purchase an extra single room.

Never have a problem w/people asking about who I am with etc.

tour I overhear this women whispering to her husband that's the guy that is by himself. It never fails someone will ruin the trip.

I am a pretty confident traveler and enjoy meeting new people, particularly non-Americans. It is fun to learn about where they are from, their experiences and thoughts. I have had people hang onto me if they are not confident travelers. Usually it is no problem if the person is interesting to be around but I have ditched one or two in the past if they became too annoyinng.

You can only let others ruin your vacation if you let them. I will spend time with those I find interesting and pretty much ignore those who aren't. I am pretty good at tuning out people when I want to. As my mother told me once, when I want to be around people I will be around people and when I don't want to be around people I prefer to be my myself.

Some of my most interesting conversations of been with people I came across by accident and ended up having really interesting conversations. I was in the UK during the attempted coup in Russia. Before I headed home I came across two different people who where in Moscow as the attempted coup took place. I was able to hear two different first hand accounts about what happened and their experiences. I met an Australian girl who was passing through Zurich on the way back to Hong Kong (just before the Brits gave Hong Kong back to China) and had breakfast with her and learned a lot about what was going on in Hong Kong at that time. I was the only person who booked an afternoon rock and roll tour in London and had a total blast. The guide and I talked the whole time about the London music scene and so much more. When I travel overseas I am far more interested in talking to the locals than Americans.

Maybe we should meet.

They do remark that I'm traveling alone, but usually they admire me because I do.

Safety is an issue, but I most travel alone in Western Europe, which is about 20 times safer than my hometown.

The spouse hates to fly, so when I have time off work and some extra $ (I don't have hobbies, so I save a lot), i spend a week or two in Europe. I will either just stay in a great city (next up, Arles), or rent a car and drive around the countryside, staying BnBs and cheap hotels.

I haven't yet done what you mention- taking one of those caravan tour-- but I want to. I'd love the idea of someone else making all the arrangements and doing the driving!

I tend not to notice when people are dissing me, and generally don't care (I'll never see them again). But if anyone offends me, I try to answer back really brightly and happily, like I'm the luckiest person in the world to have this opportunity. "Oh, yeah, I love travelling alone! I just do exactly what I want without having to worry about anyone else."

I think if those critical people you meet would be really honest, about half would confess they envy you, that they're going crazy stuck with this spouse/companion/roommate all the time.

They make me uncomfortable too. I usually tell them I prefer not to have someone else around to hold me back from what I want to do and they should try a solo vacation sometime. They will make rude comments and act rude and make you uncomfortable, I have noticed. I like to try to turn it around on them and stop the conversation. Not making eye contact in the first place also helps a lot. Sometimes, that stops the conversation before they can start it.

Let me know when you take another trip and if it’s interesting I might join the group. At least you’ll have another Democrat to chat with (and roll our eyes at any trumpies )

Problems with travelling solo are impacting my love of visiting other places, and I'm looking for suggestions how to get around that.

Several former travel buddies are recently immersed in retirement plans, grandkids, more. Suggestions welcome!

This Caravan company might not be a good fit. Because if your thrown in with a group of couples, then your automatically going to stick out. People are afraid of things that are different. Sadly.
If you cannot find another travel company,
Can you learn to be less bothered by these “single” comments?
Can you find someone to go with you?
Sorry if this was of no help.
I just discovered this DU group.