to share experiences.
Security is also top of mind for many
solo travellers. AMA has responded
to this concern with an AMA hos