In my opinion you will be safe wherever you go aslong as you are sensible

I agree with Llindy. I go to Tunisia twice a year now but have also been to various places in Europe as well as Bangkok, Hongkong, Singapore and crossed Australia and I've never had any problems.

i have also travelled to Spain alone , a lot comes down to how confident you are , and what you like to do .

i'm usually quite confident and make friends easily. i'm just not used to travelling on my own to different places. my husband can't come with me anymore due to ill health so i suppose i'll have to get learn to be even more confident

Flossy when you say travel do you just mean you are happy to do your own thing alone whilst in resort or would you like to meet other people for company?

I realised long ago that I had three choices: I could either stay at home as it might be 'safer', look for a 'suitable' travelling companion (and I've seen far too many people go on holiday as friends and come back hating each other) or I could just get on with it and go on my own. I too make friends quite easily but at least you aren't stuck with people. I make a point of not attaching myself to other people on holiday but am often invited to join others on excursions etc. The best thing is that no-one is offended if you don't want to do so. The only problem is there is no-one to mind your bags whilst you go to the loo or line up for a cup of coffee at the airport.

I have been to Turkey on my own and I felt perfectly safe there. As long as you follow the same rules you would if youw ere out alone at home you should be safe in most tourist resorts.

I think a great thing to do in Turkey is to go on a gulet cruise. I have been on a couple and there were solo travellers on there and they said it was the best holiday they have had travlling alone because they got to meet new people and share meals etc.

I have travelled on my own for the last 5 years and love it.
As long as you dont check your brain in with your luggage you will be ok.

I have always been sensible with my safety at home, so why not when I'm away.

I have found Cyprus and Tunisia have been my best solo holidays. I am off to Dom Rep this year for the first time.

As someone who has travelled extensively on my own and, like Aslemma to destinations around the globe I often feel a lot safer abroad than in the UK. I'm not sure of what exactly your idea of travelling alone is, if you mean you want to go on an arranged tour/package holiday there is often another single traveller (or more) on the tour so you should have someone to share meals with and explore the area if you want company, but I have found on the few holidays that I have taken where I stayed in the same hotel for a week that people were often not too interesting in making conversation with me. Though as I don't generally take this kind of holiday I may just have been unlucky. Most of my holidays are long haul or city breaks where I am on the go most of the time often travelling from one place of interest to another and I almost always meet people to have a chat with and as a previous poster said if don't check your brain in along with your luggage you shouldn't have any problems.

Just be wary not to get stuck with the saddo who is alone because they are actually weird!! A taxi driver once told me he and his wife had been on holiday to Italy and befriended an elderly man who was on his own. He spoke frequently about his wife who had died and they sympathised, thinking it was obviously fairly recently. One morning at breakfast he introduced them to her - or rather the urn her ashes were in, which he placed carefully on the table. He then explained to them, and the bemused Italian waiters, that he took her with him wherever he went!!!

i'm quite happy to do my own thing but if someone invited me to join them for an excursion i would probably have to think about it before deciding. unfortunately i think i might be considered to be a bit wierd though as i spend alot of time feeling guilty about leaving my husband at the care home while i'm off enjoying myself. i think i had a couple of tearful nights last year . still enjoyed myself though.

That's not weird Flossy, that's perfectly natural. You do however need to recharge your batteries from time to time and a holiday will do that for you. I'm sure your husband would want you to have one.

i do suffer from depression caused by anxiety over my husband. i know he is perfectly safe and quite happy at the home but it doesn't stop me worrying. i managed 4 days last year before i had to phone and check he was ok. hopefully now i've done it once it will get easier each time.

It won't matter if you give the home a quick ring every day to set your mind at rest. There is a topic on here regarding cheaper mobile calls from abroad which may be useful for you.

Hi Flossy, I too travel extensively on my own and as Aslemma and Judith say, as long as you don't take daft risks that you wouldn't at home then you're often safer. It's in the locals' interests to make sure that tourists stay safe and you'd be surprised at the discreet but watchful eye that many will take in relation to lone female travellers. This even included one late night in Havana, a policeman walking 20 yds behind me right through the old part of the city until he was sure that I was safely where I was walking too! And in Tunisia a horde of grannies descending on a market trader who tried to shove me away when I made a fuss because he was trying to shortchange me in Hammemet!

I'm a total salsa dance fanatic and go on at least one specialist dance holiday a year plus a couple of salsa short breaks. Many of the other dancers I meet on these trips are either on their own or have left non-dancing partners at home and nobody thinks twice about it. Similarly, I have a number of non-skiing friends whose husbands are black-run addicts and they see their partners' annual skiing trips as a good opportunity to go away on their own to do something different - mega shopping trips for example! So, for the future, you might want to think about special interest holidays - you can be guaranteed that others will share an interest with you that makes it easy to strike up a conversation and you're likely to find that many of them are travelling on their own too. Either because they share the situation you now find yourself in, Flossy, or because their partner simply doesn't share their enthusiasm for classical Roman ruins or trains etc!

This helps avoid what I find can be the bane of the lone female travellers life - being surrounded by couples who think that you are bound to be looking for companionship, spend all their time patronising you in the guise of 'commiserating' with you that you are on your own and assuming that you can't possible be happy with your own company and will be desperate for theirs. Often they turn out to be couples who aren't happy with each other's company and who need your presence to help them relieve their own misery. So, yes, it does pay to be a bit circumspect when others invite you to join them on excursions - have a drink with them one evening in the hotel bar before you commit yourself to being trapped into spending the whole day with them would be my advice! That said, I have made some really good friends on holiday that I'm still in touch with - including couples - so it can work out and you'll often find congenial company where you least expect it.

SM

Flossy I know exactly how you must feel with regard to your husband. Of course you should ring to set your mind at rest when you are away.

I use singles holiday companies most years now and I find them great for meeting other people, having a laugh and mostly for me, having an evening meal with. I have been away on my own and also really enjoyed that but it was to Dom Rep at an all inclusive so ideal for meeting people as everyone would tend to stay hotel based other than for day trips and what have you. I am really looking forward to this year's holiday to Dalyan in Turkey followed by a week on a gulet boat and always describe it to people when asked 'I am going on holiday with friends I haven't met yet'.

You do pay a premium for it though, you can find a holiday far cheaper by going DIY but for me it's perfect and I would recommend to anyone. The 4 main companies I know are TravelOne (I am going with them this year and have been with them twice before), Friendship Travel (used them twice, they are the priciest but you are very well looked after - but that's not everyone's thing), Solos and Solitair (haven't used).

You are NOT herded round in group excursions, your time is yours to do whatever you wish in - but you inevitably end up doing some trips and things in groups as you get friendly with them over breakfast and dinner.

thanks SMa and Sandc. I have been looking on the internet today and have found a few possibles

I forgot to say one thing I wouldn't do again is have a room share. I did this once convinced that the person I would be sharing with would be just like me, or very similar anyway - for a start we'd booked the same holiday and had the same idea. Oh how wrong I was. We couldn't have had less in common and she really did my head in despite my best efforts. I felt a little obliged to hang around with her for the first few days until I reminded myself that it was my holiday and going away alone was supposed to mean no compromising!

This was a long time ago mind you but it's put me off sharing though I maybe would if I were going on some kind of specialist holiday in a group or something. This one was a 2wenties break so I was there to meet loads of other people into partying - even more reason why I was surprised at my roommate!

Ever thought of Goa? Lots and lots of solo female travellers of every age. I went last year alone....fantastic.
Going again this year but travelling round more.

I went the year before with a friend who bugged me about coming with me.....mistake! We're still friends but not as we were.