New York woman shares experience as solo travel increases

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Who’s your travel partner? For family vacations, couple getaways, friend trips and more, people tend to make plans in groups, but an increasing number are turning to solo travel instead.

“This is some art that I got in Moab,” pointed out solo traveler Amy Long. “I’ve been all over and I love it.”

Trying to pick favorites is hard when you’ve seen so much.

“I’ve been to Iceland and multiple provinces of Canada,” said Long. “I have known that I’ve wanted to travel since I was pretty young”

For Long, some of her biggest adventures started five years ago.

“I decided to go by myself,” she said.

Her kids split time between her and her ex, so Long took that alone time and started with road trips.

“The very first one that really changed my life was a solo cross-country drive from Portland, Oregon back to New York,” she recalled. “I started out that road trip, actually, with anxiety of highways.”

A cooler of smoked salmon for her kids served as the motivation that she could do it.

“I was scared, and I pushed through, and I accomplished this,” Long said.

Long is one of many hitting the road solo.

“I’ve learned more about myself and I’ve felt more authentic in how I show up in the world,” she said. “I think that’s really the driving force for so many women that they just weren’t going to wait for other people to pursue these amazing experiences.”

Every trip does have a cost.

“How to see Europe on 50 cents a day … this is definitely an outdated book,” she said, looking at a shelf of informational titles.

Long has tips: saving money by camping and making her own food, and staying safe by sharing her location and checking in with loved ones.

The trips are worth the prep, she said.

“The hardest part about having all these beautiful photos is like … which ones do I hang on the walls? There’s too many,” Long said.

It inspired her to start a new adventure: Wandering Wild.

“So I lead excursions,” she said. “[I] teach women the different skills, and what does it take to backpack. […] And on top of that, I was able to build a lending library of gear.”

That’s something she wouldn’t have done, Long said, without having her own experiences.

“I think my life would really be drastically different. I think I’d be a lot less happy. I think I would not have found myself, to be totally honest,” she said. 

She’s inspiring others to do the same.

“You can go one hour away. You can go two hours away, and just take a night away and road trip along the way,” encouraged Long. “Just take that leap.”

Long doesn’t only travel solo. She spends time on trips with her kids making similar memories. She also travels with her boyfriend, who takes his own solo trips as well. It’s a way they say they express themselves as individuals.

According to a U.S. Consumer Travel report, solo travel is specifically increasing in those aged 55 and older. In 2023, they traveled without their partner 46% more than in 2022.

According to Road Scholar, among those older adults, 85% of solo travelers are women.