It’s much more common in some countries as working women tend to retire earlier than men in those countries.
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That makes sense. We have numerous single, unattached female friends in their 60s (maybe a couple in their 70s) who are widowed or divorced (more widowed I think). We have no single unattached male friends that we can think of (people often ask). So, tours for women seems like a great idea.
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My senior center does have travel trips. I did notice some Meetup group advertised for travel trips to.
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This has a younger demographic.
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Maybe you could go to some specific type of event where there is a lot to see in a particular city. One can travel alone and still not really be alone.
My DH has no interest to travel, as he has traveled a lot internationally as well as some within the US for work. He wanted me to do all the planning with most travel now - he will go to events - and we did have a big 3 week trip in May (3 weddings on 3 consecutive weekends going to WI, OH, and MA, 3800 miles driving total, along with sightseeing and doing things he wanted to do including 5 night stay in Gettysburg). We have a wedding in MN in October that we are going to - and seeing friends/family before and after. Then a nephew’s wedding in April in TN. We probably will visit TN before that trip, IDK. We are using some on his ‘Platinum Elite’ points with Marriott.
My single DD is interested in international travel, or some other travel - but she is saving for a house. So down the road, that would be a possible travel partner for me. But also I can travel to see her (Orlando).
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A lot of husbands don’t want to travel, some ladies in my bridge club travel with their offsprings. My husband didn’t want anymore long trip before COVID, now I convinced home it’s best to do some before we get too old. He realizes even paradise can get too boring if we have to spend all the time here. But I keep my trips within 2 months time frame. His ultimate fun is to drive his sport car, that’s what he misses when he travels. I like to be a little vagabond, so I just recently canceled Japan because of my husband, I’m not too keen about long flights either. It’s a compromise.
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Fortunately, both ShawWife and I love to travel and my work has afforded me lots of opportunities to travel internationally plus millions of FF miles to use for vacations as well. My international travel is less post-Pandemic, but I went along with ShawWife on one of her residences in the Canadian Rockies.
But, we both are finding that our new house is sited so wonderfully that it trips will have to pass a higher bar. We used to be a lot more excited about invitations to Martha’s Vineyard and now we just are happy staying where we are. We’ll make our nearly annual trips to Italy and the Canadian Rockies and we’ll take other trips, but I think we will travel less.
In addition to one partner not having a desire to travel, couples may also run into the situation in which one partner isn’t really as physically able to travel as the other.
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My husband and I both like to travel. It is frustrating now to have time and money in retirement but due to Covid have leeriness of the European travel we want to do before too old. So in July we took a 24 day road trip together (5400 miles / 94 hours in the car together with him driving it all, 10 different bed). Saw lots of friends and family along the way. We’ve lived in CO since 1993 but until last year never drove across country, not even when we moved. It’s been a fun way to counteract our disappointment about deferring some dream trips.
Retirees - Don’t be afraid to consider short term planning. In Feb we went to our AAA travel agent and planned a trip to Hawaii, our first ever, with just 7 days warning. Got a great deal on United Frequent Flyer miles (75K total for two round trip direct flights from Denver, great times - that maybe was only possible in Covid lull). In Feb no garden chores, and we don’t have kids or pets or parents to tend to locally. I’ve heard National Parks lodges often have last minutes cancellations, so we may consider spur of the moment travel to Yellowstone or other drive able parks.
PS - We heard that many AAA offices are desparate for help. Travel agents need experience, but I think that even the clerks get travel perks.
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Now if there’s a WFH travel job, I wouldn’t mind doing it. I love love planing for travels. But I’m not willing to work full time.
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Before Covid, we used to like to travel. Since Covid, having to get out of the house seems like too much effort. It made me a big ol’ homebody.
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I get that @Hoggirl . I really struggled getting out for awhile as I got so used to being in. But after pushing myself to get out and do things and taking a few small trips I am back to wanting to be more social/travel more.
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We are “opportunistic travelers.” When the proverbial “it”’hits the proverbial fan, we checked what kind of 4-5 star experiences we could get for the price of 2 stars. 
Best catch to date - a waterfront room at a posh Maui resort 75% off the year after 9-11 when almost everyone was still terrified to travel. 
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We got married two weeks after 9/11. Canceled our honeymoon to S. Africa and the Seychelles and drove to Canada. Then flew across Canada. Went to the off the beaten path places. Saw bears eating salmon.
The thing that shocked us, is friends flew in from all across the country and world post 9/11. We know a brave bunch.
Got some great deals. But many places were closed. Not sure I want to travel under those circumstances again. We didn’t travel much during Covid.
I’m not waiting for something bad to happen. We’re off in a couple of weeks to Europe. Looking forward to people being more relaxed and not talking about diseases 7x24. Has been a long 2+ years.
We’re hoping at some point to keep our house in the US and spend some time in Europe every year. Prices are great in some spots.
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I read from WSJ that England is already suffering, most restaurants there are empty. I’m going to take advantage of this next year, I will probably be in Europe both Spring and Fall. I found some gems lately.
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@Htas, we flew to Mexico City just after a major earthquake. Got a great deal on everything. I don’t think this trip was planned before the earthquake. ShawWife wanted to take pictures and indeed this morphed its way into her art.
We went to Italy just after a terrorist attack. Same thing. Many of the Americans we saw had Canadian flags on their luggage. We didn’t, even though ShawWife is a Canadian citizen (now dual, but not at that time). Note that this trip was planned before the attack and many people canceled trips, but the statistician part of me did not think the risk was significant…
A couple of weeks after 9/11, I ordered tickets to Japan for a family vacation the following March. I think the tickets were $300 roundtrip from Boston to Tokyo. Hotels/ryokans were not inexpensive, but the airfare was unbelievable.
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Those are some great deals. Maybe, my age is showing. But I feel like there are more bad things happening more frequently. It’s possible it’s the impact of social media. In any case, I think it direct and shapes travel.
While I certainly hope that we are over Covid and only have minor waves, I’m not sure post Covid there will be times when no one is traveling. I’m actually looking at it as a study. I think of this a lot regarding retirement planning. Things just seem far more insecure than they were two decades ago. That makes planning trickier.
We have always travelled a lot. I want to make sure my kids will too. But the uncertainty doesn’t seem tied to a terrorism event like in years past but just the entire world being less stable. Hope I am completely wrong.
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We are finding that our house is the best AirBNB of all our travels. I like the way you say it, “Trips need to pass a higher bar.”
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Some very interesting suggestions and thoughts for people who want to travel during retirement. I don’t think I would let Covid still being around stop me, just get travel insurance that covers quarantine and medical evacuation. It’s quite cheap and likely you won’t use it. Don’t know that I’d do remote travel far away from good medical facilities, though.
I decided that this time I didn’t really want to do group travel. I’m not looking for travel companions, just didn’t want to arrange everything or be the only single in a group. So I decided on a cruise. Nobody knows you’re there alone, plenty of people if you want to talk (but not required), plenty of shore excursions. Seems perfect for an introverted and retired lone traveler. When I told my husband about it, he said,”But I want to go!” So maybe that’s the key, plan an interesting trip and say I’m going by myself. Then magically I have a travel partner. 
The flexibility of spontaneous, unplanned travel during retirement is so appealing!
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Great!
This worked for me when I was trying to get my husband interested in hiking on Kauai. He was not much into it until I told him that I’d go all by myself and that I already bought the hiking permit. After all, it is Kauai - quite safe. He quickly agreed to join, and we had a fabulous time. (A week after we hiked, a woman was pushed off a cliff by a deranged guy who was hiding from the authorities in Kauai woods).
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To clarify. I’m not Covid afraid to travel. I just got out of the habit of doing it. Just like I got out of the habit of entertaining folks in my home and going out to restaurants, etc.
We are getting back into the swing of things and have done some weekend trips. Have a week-long trip coming up in September. Dh had retired, but took a job again in May of 2020, so vacation time is more limited now, too.
Travel - especially foreign travel and all the planning that goes into that is a LOT of work. Covid made me lazy in that regard. Maybe I will get back to wanting to plan/prepare for longer trips abroad, maybe I won’t.
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