I love solo travel.

There, I've said it.

Not because I don't like people. Quite the opposite. Some of the best friends I've ever made started as complete strangers sitting beside me in a winery, brewery or roadside bar somewhere in the world.

The problem isn't people. The problem is organising them.

At some point we've all attempted it. You suggest a trip. Everyone says they're interested. A WhatsApp group is created. Excitement builds. Somebody suggests September. Somebody else can only do October. Another person wants Benidorm. Somebody else wants Thailand. One participant contributes nothing except thumbs-up emojis for three months.

Eventually the entire thing collapses under the weight of its own administration.

By this point I could already be on my second beer somewhere interesting.

That's one of the reasons I love travelling alone.

Freedom Is Addictive

The first thing you notice about solo travel is how wonderfully simple everything becomes.

Want to spend an extra hour in a winery?

Perfect.

Fancy taking a detour because you've spotted a bizarre Soviet monument beside the road?

Excellent.

Feel like changing plans entirely because somebody recommended a hidden brewery three towns away?

Nobody is stopping you.

Travelling with friends can be fantastic. Travelling alone gives you complete control over your own adventure. There are no committee meetings, no negotiations and no debates about whether everybody is happy with the itinerary.

The only person making decisions is you.

Which is surprisingly efficient.

The World Is Full Of Future Friends

One of the biggest myths about solo travel is that you'll spend the entire trip alone. I've never understood where this idea comes from.

In reality, travelling alone often makes you more social. You're more likely to start conversations, join activities and meet people because you aren't travelling inside your own little bubble.

Some of the best nights I've had travelling started completely by accident. A conversation at a bar. A winery tasting. A shared table in a restaurant. Before long you're discussing life stories with people you met forty-five minutes earlier.

Travel has a remarkable ability to speed up friendships. Possibly because everybody is slightly outside their comfort zone. Possibly because wine exists. The exact science remains unclear.

Why Solo Travellers Fit In Perfectly On Tipple Tours

This is one reason solo travellers tend to love Tipple Tours.

Nobody arrives already knowing everyone else. People come because they enjoy unusual destinations, good drinks and interesting stories. The result is that conversations start naturally and friendships form remarkably quickly.

I've seen it happen countless times.

Guests arrive looking slightly cautious. By the second evening they're sharing bottles of wine and discussing future adventures. By the end of the tour they're exchanging phone numbers and promising to meet again somewhere equally strange.

It happens so often now that I'm more surprised when it doesn't.

The Best Part? You Already Took The Hardest Step

The hardest part of any trip isn't crossing a border, boarding a plane or navigating a foreign city.

It's booking it.

That's the moment where most people hesitate.

They wait for friends.

They wait for partners.

They wait for the perfect moment.

Then six months disappear.

Then a year.

Then another year.

Meanwhile, the solo traveller has already visited Moldova, crossed into Transnistria, driven around in Boris the Soviet Lada and returned home with twenty new stories.

Waiting is underrated as a way of wasting time.

Why I Keep Travelling Solo

I've travelled through former Soviet republics, driven across strange corners of America and somehow ended up drinking wine in places most people couldn't point to on a map.

Much of it happened solo.

Not because I couldn't find people to come along.

But because I didn't want to wait.

The truth is that solo travel isn't really about being alone. It's about freedom. It's about curiosity. It's about deciding that life is happening now rather than whenever everyone finally agrees on dates.

And the funny thing is this:

The people who travel solo are often the ones who end up meeting the most people.

Which means solo travel isn't really solo at all.

It's just how the adventure starts.