Going Alone Doesn't Mean Being Alone: A Different Look at Men's Solo Travel

I travel solo.

And the more I travel, the more I notice something that intrigues me.

I see plenty of women travelling on their own. Sometimes they're truly solo. Sometimes they're travelling with friends. Sometimes they've joined an escorted tour or a cruise and are meeting people along the way.

But I don't see nearly as many men.

It made me wonder:

Where are the men?

I'm not asking that because I think women receive too much attention in the world of solo travel. Far from it. Women have embraced solo travel in remarkable numbers, and I think that's something to celebrate.

I'm asking because I think there's another part of the conversation that deserves some attention.

What does solo travel look like for men?

I've Become Aware of It in My Own Travels. 

Perhaps I've become particularly aware of this because of my profession.

I'm a travel advisor, and the Canadian travel-advisor profession is overwhelmingly female. A 2026 TravelPulse Canada study conducted with Travel Weekly and Phocuswright found that 84% of Canadian travel-advisor respondents were women and 16% were men. The research also found that tours and packages, ocean cruises and river cruises are among the most common areas of specialization for Canadian advisors. 

So I'm accustomed to being in the minority.

But I also travel on my own.

Some of my travel as a travel advisor involves educational, training, and familiarization trips, and I sometimes travel alongside other colleagues. But that's not quite the same as deciding to take a trip by yourself.

It's different when you're sitting down for dinner on your own.

It's different when you join an excursion and don't know anyone.

It's different when you walk into a lounge and realize that almost everyone seems to have arrived with someone else.

That's when solo travel becomes real.

And I've learned that it can sometimes be uncomfortable.

But I've also learned something else: 

Travelling alone doesn't necessarily mean being alone.

I wonder if men approach it differently. 

I don't pretend to have the answer for why fewer men appear to travel solo, particularly on escorted tours and group trips.

But I have a theory I'd like to explore.

Perhaps some men are simply less comfortable talking about the emotional side of travelling alone.

I'm not saying that applies to every man. It certainly doesn't.

But men aren't always encouraged to talk openly about loneliness, uncertainty, grief or the need for connection.

Sometimes the easier answer is simply:

“I'm fine.”

And then we carry on.

Maybe that's part of the reason fewer men see themselves reflected in the solo-travel conversation.

The numbers are certainly interesting.

Research from organizations serving solo travellers and tour participants consistently shows a significant gender imbalance in organized solo travel. Intrepid Travel recently highlighted research suggesting that women can account for up to 85% of solo travellers in some datasets, and its own article asks the question, “Where are all the men?”

Solo Traveler's own 2026 audience research found that women outnumber men almost two to one within its community.

These aren't universal statistics for every type of solo travel. Different organizations measure different audiences and different forms of travel.

But the pattern is interesting.

Women appear to be much more represented in organized solo travel than men.

So I keep wondering why.

I've Met Men Who Simply Wanted to See the World. 

I've met several men travelling on their own during my travels, including on Silversea.

They weren't waiting for someone else to become available.

They wanted to see the world.

They wanted to meet people.

They wanted experiences.

And they weren't prepared to give those things up simply because they didn't have a travel companion.

That resonates with me because I feel much the same way.

I don't want the absence of someone else to become the reason I don't go somewhere.

That doesn't mean every solo trip is easy.

One of my own most difficult solo trips was a cruise over Christmas.

My Christmas Cruise

I wanted to take the trip for other reasons, but being away from my family during Christmas was difficult.

There were moments when I felt the absence of home very strongly.

I missed my family.

And being on my own made those feelings more noticeable.

But then something unexpected happened.

The ship seemed to take on a different character during the holidays.

People talked more.

Strangers seemed more willing to engage with one another.

Conversations started more easily.

I found myself included in conversations, meals and celebrations with people I had never met before.

What began as a trip where I sometimes wondered whether being away at Christmas was the right decision became a wonderful celebration of the season.

And now?

I'm thinking about doing another Christmas cruise.

That experience taught me something important.

Solo travel doesn't have to be perfect to be worthwhile.

You can miss home.

You can feel lonely for a moment.

And you can still have an extraordinary experience.

Both things can be true.

Then I Met Ray

But there's another story that has stayed with me even more.

I met a man named Ray on a river cruise.

Ray was recently widowed, and this was his first trip without his wife.

I understood some of what Ray was feeling because I was also a recently widowed man.

Our conversations weren't simply about the cruise or where we'd been that day.

We talked about our wives — the women we had loved, the lives we had shared with them and the enormous void that remains when that person is suddenly no longer beside you.

We didn't have to explain much to each other.

There was an understanding between us that came from having experienced something similar.

But neither of us wanted that loss to mean that life was over.

We were both trying to figure out what came next.

Over the course of the week, Ray became part of our little group of travel advisors.

We invited him to join us for cocktails.

He joined us for dinner.

Our Business Development Manager on the trip embraced him as part of the group too.

Eventually, Ray became our unofficial — and affectionately named — honourary member.

And I watched him change.

He lit up.

He laughed.

He became part of the group.

He had people to talk to.

He had people to share the experience with.

Then Something Else Happened. 

There was another man on the ship around Ray's age, also in his early seventies and also recently widowed.

The two of them met and started talking.

Later, while we were in port, I happened to see the two of them out for a walk.

Ray introduced me to him.

That image has stayed with me.

Two men who had both lost their wives, both taking a trip without the person they had expected to travel with, finding something in common with each other while travelling.

Neither of them had planned that connection.

It simply happened because they went.

And that, to me, is one of the most interesting things about solo travel.

You don't always know who you're going to meet.

Ray Didn't Stay Alone

About six months after the cruise, I received an email from Ray.

He wanted to thank me again for helping make his first trip without his wife so much better.

He told me that I had a good group of friends.

That meant a lot to me.

But then he told me something else.

He had booked another river cruise.

Ray was going to travel solo on a French river cruise the following year.

Think about that for a moment.

His first trip without his wife had been difficult. He had every reason to be nervous about travelling alone again.

But he was going.

He had taken the first step, discovered that he could do it, met people along the way — and now he was ready for another adventure.

That meant a lot to me.

Because Ray hadn't simply survived his first solo trip.

He had found a way forward.

And that's what I hope travel can sometimes do for people.

It doesn't erase what we've lost.

It doesn't replace the people we've loved.

But it can give us something new to look forward to.

There were conversations, dinners, cocktails and new friendships on that first cruise. There was another widower he met and walked with in port. There was our little group that welcomed him in.

And then there was the next trip.

Ray was moving forward — one journey at a time.

Maybe That's the Part of Solo Travel We Don't Talk About Enough

There is an important difference between travelling alone and being alone.

They aren't the same thing.

That's one reason I think escorted tours, small-group travel, river cruises and other forms of structured travel can be so appealing to someone travelling on their own.

You can make the decision to travel by yourself without having to organize every detail yourself.

You can arrive as a solo traveller and still become part of a group.

You can have your own room or cabin while sharing meals, excursions and experiences with other people.

Intrepid, for example, has built a significant part of its offering around solo travellers joining small groups, combining the freedom of travelling on your own with the support and companionship of organized travel.

Maybe that's part of the answer.

Perhaps men don't need to travel completely alone. Perhaps they simply need to know they can go on their own and still find connection along the way.

Where Collette Fits In

That's one of the reasons I've become increasingly interested in escorted land travel as well as cruising.

I've recently had the opportunity to learn more about Collette and the world of escorted touring.

I'm still exploring where that fits into my business, but I can see the appeal for someone who wants to travel independently without having to manage every piece of the journey.

You make the decision to go.

Someone else handles much of the logistics.

And you become part of a group of people who have also decided they want to see something new.

Who knows?

Maybe one day I'll be hosting a group of my own.

And perhaps there will be a few men sitting around that dinner table who almost didn't come.

The Travel Advisor's Role

This is also where I think my role as a travel advisor can become more meaningful.

I've come to realize that booking travel isn't always just about finding the right destination, ship or itinerary.

Sometimes there is a person behind the booking who is navigating a significant change in life.

A widow or widower may be booking their first trip without their spouse.

Someone who has always travelled with a partner may suddenly find themselves deciding whether they are willing to travel alone.

Someone may want desperately to see the world but be nervous about taking that first step.

I've had enough conversations with travellers to know that those emotions matter.

And I want to be the kind of travel advisor who understands that.

I don't want to simply say: 

“Here's your itinerary. Have a great trip.”

I want to be able to say:

“I understand why this might feel different. Let's figure out how to make it work for you.”

Because sometimes people aren't looking for another reason not to go.

They're looking for someone who will help them believe they can.

Maybe That's the Conversation We Need

I don't think solo travel belongs to women.

I don't think it belongs to men either.

It belongs to anyone who wants to experience the world and doesn't want the absence of a travel companion to become the absence of travel.

Women have shown us that travelling alone can be empowering, liberating and life-changing.

I think it's time we talked a little more about the men who are discovering the same thing.

Not because men need a different kind of travel.

But because sometimes seeing someone like yourself doing something makes it easier to imagine doing it yourself.

I think about Ray when I meet someone who tells me they don't have anyone to travel with.

He went.

He met people.

He found connection.

He came home with memories he wouldn't have had if he had stayed home.

And six months later, he was still grateful that he had taken that first step — and already looking forward to taking another.

Someone You Know May Need to Hear This

If someone in your life has stopped travelling because their partner is no longer able to go with them — or because they've lost someone they loved — perhaps share this with them.

It might be a friend.

A mom or dad.

An uncle or aunt.

A grandparent.

Or simply someone you know who has been wondering what comes next.

Maybe they're not ready to travel yet.

That's okay.

But perhaps they'll see themselves in Ray's story and realize that travelling again doesn't mean leaving the past behind.

It can simply mean making room for something new.

The Life Dividend

I've been thinking a lot lately about what I call the Life Dividend — the experiences, memories and connections we get from actually using the time we have.

Travel is one of the ways I choose to collect that dividend.

Sometimes the dividend is a destination.

Sometimes it's a memory.

And sometimes it's a person you never expected to meet.

Maybe that's what Ray gave me.

He reminded me that going alone doesn't mean going alone forever.

You can leave home by yourself and still find your people along the way.

And perhaps the greatest risk isn't travelling solo.

Perhaps it's waiting so long for someone to come with you that you forget to go at all.

Thinking about travelling on your own? Let's talk.
Schedule a conversation with Danny.