Any other solo travellers?

[LisaKent]

Hi, I plan to use my Cali for trips alone ( plus my faithful border terrier called Dave) , I will start with just touring the UK and then head out to Euope next year, I also plan to book for Cali's on the Farm this year

So, female camping alone, will i get strange looks? Will they think I am a mobile brothel? Am I the only solo camper on here? ( hope not )

 

[Hotel California]

Hi and welcome , there will be for sure some people travel alone , but the most famous is.....

GrannyJen!

 

[Maud]

Hi Lisa, welcome to the forum!

As hotel california said, Granny Jen is defintiely the lady to speak to about solo camping!

I only collected my California (Ariadne) in December but I will be a solo female traveller + dogs too

I think the trick is to not even worry about what other people think - it might just give a few nosy campers something to whisper about! The only thing that solo campers perhaps have to consider a little more carefully is personal security. But then our faithful companions do provide an extra alarm system

Be sure to tell us about your travels!

Maud

 

[owen_h]

Just to try and balance all the female solo travellers I'm a male solo camper. (no dog though). Quite a few of my trips are part of a bigger group or for events. Find that tenting friends gravitate towards the Cali facilities
I've been to various places around the UK and Europe without any real issues. When abroad paying for tolls, carparks & some fuel places is obviously a bit harder that with a passenger but actually easier than if you were in a car. In the Cali you can move across the cab to pay and then move back quite easily.
Enjoy the new adventures
Owen

 

[Meoncoast]

It is not being solo that people will think you are strange it will be because you have a campervan.
We have parked by some very large mobilehomes and got some odd looks while people sit inside on the hottest evenings watching large screen TVs and rotating large sat dishes on their roofs.

 

[GrannyJen]

Hi Lisa

Lone female driving a camper van will occasionally get some odd looks but not as often as you think. There again I'm used to odd looks anyway

As with lone female in a hotel bar on business you may occasionally get some unwelcome attention. It has happened to me twice. The most hideous was on a camp site in Belgium, two brit blokes sharing a caravan, over for the WW1 centenary, came back from a bar late at night and one decided to visit me. When I finally opened my door to humour him he then tried to invite himself in, which gave me cause to invoke the sort of language I must have learnt off my students ... honest!! Fortunately opposite me was a group of young people sharing a very large tent and one of the girls, and her rather large partner, came over to see if all was ok.

That apart, (the second occasion far more benign, Brit stop in Cumbria, nice man, easy to get rid of), I have only ever met helpfulness and courtesy and I am always out and about and have been happy camping solo, RV and caravan as well as my Cali, for 20 years.

My one suggestion would be to try and camp where there are other people, at least one in five times, otherwise the Cali for a solo traveller can become a bit claustrophobic. That's me though, I am a naturally gregarious person and whilst I enjoy my own company I do also need to talk to people. Brit stops I use a lot of, partly because it gives me a perfect excuse to pop in a pub for something to eat and normally a nice host/ess to talk to.

Be safe. Try not to camp where there is no phone signal, positioned so you have a quick exit, but as I've said in other threads I feel safer in my cali than I do in my house when on my own. In my Cali I do have first class security systems, laminated or reinforced glass instead of feeble window pains, and a horn and lights to get attention if necessary.

Otherwise, I would go nuts without my cali. It is a home, a comfort, a joy and a safe haven all in one and if you have wanderlust like I have then it is the perfect vehicle to get to places other motorised travellers can only dream of getting to.

 

[marjjeffs]

Hi All. I've just started out on solo camping adventures with my Cali dog Mr Moo for company. I'm hoping in the next 12 months to visit most of the Scottish island. I'm ashamed to say I know France better than my home country. I will use small campsites wherever possible and certainly if there is no mobile signal ( promised the kids I would stay safe!!!). Funny looks - who cares. Life is for living and I intend to - Go For It. Hope to meet other solos as I travel.

 

[fred]

Solo here, though I tend to pick up waifs & strays (random friends get collected at airports and join me for a few days as I travel), and I've been known to pick up hitch hikers too. Honestly I've never met another single traveller at a campsite, always seems to be couples

 

[WelshGas]

Met plenty of Solo travellers going to Nordkapp in Motorhomes and Caravans. As one German caravan owner who was heading to Nordkapp said " The wife only travels in Germany and any countries to the West, East or South of Germany."
He was taking 3 months to travel from Germany to Nordkapp and back, with his dog for company. He was thoroughly enjoying it, as apparently was his wife back home.