Tess Daly isn’t running away. She’s leading the way!
When news broke that newly-single Tess Daly was reportedly planning a year of solo travel, the internet had thoughts. Selfish, said one commenter. That'll be the end of her TV career, said another. The subtext was clear: a woman approaching 60, choosing herself, choosing the world — that makes people uncomfortable.
But here's what those commenters missed. Tess Daly isn't an outlier. She's the headline act of one of travel's most powerful and least-talked-about revolutions.
Women over 45 aren't just travelling more. They're redefining what travel looks like entirely. And Club Avandra is at the vanguard - doing things that little bit differently. Solo, but not alone.
Solo female travel from UK airports has increased by 91% over the past decade. The steepest rise? Women aged 55 to 64.
This isn't a trend. It's a tectonic shift.
And yet the conversation still centres on whether we should be doing it — whether we’ve earned the right, whether something must have gone wrong at home, whether this is selfish, reckless, or simply sad.
Club Avandra knows the real truth: women over 45 aren't just permitted to lead the future of travel. They already are.
Women who have spent decades managing families, careers, other people's schedules and other people's needs don't book a trip the same way a 22-year-old does. We book with intention. We travel with curiosity that's been decades in the making. We know what we want, what we won't tolerate, and exactly how precious our time is.
We're not filling a gap year. We're filling a life. We’re collecting experiences with the curiosity and enthusiasm of someone who finally — finally — has stopped waiting for permission. And we’re travelling without compromise.
At Club Avandra, we believe that women over 45 deserve to travel without guilt, without justification, and without having to explain themselves to anyone in a comment section.
But we're going further than that.
Because guilt-free is a low bar. We don't just deserve to travel to the places we want to go to, in the style we demand, with like-minded women for company — we deserve to be recognised as the travellers shaping what meaningful, conscious, experience-led travel looks like for everyone.
We are the market that boutique hotels are finally designing for. The voices that are changing what "adventure" means — away from adrenaline-for-its-own-sake, towards depth, connection, and genuine discovery.
If Tess Daly's reported plans made something stir in you — a flicker of recognition, a quiet yes — Club Avandra is for you.
You deserve a community, a platform, and a world that says: go.
Welcome to Club Avandra. You're exactly who we're here for.
