Tips For Solo Travelers

According to TNS’s Travels America Study, solo travelers make up 10-12% of all US adult leisure travelers. With the luxury of traveling alone, you’re able to set your own schedule, choose your own activities, eat wherever and whenever you want, and sleep whenever you feel like it. But with the highs come the lows, and many face unique challenges such as safety, expenses, and the risk of getting lonely. Here are some tips for when you book for next travel destination solo:

1. Know your traveling type – Are you a solo traveler or independent traveler? Solo travelers enjoy being in groups of like minded people and would be interesting in a tour group, while independent travelers want DIY vacations where they have total control over what they can do.
2. Security concerns – Independent travelers are more vulnerable because they have no one to turn to if they get into trouble. Look at pictures online, read other travelers’ reviews, check the mobile network, and research before you go.
3. Connecting with others – Take time to experience the local happenings. There are many opportunities to meet people and take in the culture if you’re open to it. If you’re in the same city for a few days become a regular at a particular restaurant or café or seek out communal tables or farmers’ markets.
4. Enjoy the experience – solo traveling allows for having the opportunity for reflection and to find out more about yourself when no one is looking.

A New Way To Travel?

No power grid. No fuel. Zero CO2.

The Wind Explorer, a lightweight electric vehicle, was piloted by two from Albany on the Indian Ocean to Sydney in 18 days and set three new records during their 4,800 km trip. This is the first time a continent had been crossed by a vehicle powered by wind, the longest overall distance covered by an exclusively wind-powered land vehicle, and the longest distance covered in 36 hours.

The Wind Explorer was powered by lithium-ion batteries and recharged by a portable wind turbine whenever wind conditions permitted. The 200kg vehicle therefore only notched up electricity costs of around €10 for the entire trip.

Not only is it great to see how lightweight construction and lithium-ion technology can provide a response to the problem of global warming, but it has left many to wonder what this means for travel. Why invest in cabs that pollute the environment and are expensive when you can travel in a vehicle powered by wind.

The “Wind Explorer” project hopes to inspire ideas about limiting the bad effects of traffic on the environment – while staying mobile as well.

Rooms For Rent

There has been a recent influx in the demand for DIY lodging from various home dwellers who have become underground hoteliers. By renting an apartment vs. a hotel room, users are able to save money and partake in the “local” experience of staying in a residential neighborhood while traveling. And on the flip-side, people are seeing it as a great way to bring in a little extra income during a tough economic time.

Between the exorbitant rates and sterile environs, traditional lodging doesn’t always make sense. AirBnB, Crashpadder, and One Fine Stay are all popular sites used to reserve rooms.

Say Goodbye To Baggage Mixups

Waiting at baggage claim as a sea of same-looking suitcases roll past can often lead to confusion — and at the very least anxiety. But luxury travel brand Tumi has created a stylish way to tell your suitcase apart from all the others. Enter “Accent Your Alpha”, a chic customization service that allows customers to spruce up their bags with colored components.

Parts of the bag that can be personalized with a pop of color include the monogrammed leather patch at front, luggage tag, add-a-bag hook, bag guards, zipper pulls and zippered pouch — so ideally you should be able to tell your bag apart from all others at any angle.

Barmitzvah’s Take The Road

In an era where people are looking to differentiate themselves from the norm, it’s no surprise that this trend is spreading to religious events as well. More and more people in the Jewish community are saying goodbye to having a traditional Bahtmitsvah and are instead choosing to hit the road and take the family on a vacation.

Rather than spending $20,000-$1,000,000 on a party, more familes are taking their show on the road for a fraction of the cost, in pursuit of unique memories and less party planning. They’re celebrating in the Caribbean Islands, Spain, Costa Rica, Budapest, Montenegro, China, etc.

Investing In World Changing Entrepreneurs

Social investing in social enterprises.

33needs operates in much the same way that Kickstarter does for the creative community, but instead turns the focus entirely on companies with a social mission — allowing ordinary people to invest, make a social impact, and potentially earn a return. Each project looking for money falls under one of six categories: the planet, education, community, health, opportunity and sustainable food.

More than Me is a start-up that successfully reached their goal of $3,000. More than Me, Inc. funds the education of girls in Liberia by selling laptop covers, which are made by local Liberian women. 50% of the kids in Liberia, West Africa are not in school -- and more than half of them are girls. Without education, these girls have limited future opportunities and social mobility, thus perpetuating the cycle of poverty.

How Green Is Your Wardrobe?

When consumers think about what is causing global warming, they blame cars, CO2 emissions, etc. But what about clothes?

30 public-minded businesses, from H&M to Wal-Mart, have form a group called the Sustainable Apparel Coalition to bring awareness of the environmental and social challenges around the global apparel supply system. Take a look at jeans for an instance. To produce one pair of jeans, a manufacturing company goes though over 180 office water coolers between cotton production, jean manufacture, and laundry. Ever wonder what happens to all of that excess dye? In Xintang, China, it leaves the factory and flows into the river!

The Sustainable Apparel Coalition wants to put a number against every apparel item, indicating how green it is. The item would be based on factors such as water use, energy efficiency, labor practices, etc.

Will is get to the point where consumers are less concerned about the price tag/label and more interested in how the purchase affects their carbon footprint?

Save A T-Shirt

Consumers have begun turning to their wardrobes in order to partake in the green movement. SAVED is a new initiative from Green Thing that takes old, unfashionable, undesirable T-shirts, washes them, hand-stitches saved lettering onto them, adds a SAVED story (saved from bad taste, saved from disrepair, saved from neglect) and in doing so makes each T-shirt better than new, a bit more fashionable and a lot more desirable.

SAVED is part of what Green Thing calls All-Consuming, defined as 'the art of wasting nothing and using up everything.' In addition to those environmental benefits, the added appeal for consumers is the background story — one worth repeating.

GroupMe

The recent heavy influx of platforms that offer group text messaging was a popular conversation at this year's SZSW Interactive conference in Austin. GroupMe, a popular application that allows users to have private chat rooms, conference calls, and instant photo sharing on their phones with their existing contacts and dominated the app world. People have proclaimed that it's the new "must-have" for every phone. The app combines the conciseness and efficiencies of text messaging with some of your favorite email features. Group texting effectively and instantly reaches many people and everyone has the ability to "reply all".

GroupMe recently added a feature where you can create groups based on similar likes and hobbies. Let's say you're all obsessed with Kylie Minogue, nothing changes about the way your group function, but now, you're entered for the chance to win tickets, CD's or even the opportunity to have Kylie pop up in your group and text message with you. A new interesting way to differentiate yourself and your friends.