Travel without a partner: an adventure just for me!

By car through Morocco: And in the morning the muezzin wakes me up

"Do you know where the pepper grows?" Rashid asks, stopping the carriage, pulling a fine-leaved branch from a tree and holding it under my nose. "You have to smell that, is not that wonderful?" Rashid is a coachman in Taroudant. He loves his job, he loves his city and he loves to tell the visitors of his city why he does it. Only at the moment, he has a problem: First, he has promised his three nephews to take her on tour, on the other hand, he is looking for his wife, who has gone to the vegetable market for shopping. So we play cherchez la femme and do the city tour by the way.



I sit in the front of the driver's seat, with nephews Abdullah, Hussan, and Hassan behind, tucking in their adorable little dark heads and giggling. I suppose, about me, the strange tourist from Germany, who sticks her nose everywhere. But that does not matter. I dive into a world of the senses, the smells, the colors, the voices and I'm just happy - as so often in the last few days.

Unforgettable: Encounter with a Berber family in the High Atlas

© Tatjana Blobel

When I landed in Agadir a week ago, all I knew was that I wanted to leave everything behind for a short time, the northern German winter, the flu epidemic, the stress on the job and with the children. I had booked the flight, the smallest rental car and picked out a few addresses on the internet to stay overnight. Not more.

In Essaouira, the white seaside town, I slept in Madame Nicole's beautifully restored riad "Baladin" for the first night in a sleeping bag on top of the roof terrace. I wanted to see shooting stars. I counted three, then fell asleep. In the morning at sunrise, the muezzin woke me up with his singsong "Allahu Akbar - God is great." A comforting thought.



© Tatjana Blobel

This trip to Morocco is a journey into the unknown: since I spent a family vacation here at the age of 14, my yearning for the Orient has never left me. Nevertheless, I was worried about traveling alone through this "macho country". I did not really know what to expect, where to arrive and how to do it, so completely alone with me.

Whether I feel lonely, abandoned, anxious? But none of this. Not when I watch the sunset over the sea over a glass of white wine on the terrace of the "Taros" in the evening, not in the "Elizir", the small Moroccan restaurant in the medina of Essaouira, with the 60s furniture, the delicious tagine , a stew, and the chansons of Edith Piaf. Not on the night I spend all alone in the palace-like riad "Samsara" in Marrakech and only Nicola, the noble house cat, keeps me company. Not in the souks of Marrakech, where I haggle for hours with the traders for bags and chains.

Not even when I crawl a day by car over the 2000 meter high Tizi'n Test Pass, always along the edge, despite my fear of heights. And not in the remote Berber village Imlil in the High Atlas, where the guesthouse is fully booked and I am with the nice family of Abdullah, the mountain guide, come. In the morning there are long icicles hanging on the tree in front of my window. I crawl out from under a mountain of Berber covers - the stove is broken.

In the valley, the sun rises, I stand alone on the terrace, again the muezzin calls, and I do not know what the day holds for me. Probably a new wonderful surprise. I am happy. It's okay, I think.





Travel Info Morocco

Solo tour: Tatjana Blobel, 48, visited Essaouira (left), drove through the High Atlas (above left), let himself be driven by Taroudant and was delighted with oriental cafés and lovingly decorated fruit stalls

© Tatjana Blobel

find accommodation Riad Baladin. Beautifully restored city palace in the old town of Essaouira. DZ / F from 70 Euro (9, Rue Sidi Magdoul, MA-44000 Essaouira, Tel. 002/12/642 44 81 36, www.riadbaladin.com).

Riad Samsara. Living as in "1001 Nights" in the old town of Marrakech (photo above). Single / F from 90 Euro (6, Derb El Aarsa, Bab Tarzout, 4000 Médina Marrakech, Tel. 002/12/524 37 86 05, www.riadsamsara.com).

Kasabat Annour. The exclusive Riad is located directly on the old city wall of Taroudant. DZ / F from 60 Euro (in the Kasbah, near the fire brigade, MA-83000 Taroudant, Tel. 002/12/528 85 45 76, www.kasabat-annour.com).

Enjoy Taros. Café, lounge and restaurant right on the harbor of Essaouira. Trendy - and great for sundowners (Place Moulay Hassan, tel. 12/24 47 64 07).

Elizir. Small Moroccan restaurant in the old town of Essaouira (1, Derb Agadir Medina, tel. 12/24 47 21 03).

Getting Around Car rental z.B. via Avis (www.avis.de) from Marrakech Airport from 195 Euro / week.

Read Good guide: "Agadir, Marrakech, South Morocco" (22,50 Euro, travel know-how).



Bicycle tour in Germany: With the trekking bike direction Hochstimmung

© Getty Images

Susanne Stellwagen, 49, took time off for the first time in her life: from job, husband and two children - and had 14 terribly haphazard days.

If I can even enjoy the rain, then I have done everything right, it went through my head when I stood under a large beech in Prince Pückler Park in Bad Muskau. My bike leaned against the tree trunk, I heard Curtis Mayfield on my MP3 player, and when it dripped after half an hour, I swung myself into the saddle and drove on.

© Bernhard Classen / BAB.CH

For the first time, I spent two weeks on vacation alone. Without husband and children. With my trekking bike on the Oder-Neisse and then a bit on the Elbe bike path. There was not much more planning, because I wanted what's always missing out in my working mother's everyday life: freedom.

When I got off the train on a September Saturday in Zittau and cycled, I was immediately in high spirits. Feeling the wind on my skin and the tingling in the muscles, the fast descents and sweaty climbs - I was thrilled. I drove 80-100 kilometers every day, 1210 kilometers in 14 days in total, and yet I was completely relaxed. When I was hungry, I went somewhere, when I was tired, I looked for a place by the river and lay down in the sun.

I never felt lonely. There were the otters I watched playing at the Oderbruch at dusk. The elderly gentleman who spontaneously invited me in Wittenberg to show me his city. And the hosts of the private pensions, where I stayed and told me stories about their hometown. Whether I was not queasy, traveling alone as a woman, I was often asked. But what should I have been afraid of? At the most in front of a plate. Because I've never mended a tire.





Travel information Bike tours in Germany

Everything on the river: Susanne Stellwagen cycled u. a. along the Elbe, with stop in Wittenberg

© private

The Tour. We started on the Oder-Neiße-Weg near Zittau, on via Görlitz, Bad Muskau, Groß Breesen to Ueckermünde and from Dresden then on the Elbe-Radweg to Tangermünde.

Read Long-distance routes Germany. Who does not know exactly where to go to the bike tour, gets decision support here: The guide has 115 bike rides with exact length of the route in the offer (12.90 euros, Esterbauer Verlag).

Nachradeln Route of industrial culture by bike (700 km). Blast furnaces, gasometers and winding towers: these typical landmarks of the Ruhr area are on the exciting tour. Information, bike hotels and the exact route network with all sights: www.route-industriekultur.de



Mozart Cycle Route (450 km). Through Chiemgau and Berchtesgadener Land in Germany and the Salzburger Land in Austria. Information about the route, pensions: www.mozartradweg.com

Bike path Berlin-Copenhagen (630 km). This tour leads over Brandenburg and Mecklenburg. In Rostock the ferry will take you to Gedser. Information about the route and accommodation: www.bike-berlin-copenhagen.com

With the tour group to the Himalayas: Together the world on the roof rise

© Getty Images

Because her dream destination Tibet is not allowed to travel alone, Nadine Oberhuber, 38, decided to forget her fear of organized group tours for once.

Alone I can travel quite well by now - a good luck. Rather coincidentally, I saw my dreamland in an illustrated book: Tibet. I wanted to go there at once and get on the roof of the world. Unfortunately, nobody wanted to participate.

I would have driven alone this time, if there was not this one stupid rule: Alone one may not travel the country. So I only had the alternative group travel. My only chance. If I've thought of such tours so far, it's always the scene a few years ago when I sat at a temple at the end of the world holding a bus in front of me. Out of that, about 30 sweaty men with shorts, sandals, and bloated bellies rolled around and built themselves up in front of the temple, before one gasped: "Egg gugge ma, scheen!" I was traumatized.





© Getty Images

Since my longing for Tibet was greater than my fear of Saxon cone brothers, I booked the group trip. My "clique" was made up of: retired study councilors, a gentleman who could only be addressed by "Professor", and a former wild hippie woman who was on the move "25 years ago, this was all very different "said. Luckily, there were two more men who were one pair and well below 50 years old. We became friends, laughed a lot and shared the joy of this enchanting land with its breathtaking mountain ranges, its monasteries where prayer flags flutter in the cool wind, and the capital city of Lhasa with all its temples and the Potala Palace, formerly the seat of the Dalai Lama.

With my "two Tibetans" I soon returned to vacation.On this trip, however, we were so wrong that we never saw each other again.

Travel Info Tibet

About the things: Nadine Oberhuber also visited the famous Potala Palace in Lhasa

© private

China and Tibet with the Lhasa Railway. The voyage of the provider World insight Erlebnisreisen lasts 19 days, 5 of them are spent in Tibet. Overnight from 2699 Euro, including flight from Frankfurt (www.world-insight.de).

More exciting group trips Vietnam-Cambodia. "From Uncle Ho to the City of the Gods": 21-day tour of Vietnam and Cambodia by bus, boat and plane. On the program are the Forbidden Purple City in Hue as well as fish markets or the shopping area of ​​Phnom Penh. A highlight: a course in temple dance. B / F from 2299 Euro, including flight from Frankfurt (www.marco-polo-reisen.de).

Wild Western. This trip through California and Arizona is aimed at USA fans between 18 and 35 years old. The 14-day trip starts and ends in Los Angeles, then in Las Vegas, San Diego to the Grand Canyon and in the mountains of the Sierra Nevada. Overnight from 1640 Euro, without flight (www.explorer.de).

Baltics. Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania: The 13-day trip shows the beauty and peculiarity of the three Baltic Sea countries. B / F from 2250 Euro, including flight from Frankfurt (www.studiosus.com).

In the Club on Fuerteventura: Five Stars for the Gang of Four

© Getty Images

Solo travel does not inevitably mean being alone. Vera Sandberg, 60, found a lot of good company on a vacation on the Canary Islands - and enough retreats.

Only two of us are sitting in the airport shuttle: a blonde woman from Berlin, about 40, and me. At the welcome sparkling wine in the Robinson Club "Jandia Playa" she says as if to excuse herself: "My friend did not have time, I'm off alone." I have no excuse, I just wanted to travel alone. In a club. For the first time. One try.

I could immediately plunge into the usual club turmoil: get-together, Mediterranean cooking class, casino evening in the "Nite-Club" or "Drei Tippsen on Tipp-Ex" in the show-theater. But I'm more attracted to the quiet meadow corners under large trees, where there are free beach chairs everywhere, the wide beach, the sea and of course the really great sports program. Every day for fitness, for personal training: That's what I set myself. Reading and dozing on the beach, my head under the umbrella, my legs in the sun, I forget the time. Exactly how I wished. At some point I feel like people again and go past the tennis courts to see how they win and lose there.

Time for a lunch snack. Above the lively terrace is the noise level of lively conversation. The club concept and my own go: There are only aft tables, so you have to sit down with someone, whether you dare or not.





At the table where I am heading with my croissant and cappuccino, at first, only a wind-swept guy in a pink-and-white-striped shirt sits and drinks his coffee. We are talking quickly. Real estate agent Rüdiger has been going back here for years. His second wife, Bettina, is here for the first time. And I am cordially beaming. We talk about the weather, at home and here. Sun instead of drizzle. 21 degrees in February - glorious. And we both women arrange a beach walk.

"Is there a free place here?" The voice belongs to a friendly smile, blue-gray eyes and short pants. Alone on the way? Yes. From time to time he needs sun and action, says the 60-year-old scientist Karl from Berlin. Another like-minded person. Who would have thought that?



Most people here are guys like me - best agers. Many regulars who come back regularly. Maybe that's why they are so well preserved: exercise, good food, relaxation, lots of wellness offers, good mood - that's abundant here. And yet, I am left alone if I do not want entertainment.

I enjoy my being alone - even more, since I know that here are at least three people with whom I can talk really well: Bettina, Rüdiger, Karl. From us, a great gang of four has become lightning fast.

Travel Information Fuerteventura

Beach, sports and more: ChroniquesDuVasteMonde employee Vera Sandberg made her first club vacation at Jandia Playa

© Jörg Modrow

Robinson Club Jandia Playa. Five nights in a double room for single use, full board, including flight from Frankfurt from 1300 Euro (www.robinson.com). Club holidays can also be spent in 14 other Robinson clubs in Europe - from "Fleesensee" to "Quinta Da Ria" in Portugal. There are also four Robinson clubs in Turkey, two in Morocco, one in Egypt and even one in the Maldives.



Flirting desired: In the single hotel

However, Susanne Arndt, 44, had to learn flirting in Austria. With success.

After years of brood care, I had contracted a serious flood restraint. I needed exercise and booked three days at the single-hotel "Aviva". Here, in Austria, up to 130 singles go on holiday at the same time. The goal of my experiment: to get in contact with the species man again.

Already at the first dinner at the big table, I am part of a motley gang on time: we eat together, go bar and dance floor together and after breakfast the spa. I feel safe right now. Not the job is needed here, but the private life. "Single with child," says one, "separated alive" the other.

I do not fall in love, but I can hear "pretty smile", "beautiful woman" and "dancing is fun with you". And my shrunken ego grows on Grossglockner size.

Travel info

AVIVA **** s make friends. The four-star superior hotel is located in the hills of the Upper Austrian Mühlviertel. All single rooms and suites have south-facing balcony. With spa and leisure and sports facilities. Single room / half board from 128 Euro (Höhenweg 1, St. Stefan am Walde, Tel. 43/7216/376 00, www.hotel-aviva.at).

How to Tell Your Partner You're Traveling Without Them (March 2024).



Germany, Morocco, Austria, Tibet, Essaouira, Marrakesh, Tatjana Blobel, Fuerteventura, Travel, Agadir, Restaurant, Bicycle Tour, Car, Car Hire, Frankfurt, as a single vacation