Solo travel

Booking Solo?
Here's What Actually Happens

By Stacey · 5 min read

Almost every solo booking starts the same way: hovering over the "book now" button, closing the tab, opening it again the next day. The worry is never really about the yoga or the destination — it is "will I be the only one who came alone," and "what if I am stuck making small talk for a week." So here is exactly what happens, because we have watched it happen more times than we can count.

You will not be the only one

Most of our guests book solo. Not "a fair few" — most, as in the majority, on every single retreat. The group photo at the end always includes a cluster of women who arrived not knowing a single other person in it.

Day one is a little awkward. That is completely normal.

There is always a stretch, usually the first afternoon, where everyone is polite and a bit quiet, hovering near whoever they happened to sit next to on the transfer. Nobody is using their full personality yet. This happens every time, and it never lasts past dinner.

Day two is when it shifts

Something about shared mats, shared meals and shared early mornings does what small talk alone never manages. You stop performing and start just talking — usually somewhere around the second breakfast, when the polite chat runs out and the real conversations start instead.

By the end, there is a group chat

There is always a group chat. Someone always starts it before the transfer home. It has a name, usually a joke from somewhere on the trip that only the group finds funny, and unlike most holiday group chats, it does not quietly die after two weeks. Women from our retreats meet up in cities they do not live in, years later.

What about the room?

If sharing a room with a stranger sounds like a step too far for a first solo trip, most retreats offer a private room option, so you can ease in without worrying about that too. Either way, nobody is assigned a roommate at random — arrangements are always sorted with you in advance.