Want to go travelling, just not on my own!

laura-travel

Hi, I was wondering if any of ye could help me out. I've been thinking of going travelling early 2010 but I don't want to go on my own. All my friends have other commitments at the moment, like work, college, getting married, etc.
I haven't really thought about where I want to go, or how long for. I'm not fussy at all, just want to get out of the country for a while to let the recession pass
So could any one tell me any good sites that are around at the moment for a 24 year old to find one or a few people to go travelling with, that'd be great! Thanks!

jus

intrepid do tours all over the world im thinking of going to thailand for 4 or 5 weeks jan on my own im very nervous about it but also excited

thedeiseman

Thorntree forum on lonely planet website

laura-travel

jus wrote: »

intrepid do tours all over the world im thinking of going to thailand for 4 or 5 weeks jan on my own im very nervous about it but also excited

Thanks for the help and good luck with thailand, fair play to you for going on your own!!

hebejebees

gapyear.com is a pretty good website, loads of people in similar circumstances and good forums. I ended up going off by myself last year for a few months loved every minute of it and would do it again its just getting over the thoughts of being alone but once you're away you'll meet some really cool people

raemie21

Seriously, go 'on your own'.

You won't be on your own too long after you step off the plane almost anywhere in the world. And think of the freedom, flexibility and experience you'll have.

The other options are to go on a tour or convince someone you know to go with you. But you're stuck with them then for 24/7 so you'd want to be getting on pretty well.

misssandy

Hiya, I'm in the same predicament as you. All my friends have other things on, looking for jobs, working or just not able to go travelling. I am a teacher and am off for the summer and have other hols during the year too. Usually when I want or can go on hols, my friends cant! I was thinking of going to Australia next summer. Would you be interested in havin a travel buddy?!!:cool: I'm 24 too, luv travelling! I went inter-railing at Easter but I must have the travel bug or sumthin cuz I never want to stop going on hols! Regards misssandy:)

Overblood

A good site is the bootsnall forum.

cailinoBAC

I didn't particularly want to go travelling on my own, but it looked like that was the only way it was going to happen, so I decided to just go for it. Then I met my boyfriend and he came along with me. You might plan to go with someone and they pull out at the last minute or plan to go alone and somebody decides to come with you for part or all of it. I'm glad in the end I wasn't on my own, but I could see I would have had a good time anyway. I met loads of people who were 'travelling on their own' but they'd met up with people along the way.

LiamMc

For a first trip destination, then stay in Europe.
But always think of linking up cultures/economies. You can start in France and end up in Greece to fly home.
Or you can stay in Italy.

Security sometimes is number one and that's a problem everywhere.

dory

I wasn't razy on the idea of travelling alone either but I ended up not being on my own at all during my 15 month trip. If you want, check out my blog (http://blogs.bootsnall.com/cybersusst) you will see day one: 3 hours in Sao Paulo airport terrified to leave as I thought I would instantly mugged. Then as it goes along the blog is all about the fun I had with the random people I met.
I would have hated to have been with the one person 24/7. Most people who did that, from what I saw, split up for a good bit of their trip.

I'm currently midway travelling for 2 months in SE Asia and i started off with someone i met through gumtree.com. Even though we met in london a few times before i left, it was a disaster and i could only hack it 10 days. I am no social butterfly but its amazing how many people travel alone. For women, i would def not recommend India but they seem to have little trouble in themajor cities. When i was in Oz 4 years ago the vast majority of women were travelling alone. Just be careful, as everyone has to, with your bags and people trying to rip you off. lonely planet are really good books for letting you know what you're in for.

Its so easy to meet people, especially on your own when you are always sharing dorms. you wont regret going for sure. Even if you find someone...be prepared for travelling alone. As a previous poster said, people can really piss you off in 24/7 company

Need any advice, pm me

Good luck and take care

banshee_bones

Hey OP in same boat myself, want to go in Jan 2010 and im seriously considering going on my own now even though i was meant to be going with some mates, i dont think i could hack them travelling, and vice a versa. However the thought of going alone kinda scares me, i know everyone says its class but I suppose its only natural to feel this way! I too have no idea where to go,what to do or how long for! So open to all ideas!

frankiebaby

i'm in the same boat also, want to do a RTW trip and its looking like i'd be going on my own. also thinking of leaving Jan '10. if your interested theres some really good fares available these days for RTW tickets. my plan was to spend my time travelling in 'poorer countries' like India, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos etc. for a while then work & travel for a bit in 'richer countries' like Oz & NZ. Have a few random destinations thrown in along the way (who knows! its all good!) and come back through America (north or south).
There are more and more ppl travelling alone these days so thats good for me and you as you're more likely to befriend ppl fairly quickly.
best of luck with it anyways,
Frankie;)

banshee_bones

frankiebaby wrote: »

theres some really good fares available these days for RTW tickets.

care to share this info with us???! links to websites?

frankiebaby

banshee_bones wrote: »

care to share this info with us???! links to websites?

Yep,
i got this info off the skyscanner.net newsletter about RTW fares.

From skyscanner website:
"Basically the Escapade – www.thegreatescapade.com will still come out as the best price and they band it into 8 various prices throughout the year. The best price is 16 Jan until 20 Apr at £1000 plus about £350 tax. The airlines are Virgin, Silk Air, Singapore and Air NZ – 29,000 miles as many stops as you can do and you can buy extra miles for about £100 per 1,500 miles.

There are no flights within Australia (but there is Virgin Blue and Qantas there should people require them) and no flights to South America either.

Next best would be the only airline that does a RTW itself – Air New Zealand. Priced at £700, availability can be limited and it only stops in Hong Kong or LA.

Then I’d recommend the World Walkabout with Qantas and BA - about £1,000 all-in at the cheapest time. Then there is the OneWorld Explorer and the Global Explorer but you’re then looking at not much change from £2,000 – there’s no peak season for that one and world’s your oyster."

if you go to thegreatescapade.com you can make up some really nice itinerary's due to the unlimited stops.
One sample one i just did was:
London - Mumbai - Singapore - Bangkok - overland to Hong Kong - Sydney - Auckland - Nadi - Los Angeles overland to New York - London

This was a bit under the 29000 mile cap too.
Note above prices are Pound Sterling!
Frankie;)

Doc

Laura don’t wait for someone to go with you just make your plans and go.

I waited a long time before I went traveling mainly because I wanted to have someone come with me but in the end I took what I thought was a risk and went on my own.

It turns out that there was no risk involved at all. I am quite an introverted person until I get to know people but I spent very little time actually traveling on my own. There are so many people in the same situation as you would be in that meeting people is very easy.

If you go on tours, stay in hostels or even when you take the bus or train you will meet fellow travelers and make new friends. In fact it would be really difficult not to meet people.

I won’t lie and say that I have never missed having a good friend from home with me but the times I did where few and far between and it was more often then not a touch of homesickness rather then loneliness that made me feel that way.

You gain the ability to do whatever you feel like whenever you want for as long as you want when you travel alone. You can change your plans if you meet interesting people or discover an amazing opportunity. When you travel with someone else there are always compromises involved, no matter how well you get on with the person or how similar your interests there are times they simply won’t want to do what you want to do.

The deciding to go traveling on your own is incredibly difficult but the actually experience of traveling on your own is not.

Go for it you will not regret doing it but you will regret not doing it sooner.