I dreamed about traveling with a partner for years.  Since I met Maria, I don’t have to dream anymore.  But before I met Maria, I traveled by myself all the time.  People who were used to couple travel or group travel couldn’t believe this was possible and wondered how I did it.  The answer was simple: no one I knew had vacation at the same time as I did.  The choice was either to travel by myself, or miss the chance to travel at all.  It was an easy choice for me, really.  The unbelievers viewed my travel experiences through their own limited lens of possibility and their own fixed beliefs of how things should be done.   

Know this: There is no need to apologize for solo travel.  And no need to apologize for couple travel either, or group travel with any number of people, including 2,700 of your closest friends on a cruise ship.  How you travel and with whom is up to you, at least until you outgrow family vacations. 

You are also not limited to one type of travel at any given point in your life.  Maria and I prefer to travel together most of the time, but due to work schedules and other factors we still sometimes travel alone to check in with our aging fathers, who both live out of state.  This is a necessity and reality.  

Media will tell you that couple travel is where it’s at, everywhere, all the time.  Truly, I miss Maria when I have to travel alone, or when she has to travel alone, and I would never go back to regular solo traveling by choice.  But for several years, solo traveling was my only option.  Maria has done solo traveling as well, and as much as she has enjoyed it, we are confident that we both prefer traveling as a couple now.  We take inspiration from all kinds of full-time travelers, such as Kim and Del Hogg of Going the Whole Hogg, and Gabriel Morris, a.k.a. Gabriel Traveler, whose website I could not identify at press time.  It is good to hear about a range of different types of travel stories and styles.  Which travelers inspire you?