Hi, and welcome to the Z Michelson Travel Podcast. This podcast is where we explore the travel industry through the lens of the independent traveler, the travel advisors, and also the travel vendors. Hi, I'm your host, Zee Michelson. And I have been chatting with you for the last few weeks about solo travel and solo travelers. Have you decided to make that solo trip yet? I hope you have. But in case you're still on the fence about these things, I have some more information for you. One of the biggest misconceptions about solo travel is that it always, always is more expensive. Well, maybe. But people assume that traveling alone means paying double, losing value, or setting for less. But that's not really true. The truth is, solo travel doesn't have to cost more. Want me to repeat that? Solo travel does not have to cost more. That's right. It just requires a little bit of a different strategy. Hey, I'm in the travel industry and I'm all about saving money and not overspending. Because I understand, if you're retired and you're on a limited income, you want to make sure you can get to go to do these things, but you don't want to get crazy with your bank account. So today we're going to be talking about how to budget solo without overpaying and how experienced solo travelers get more value and not less. That's right, more value, not less. So don't think you're going to have to be throwing away all your money and get less. So the first question on everybody's mind is why does solo travel feel so much more expensive? Let's go with that feeling, shall we? It's because of perception. Perception really does matter. Solo travelers see higher per person costs. Mostly in three places. That's right. Three places. So what are these three places? One is you think you're going to be paying more for accommodations. Okay, reasonable. Two is tours. You're going to be paying more for tours. And three is transportation. Now I know there has been a lot of incidents where people say, well, it costs me more for this and more for that. And sometimes it is. But we're going to try to focus you more on how to get around all of these things. Okay, let's talk the first one: accommodations. Hotels, right? Everybody says, oh, the hotel is more money. Hotel prices are by rooms, not by person. And they always say double occupancy. What does that mean? It means per person. So if the room says, and I'm just going to throw a number out there, if it says$300 per person, that means if you're only there by yourself, you're thinking I got to pay$600 because I'm the only one in the room. Tours assume double occupancy. That's right, tours assume the same thing. And some experiences simply weren't designed with a solo traveler in mind. Okay, reasonable. However, here's the truth. Here's what's happening. There is a shift, there's a wave coming. Solo travelers don't travel less, they travel smarter. I said smarter, yes. Budgeting solo isn't about cutting joy, it's about aligning spending with what actually matters to you. How many times have you gone on a trip and you've been with a whole group and you've decided, well, I really don't want to do that? Well, guess what? When you're a solo traveler, you really don't have to. You can go and do what matters to you. So now let's take a look at the accommodation strategies that are working. Accommodation is usually the biggest budget stressor, right? Whether you're going to the hotel, how long you're staying at the hotel, whether you're going on a cruise line, you know, the cabin price. So let's kind of reframe it just a little bit, shall we? First, location beats size. What do I mean by that? Okay. You're traveling by yourself, so you don't need this palatial mansion to stay in. A smaller room in a walkable area. This often saves money on transportation and energy because you can walk to some of the sites. Separate. Think beyond traditional hotels. Okay, everybody thinks of the regular hotels that you're going to stay at, but there's boutique inns, which some are very, very adorable. Guest houses, serviced apartments. They even have solo-friendly hostels with private rooms. Now I hear half the audience going, a hostel. I don't want to go to a hostel. I don't want to share my room with anybody. I don't want to be 27 people to a room. Well, some of hostels have private rooms. That's right. And some of these also include breakfast, a little local insight, and it's a little bit of a more personal experience. So don't rule out hostels right away. Now, third, short stays matter. Solo travelers can move more easily when flexibility allows you to mix your accommodation types within one trip. Budgeting solo means designing, not defaulting. So you can create where you want to go, where you want to stay. You know, maybe one night you do want to stay in that luxury palace, but the next night you really don't. You want to be closer to maybe the train. So you want to look at these things. You know what? As a solo traveler, you can call a travel advisor. They will help you plan this type of trip. Now, avoiding the single supplement trap. You heard me talking about, okay, it says per person, the hotel says per person, the cabin says per person. Let's talk about the phase every solo traveler really, really hates. And that's the single supplement. Okay, yeah, single supplements can run into money. But here's the good news. The industry is realizing more and more people are traveling solo. So the industry is changing because the solo travelers are demanding it. More tour operators are now offering reduced or waived supplements, solo only departures, and they even have a roommate matching option as well. Now, if you're not into the roommate matching option, don't worry, don't panic. Just find that hotel or even that cruise line that has waived single supplements. And yes, the cruise lines are now getting on board and waiving single supplements. It's not on every sailing. Again, work with your travel advisor. Tell them you are traveling solo. You don't want to pay a single supplement. Give them a time perimeter that you want to travel in. A lot of the overseas river cruises, a lot more are doing no single supplements. They're waiving the single supplements, which is kind of nice. Because, yes, you know, when traveling, it can be costly. And if you are traveling by yourself and you are on a budget, you want to make sure. I even know a few of the river cruises that are actually doing complete single cruises, where everybody on board is a single sailor. You know, they are solo travelers. And a lot of this is very good for the industry because, like I said, it is moving in that direction. And more and more of these companies are waiving these supplements. Talk to your travel advisor. They can direct you to who is doing this. So, what is the key? The key to this is asking early. Don't be apologetic. It's not as an exception. Just ask confidently. How many times have you been told you don't get it if you don't ask? Right? So ask. Ask the cruise line: are you offering a single supplement rate? Or are you waiving a single supplement rate? They'll tell you, well, on this ship or that ship, yeah, we do have single supplements. But if you go on such and such a date on this ship, we've waived the supplements. So ask confidently. I cannot stress this more. Talk with your travel advisor. Yes, I am a travel advisor and I'd be more than happy to help you. But if you are in Seattle listening to me right now, and you have a person that you know that you've been dealing with for many years, talk to them and say, I want, I'm a single person and I, you know, I want to go and I don't want to pay all of these supplement fees. They'll help you. Trust me, they will. I know a lot of travel advisors, and they love the solo traveler. A lot of times they're the solo traveler checking out all of these tours. So solo travelers are no longer rare. They're basically a core market for a lot of these companies. So now, spending. You're sitting there counting your pennies, spending where it counts. Well, how does that work? Experienced solo travelers spend intentionally. What does that mean? They don't try to do everything. And I laugh a lot of times. When I first went to Disney on my very first trip to Disney, I try to get everything in. It's so hard to get everything in, isn't it? Particularly when you go to Disney. But now I live locally. I live near Disney. You know, had the travel, had the Disney pass and all of that. So I don't try to do everything. I know I'll be going back, or I know certain things I want to see, so I can go and do it when I want. That's what these solo travelers are doing. They're spending intentionally. They're not trying to do everything. If they're going to France and they only want to see the Eiffel Tower, that's all they're going to do. They're going to see the Eiffel Tower and maybe they're going to move on into another part of France. So they choose one or two meaningful experiences. What about that great restaurant that you've been hearing about or dreaming about? They pick one memorable meal. They're going to do that on this trip. They're not going to go try to get into every restaurant. And they do one special upgrade. If you're on a cruise line and you know that they have helicopter tours and that's on your bucket list that you want to do a helicopter tour, that's a special upgrade. So they pick and choose what they want. They don't do everything. And that's how you can start, I want to say counting your pennies, but spending where it counts. And then the rest is really simple. Solo travel allows for the flexibility. That's how simple this is. If you don't love something, you don't need to do it. You leave. If you don't want to see the Eiffel Tower or go to a restaurant in the Eiffel Tower, or if you don't want to go to a certain location, don't do it. Plan your trip to what you want. And if you love it, you stay. If that's something you want to do, you want to stay your whole time in Paris and sit at the cafes and people watch as you drink a cup of coffee. There you go. That kind of freedom is budget power. Again, you're picking and choosing. And again, if you don't know where to start, your travel advisor can assist you with this. You know, I know a lot of travel advisors, because I am one. And I meet a lot of them in all of my journeys. I meet them on special tours that I go on when I'm checking out a location, or I meet them for conventions, and we all talk. And we talk about helping our travelers experience what they want to experience. We love when our travelers, when our clients say, I had the best time and I want to do something else. That's what we as travel advisors strive for. We strive to help you get the experience you want. But they don't guess. Most travel advisors I met are not mind readers. Sorry. We don't read minds. But if you tell them and explain everything that you're looking to do, a travel advisor can busily get to work and help you do it and keep you on budget. Now, what I also say on budget, I'm going to put this in, even though it's not part of this segment. We'll talk about this later on. Travel insurance. Always, always, always, always go for travel insurance. I'm not going to recommend one in particular company. There are many out there that are very good. When you're talking with your travel advisor, let them know you want travel insurance. Can you imagine how heartbroken you would be if you have this whole trip planned out? You, you know, plunk down several thousand dollars for this trip, and then all of a sudden, the week of the trip, you break your leg and you can't go. That would be fad. You want to be able to either get your money back or you want to be able to reorganize your trip. Travel insurance, very, very important. So now that we've talked about some of the freedoms you get with budgeting power, what's the mindset shift that can save you money? And then we're going to tell you a secret. This is a big secret. Solo travel budgeting is much mindset as math. That's right. So you got to do your math. It's your budget, it's in your mindset, and you say, okay, I want to see this, I want to see this, I want to see this. And then as you start looking at all of these different places, and who's charging a single supplement, who's not charging a single supplement, you are calculating back through, saying, okay, this trip I can do this and this, and maybe that. Or I can stay here, but not there. So your budgeting and your mindset flows together. You stop paying for this, other people's preferences. Sometimes people say, Well, I'm not much into wine, so I really don't want to go to the vineyards. Which is fine. You don't have to go. You stop paying for compromises. Again, you don't have to compromise if you don't want to go to that distillery. But maybe you do. And you stop paying for experiences you don't enjoy. If somebody's doing the hike on the Swiss Alps and you're not you're just not into hiking, don't do it. So now here you go. What are you paying for? You're paying for the ease, the comfort, and the meaning of your trip. That's not overspending. That's alignment. So now you've broken it down. You've broken it down quite a bit. Is it a bit of a prepare? Yep, you do have to prepare for this. You do have to organize. Here I go again, standing on standing on the pulpit saying, talk to your travel advisor. Solo travel doesn't have to cost more. It just costs differently. When you budget with intention, solo travel becomes one of the most efficient, rewarding, and empowering ways to explore the world. So don't be afraid to get out there and solo travel. Plan your budget, plan where you want to go, talk to your travel advisor, and let them know. Again, we're not mind readers, but we can help you get to where you want to go and help you stay within your budget. Well, if this episode helped you at all, please subscribe to my podcast, and that's the Z Michelson Travel Podcast. Remember, Z is spelt Z-E-E. Leave me a review. Tell me what you liked. Tell me what you didn't like. Tell me what you want to hear more about. And you can also share my podcast with any fellow solo travelers. And like I always say, truth to the stars. And if you only get to the moon, at least you made the trip. So until next time, travel well, travel wisely, and travel on your own terms. Thanks for listening today. This is the Michael Tim. Have a fabulous trip.