Singles tours growing in popularity

Singles tours are becoming very popular for people who want to travel and meet other singles. Many travel companies have started to specialize in singles vacations, catering to those single, seperated, divorced, or widowed. The best part is there is no pressure, just enjoy your vacation and if you meet someone who strikes your fancy you’re in luck!

There is a singles vacation to fit every budget and schedule, from weekend trips to Jazz Festivals and golfing weekends to week-long or longer trips to such exotic locations as Turkey, Morocco, or Egypt. The Connecting - Solo Travel Network has compiled a list of “singles tours, singles cruises, singles travel clubs, hospitality organizations, any and all single-friendly holiday ideas” that will give you a broad sample of the opportunities available for singles travel.

Singles cruises are a great way to relax and enjoy your vacation while making yourself available for romance. Singles Cruises.com have a page What are Ad-Lib Singles Cruises? where they describe their free-form singles cruises without organized singles activities.

For Seniors and Women Traveling Solo the BBC has put together a Safe Travel Tips page to help make your trip as safe and fun as possible. Follow these simple steps and you’ll be sure to have a great trip.

Travel To Thailand

A friend of mine saw the earlier post on Travel to Asia and sent me an email telling me about his plans for early next year to visit Chiang Mai, Thailand . He included a link he found to be very useful planning his vacation in Thailand. I took a look at the sites to learn a little bit about Thailand and thought the site was so good it was worth writing a site review.

The Guide to Thailand is a good site where you’ll find everything you need to make your visit to Thailand a success, from destination guides to city maps to even Thai language flash cards that you can use on your trip to Thailand. One look at the Thai alphabet on the sample cards they have and you will quickly see how valuable the flash cards can be.
I found some interesting ideas from the Guide to Thailand site and thought I’d share.
While visiting Thailand you can enjoy some of the finest luxury spas in the world. Conde Nast Traveller readers chose four of Thailand’s luxury spas in the world’s Top 25 most luxurious spas. The Mandara Spa at JW Marriott Phuket, the Chiva-Som International Health Resort, the Banyan Tree Spa in Bangkok, and The Oriental Spa.

The Thailand beaches are world famous for their beauty, and something rare in most places; undeveloped sandy beaches. The Guide to Thailand site has a list of the beaches by region, as well as descriptions of the areas and contact information for hotels and attractions around the beaches.

Last but not the Thailand Guide is a traveler’s friend by offering a wide selection of maps of Thailand, from complete views of the country to local hotel maps directions in Bangkok. The Guide to Thailand is really your one-stop guide to Thailand.

Educational Tours and Travel

Lying around at the beach is a great way to spend a vacation, but if you want more from your vacation why not think about taking an educational tour? Educational tours and travel allow you to travel and learn, from languages to history and culture, to sports, or cooking and crafts and more. About.com has a fantastic educational vacation resource site full of information and links to some of the best learning vacations around.

Maybe you’d like to work on an archaeological dig assisting in research on the Pueblo Indians near the Mesa Verde National Park? The Crow Canyon Archaeological Center offers one-day sessions featuring hands-on activities and tours of their archaeology laboratory and excavation site for as little as $50.

Or maybe you would find learning art surrounded by beautiful Italian landscape more to your tastes? The International School of Painting, Drawing and Sculpture in Montecastello di Vibio, Perugia, Italy offers short-term instructional sessions designed “for adults with some background in art who want to create more time in their lives to paint and draw, or to pursue their interest to a deeper level.” Continuing education courses of three or four weeks are available in the summer.
These educational travel and tour ideas are just a sample of the ideas offered on the About.com Educational Tours and Travel site.

Asian Travel

I was lucky enough to get to visit Japan about 15 years ago, and even though I haven’t made it back one of my favorite daydreams is taking a long vacation and touring the beautiful countries of Asia. While I save up my pennies for the trip I read some of the fantastic websites catering to Asian travel.

One of the best sites on Asian travel you’ll find is Things Asian: Experience Asia Through the Eyes of a Traveler. There you will find stories and photo essays from travelers to Thailand, Korea, China, Malaysia, Japan, India, Indonesia, and more. I can try to describe the site to you, but set aside a couple of hours and discover for yourself the richness and detail the writers offer in their tales of the Far East.

After you read the wonderful stories at Things Asian, make sure to visit ASIA Travel Tips.com, where you will learn the details you’ll need to know to make the best of your trip to an Asian country. The diversity of the topics is incredible, from the process of renting a cellphone in Thailand to tips on buying electronic goods in Hong Kong. If you are planning a trip to Asia you can’t miss this site.

Another excellent site with tons of useful information about the countries of Asia is About.com’s Asia For Visitors. With country-by-country guides from Afghanistan to Vietnam you can’t help but be prepared for your trip when the time comes. One of my favorite things about Asia For Visitors is the expanded links, where the editors have compiled country maps, travel guides, accomodation details, and even photography archives.