re: Variation on a theme: solo vacations?

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I love road trips, my wife not so much.

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This. My wife hates riding in the car from New Orleans to Baton Rouge. She sure as hell didn’t want to ride 15 hours to Marfa, Texas. The hiking in Big Bend is something she would probably enjoy, and I gave her the option, but the car ride was a non-starter. I love her and appreciate that she wanted me to have the experience.

Some of you people would probably benefit from getting out of your bubble.

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IDK why any married person would want to go on a trip by themselves.

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My wife doesn’t want to smoke weed and fly fish in the mountains.

In the last thread I was one of the few that thought it was strange to go on a trip without my wife. However, the solo trip I did this summer was an exception. I've been planning a solo retirement trip for a long time.

Camped in Tx, Nm, Co, Ut, Nv and Az. 12,000+ miles in two months, 8 national parks. Slept every night in the back of the Jeep. Never once paid for a place to stay, all BLM land, parking lots, truck stops, etc.

My wife encouraged me to go, she had to keep up with a couple of teenagers and work. But I held off doing many activities (rafting the Arkansas, climbing a 14'er, Manitou Incline, etc.) that I want to experience with her the first time I do it.

Solo vacations are weird as hell. Don’t let people who solo vacation fool you into thinking otherwise.

This whole thread makes me want to throw up.
frick being married and having to get permission to live your life. Took my dumb arse 3 fricking times to figure it out….NEVER AGAIN!

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Solo vacations are weird as hell. Don’t let people who solo vacation fool you into thinking otherwise.

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The OT is weird as hell sometimes. I think there are a bunch of loveless marriages here on the OT where they either despise their spouse or simply tolerate them.

Hey honey, I'm going to Cancun for a week, alone. See ya! That shite ain't normal.

I guess the OP is referring to vacations without ur spouse .. im not married anymore (#humblebrag) but if i were then i wouldnt mind going on a trip with the wife.. but in a broader sense I love solo travel, especially as compared to trips with the entire family or trips we’ve had with extended family (aunts, uncles, cousins, et al).. after traveling solo i dont think there’s any way on god’s green earth i could deal with trying to manage and coordinate the schedules of 5 to 12 separate individuals, while in any way enjoying myself .. unless you make it *crystal* clear from the jump that everyone is free to do exactly what they want, exactly when they want, at all times- but then what’s the point of all going together ?

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You’re just gonna go on out there and ski by yourself?

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Probably most of the time, yeah. I'm sure I'll meet people on the lifts and on mountain bars and such and do a couple runs but for the most part, yeah; I'll ski solo. Skiing with them is tons of fun but alot different because we're all different abilities. But even when I'm on a ski trip with them, I'll often spend the mornings or late afternoons solo or with people I've met on mountain.

I've told the story a few times on here but I'll repeat it. Back in 2023 when the All Star game was in Salt Lake we were on a ski trip in Park City.

NBA All Star Game
Mardi Gras
Presidents Day
Powder Day

The place was packed!!!

Our daily routine is I normally head up the mountain when the lifts open to get in a few runs by myself and the family joins later in the morning and when I go up, I bring a small cooler with our lunch, some snacks, beer, etc.

First lift of the day the guy next to me was asking a few questions about warm up runs since this was his first trip to Park City so I give him some favorites and tell him he's more than welcome to do a a few laps with me to which he agreed. He said he only had one day to ski and was in town for the All Star game, worked in the sports apparel business so was trying to maximize his day.

I told him I just need to drop this cooler off and we're good to go. He asked what was in the cooler, I told him so after a couple laps I made the comment like "I'm ready for a breakfast beer" but they weren't selling them yet so I offered him a beer, he agreed then we went our separate ways.

Later that afternoon me, my wife and daughter sat down for an early dinner at a mountain village burger and craft beer joint, told the story to my family, told our waitress to buy him a beer on our way, he waved then left when he was done eating.

Time to settle our bill and our waitress brings the check folder and said the bill was taken care of and all that was in it was his business card where he simply wrote "Thanks" on the back.

The guy was Michael Rubin, CEO and founder of Fanatics and he's worth about $10 billion. I couldn't have picked the man out in a lineup but really nice dude and made for a real cool story on my end.

Morale is...whether your doing things like skiing, hiking, camping, golfing, fishing, hunting, cycling, concerts, etc etc etc there are opportunities to travel solo and reconnect with hobbies especially when they're not shared to the same degree as your spouse or children and it's perfectly normally to embrace it, support your spouse and kids to do the same and share parts of those experiences with others who have the same passion(s) as you do.