{"id":15902,"date":"2024-11-04T09:01:45","date_gmt":"2024-11-04T10:01:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=15902"},"modified":"2024-11-04T10:23:36","modified_gmt":"2024-11-04T10:23:36","slug":"the-solo-vacation-a-growing-thanksgiving-tradition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=15902","title":{"rendered":"The Solo Vacation: A Growing Thanksgiving Tradition"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Seeking self-care and a respite from the pressures of the season, more Americans are viewing the holidays as a perfect time to take a trip on their own.<\/p>\n

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Last Thanksgiving, Dennis Friedrichsen, a 43-year-old tech worker from Minnesota, found himself dining on the banks of the Nile, sharing a feast of kebabs and chickpea stew with 11 strangers from three continents. Then he spent Christmas in Tanzania. Like a growing number of travelers, Mr. Friedrichsen saw the holidays as the perfect time for a solo adventure.<\/p>\n

Spending the holidays away from friends or family has long carried a stigma of loneliness. But that is changing as more people replace the pressures of gift giving and holiday traditions with self-care and the chance to make up for travel opportunities they missed during the Covid pandemic, often making new friends along the way.<\/p>\n

Flash Pack<\/a>, a company that connects almost entirely solo travelers in their 30s and 40s for group adventures, said its bookings had doubled during the holidays in the last two years. Mr. Friedrichsen was among those customers.<\/p>\n

Other tour organizers and lodging companies are seeing the increased interest, too. The low-cost European lodging chain a&o Hostels<\/a> has experienced \u201ca massive influx of solo travelers booking during the holidays,\u201d with single-person Christmas reservations soaring 51 percent from 2019 to 2023 said the company\u2019s chief executive, Oliver Winter. \u201cDecember weekends used to be absolutely off-season and we would think about closing,\u201d he said. \u201cNow it\u2019s a high-occupancy time.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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A mix of factors is fueling the growing popularity of solo trips in general, Mr. Winter said. Traveling alone is safer than ever, thanks to online destination and transportation information, widespread cellphone coverage, and location-sharing tools, he said. It is also easier than ever to find social activities online, on apps or through a lodging provider \u2014 visits to popular Christmas markets and ice skating outings, for example. Mr. Winter added that he sees people still making up for the trips they skipped during the Covid years.<\/p>\n

The pandemic brought self-care to the fore, with some people now opting to swap pressure-filled family holiday gatherings for a solo escape, said the Seattle-based psychotherapist Stephanie Brownell. \u201cHolidays come with expectations,\u201d Ms. Brownell said, and people are realizing they have options. \u201cThey are feeling more flexible and not bound by preconceived ideas of what a holiday means,\u201d she said, adding that they are \u201cattending to their emotions.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Seeking self-care and a respite from the pressures of the season, more Americans are viewing the holidays as a perfect time to take a trip on their own.Last Thanksgiving, Dennis Friedrichsen, a 43-year-old tech worker from Minnesota, found himself dining on the banks of the Nile, sharing a feast of kebabs and chickpea stew with 11 strangers from three continents. Then he spent Christmas in Tanzania. Like a growing number of travelers, Mr. Friedrichsen saw the holidays as the perfect time for a solo adventure.Spending the holidays away from friends or family has long carried a stigma of loneliness. But that is changing as more people replace the pressures of gift giving and holiday traditions with self-care and the chance to make up for travel opportunities they missed during the Covid pandemic, often making new friends along the way.Flash Pack, a company that connects almost entirely solo travelers in their 30s and 40s for group adventures, said its bookings had doubled during the holidays in the last two years. Mr. Friedrichsen was among those customers.Other tour organizers and lodging companies are seeing the increased interest, too. The low-cost European lodging chain a&o Hostels has experienced \u201ca massive influx of solo travelers booking during the holidays,\u201d with single-person Christmas reservations soaring 51 percent from 2019 to 2023 said the company\u2019s chief executive, Oliver Winter. \u201cDecember weekends used to be absolutely off-season and we would think about closing,\u201d he said. \u201cNow it\u2019s a high-occupancy time.\u201dA mix of factors is fueling the growing popularity of solo trips in general, Mr. Winter said. Traveling alone is safer than ever, thanks to online destination and transportation information, widespread cellphone coverage, and location-sharing tools, he said. It is also easier than ever to find social activities online, on apps or through a lodging provider \u2014 visits to popular Christmas markets and ice skating outings, for example. Mr. Winter added that he sees people still making up for the trips they skipped during the Covid years.The pandemic brought self-care to the fore, with some people now opting to swap pressure-filled family holiday gatherings for a solo escape, said the Seattle-based psychotherapist Stephanie Brownell. \u201cHolidays come with expectations,\u201d Ms. Brownell said, and people are realizing they have options. \u201cThey are feeling more flexible and not bound by preconceived ideas of what a holiday means,\u201d she said, adding that they are \u201cattending to their emotions.\u201dWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and\u00a0log into\u00a0your Times account, or\u00a0subscribe\u00a0for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?\u00a0Log in.Want all of The Times?\u00a0Subscribe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15904,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15902"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15902\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15905,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15902\/revisions\/15905"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}