Group Trips Open the World to Solo Travelers and Couples, Too.
BY ANN RANDALL
“Do you feel your new Qi energy?” Arms stretched overhead, 16 women nodded dutifully. We’d flown and driven plenty of Qi-draining hours from all over the country to participate in Road Scholar’s Rejuvenation Retreat for Women. The Qigong class was our introduction to five days of meditation, yoga, and hiking in the California Redwoods with a retired forest service ranger. Also, vegetarian meals eaten communally with the monks and nuns who lived at the Buddhist center serving as the venue.
Come evening, sharing wine over talk that inevitably turned to our lives and adventures, we reminisced about the advantages of group trips we’d taken in the company of age-adjacent travelers planned by professionals who managed all the logistics. For some, it was the only way they traveled.
The group’s average age was 68, and included four high-spirited women in their late 70s who’d been best friends since Catholic school (they brought the wine), a mother and daughter duo, and 10 of us who arrived not knowing a soul. Many were experienced participants in 50+ travel who’d done group trips through Morrocco and Africa, walking holidays on Canada’s Prince Edward Island, and Mark Twain voyages on the Mississippi River in an old-time paddleboat. Two were first-timers. A few of us relished our singleton status in the company of others, while some were tentatively testing the waters of travel without a spouse or companion.
Our collective experiences illustrated just how much times have changed, particularly for women. It is now socially acceptable for singletons to join group trips for older adults. Those excursions attract lifelong learners, a friendly, sympathetic lot interested in meeting new people. “I may begin the trip alone,” explained a fellow retreatant on her 10th Road Scholar excursion, “but I don’t remain alone. I’ve made new friends and met travel buddies.”
The nonprofit Road Scholar began in 1975 as Elder Hostel. Originally designed as an educational program on college campuses, clients began asking for more experiential and adventure travel and the program expanded. This year it has 4,000 offerings, 85 percent of the solo travelers on their trips are women.
“The solo trend started more than a decade ago and has continued to gain steam. Back in 2017, 27 percent of our travelers were solos. In 2019, it was 39 percent, and 47 percent in 2021. Today, it’s 50 percent,” according to Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT), another leader in the 50+ travel industry.
That demand is changing the dreaded single supplement, often a deterrent for single travelers who don’t want to pay the double occupancy price. OAT’s website “Solo Experiences” includes a list of trips with free or low-cost single supplements. This year Road Scholar is offering 11 solo-priced adventures including trips to India, Italy, and Peru. On their website click “Find a Trip” for descriptions and pricing. Both companies also match up singletons who want to share accommodations.
The booming travel market has also realized there is a demand for specialized active 50+ trips. Newer companies have emerged including Walking the World, offering group walking tours for the adventure inclined in places like Ireland, Portugal, and Costa Rica, and Senior Cycling, a company featuring multi-day cycling trips with 2024 excursions that include Quebec, Cuba, and the Erie Canal.
A word of caution. Make sure to research thoroughly before booking. Some companies bill themselves as “senior friendly,” which often means a mixed-age travel group and itinerary. Those designed explicitly for our demographic consider additional factors such as the day’s pacing and activities, exertion levels, and accommodations that don’t require hauling bags up five flights of stairs. And they advertise their excursions by activity level. They often build more educational programming into their trips and provide more advance information knowing their mature clients want to make informed decisions. OAT, for example, has 4,000 trip preview videos on its website, many produced by former clients.
Facebook groups can be a source of helpful advice, earnest trip reviews, suggestions for future travel, and kind encouragement from fellow travelers. Check out groups such as Solo in Style: Women Over 50. Traveling Solo for Ladies 70, Solo Travel Society, Solo Travel Wisdom for Women over 50, and Women of Road Scholar.
Group travel provides social interaction, convenience, safety in numbers, and companionship. And while I’m a big proponent of all things multi-generational, there is something to be said about taking a journey in the company of others who also have decades of life experience. After all we are, as Road Scholar describes us, “students of the world, the guests you hope to sit next to a dinner party. They’ve led interesting lives because they’re interested in everything.”
Ann Randall is a freelance writer, organizational consultant, and independent traveler who loves venturing to out-of-the-way locales, from Azerbaijan to Zimbabwe. Retired from a career as a teacher and union organizer in public education, she now observes international elections, does volunteer work in India, and writes regularly for 3rd Act, Northwest Travel & Life, West Sound Home & Garden, Fibre Focus, and Dutch the Magazine.
Check out these 3rd Act group trips with Overseas Adventure Travel:
Moving Forward, Remembering the Past: A Journey Through Vietnam