Founding investor of Club Avandra, Debbie Flynn, who has worked in the travel industry for over 40 years, busts some solo travel myths
‘I’m simply not brave enough to board a cruise ship by myself, and I’m beyond adventure holidays that mean having to rough it.’Â
I am not the typical image of a woman who wants to go it alone. I am 62 and married with two grown-up children. But my solo travel moment came three years ago, when I said to my husband Andy that I’d always wanted to go to the Galapagos and he replied: ‘I don’t fancy it. Why don’t you go with a friend?’
None of my friends were up for such a big ‘bucket list’ trip and I suddenly realised that there was a gap in the market for women like me, who aren’t typically ‘solo’ but are at a life stage that means if they want to see the world, they won’t always have somebody to go with.
I’m simply not brave enough to board a cruise ship by myself, and I’m beyond adventure holidays that mean having to rough it. I have lovely friends, but I know them all inside out and many are former school gate mums grabbing the last bit of time with their grown-up kids. I realised I needed a new girl gang.
I spotted a gap in the market for women like me, who want to travel to interesting places, stay in luxury boutique hotels and meet women outside of their own friendship group. It is a myth that solo travel means having to be a single person visiting countries under your own steam. It doesn’t matter if you are married or divorced, 40 or 70. The word ‘solo’ has been redefined for those not wanting to plan, organise and travel completely by themselves. Since launching Club Avandra I have met so many women whose life stage has prompted them to want to travel ‘solo but not alone’ which is our mantra.
There are those whose husbands have retired and simply want to play golf, like mine. There are women in their 40s who want more than the ‘fly and flop’ holidays of their friendship groups. I recently met a divorce counsellor who told me that many of her female clients say to her: ‘who am I going to go travelling with now?’ A young widow who lost her husband suddenly, recently told me: ‘I was going to do all this with him, but now he’s gone’.
And there is an emerging group of women who we are now catering to, that want to holiday with one other friend or small friendship group, but don’t want to be lumbered with organising it all on WhatsApp. We are happy to cater for these women too.
Our members tend to have a few things in common: they want to get under the skin of a destination and are interested in culture beyond the beach. Take Italy, for example. Many of us have been to Rome and Florence but most haven’t even heard of the magical caved city of Matera, where we took a trip earlier this year. Members of Club Avandra want to go tango dancing in Argentina, drink in the best music bars of Nashville, or visit the Highlands – all of these are on the cards, and being arranged for them. And I’m still intending to organise my trip to the Galapagos!
Travelling with a group of likeminded women is an experience in itself. The energy, the empathy, the interest of women in other women is fun and therapeutic. You can be who you want to be and gain different perspectives on life. You might even find a new girl gang. I know I have.
