Hi Solo Traveler, Making masks. Masking fear.

Published: Sun, 03/29/20

I spent the day making masks for my local hospital. They put out a call requesting that people in the community who sew produce 1,000 masks a week. I'm almost finished a dozen.

I have spent the last few days wondering what I should say in this email. I don't know your circumstances. Are you stuck somewhere and having trouble getting home? Are you quarantined? Have you lost your employment? Do you have a loved one struck with Covid-19? There is much fear and, most of the time we mask that fear. It is my hope that, whatever fear you have at this time, you have someone to talk to. People to share it with. Ways to live in hope.

Travel is Out of the Question
I'm at day 10 of complete self-isolation. I will soon be downgraded and able to go for a walk, though self-isolation will still be the norm.

You may be surprised to learn, that even in these times when travel is out of the question, our small team continues to work. Tracey and I are in constant discussion of what we can post on Solo Traveler that will keep your travel dreams alive. Simon and Tycko are in touch with the companies that treat solo travelers well. We want to ensure that we can serve you well when travel is again possible.

Tomorrow we're trying something new on the blog. It's called the Solo Traveler Showdown. It's really just a bit of fun. Over three days we'll pit eight of the world's most popular cities against each other letting you vote on which is best for solo travelers. We know, this is not scientific. But it will be fun to see what you think. There will be two elimination rounds on Monday and Tuesday leading to the finals on Wednesday. We'll declare the winner on Thursday. I hope that you'll go to the blog and vote. It will be the top post on the home page Monday morning.

Oh, and if you are home and looking for entertainment, check out Tracey's curated list of Things to Do When You Can’t Travel

A Request for Help
Times are tough for the travel industry and that goes for us as well. The number of people visiting the site has dropped to a small fraction of what it was and that affects us in many ways. I'm hoping that you will take a few minutes each day to help us.

Here are some things you can do, at no cost to you, to help us during this difficult time.

Keep reading the blog. This is so important as the more people that go directly to Solo Traveler, without searching for it, the better we look in the eyes of Google and the more people they'll send to us as well. This is our Start Here page.
It's also very important to go to more than one page when on the blog. To click to the blog and then "bounce" off will actually do us harm. So please, when you go to the blog, take a moment to skim the page, and then click through to at least one more page that interests you and read that as well.
Pin our posts to Pinterest. If you're on Pinterest, there are three things you can do:
- Follow us here
- Save and visit the pins we already have on our boards.
- When you read a post on Solo Traveler, save the "Save it for later on Pinterest!" images we're adding to the posts.
Go to our advertisers' page and dream. The companies that are advertising on Solo Traveler have been screened to ensure that they treat solo travelers well. The people in these companies are hurting too. Please go to our advertisers page and start dreaming. Click through to the trips that look of interest to you. It's free and safe to dream.
Share our newsletters. If you know people who travel solo, perhaps they would like to receive our emails as well. Please feel free to share this email so that they can sign up. Using this link, they'll receive our travel budgeting template as a bonus. If you don't already have a copy, you can download yours here.

Also, if you are making purchases on Amazon, it would be greatly appreciated if you could enter Amazon through one of these links and then search and shop as you want. Doing so will direct a bit of commission to us.

This is the link for the US: Amazon.com
This is the link for Canada: Amazon.ca
This is the link for the UK: Amazon.co.uk

Upcoming Travels Delayed
Yes, we have postponed, not cancelled, our travels. Here's what we won't be doing as planned.

I was going to take a train trip to San Francisco in April.
Tracey was going to do a culinary walking tour in Umbria in late May.
I was going to Australia in late June.
Tracey was going to Newfoundland in July.

Ah well, the day will come when we can travel again.

In the meanwhile, take good care.

Janice

P.S. When your travel plans reignite, you may find these helpful:

The Wits & Wonder Travel Course Solo travelers have given the course 4.4 stars out of 5 and 79% say they are likely to recommend it to a friend. Many already have!
Going Alone? Travel Insurance is a Must - why I never travel without insurance, how I've used it to recover losses, and how to buy it.
VPN for Travel: What, Why and an Easy Setup Guide - it will protect your identity on public WiFi and let's you browse the net in English even if you're in a foreign country.
Solo Travel Deals Page. Updated monthly, to our knowledge this is the only list of tours with no or low single supplements on the Internet.
Bare Minimum Packing: Here’s Your Packing List - our ultimate packing check list which I continue to use for every trip.