Well, I'm married, no kids, with a husband who has to actually show up for work, so in a way I'm in a similar situation. I'm not very social though and never thought seriously of looking for a travel companion if my travel buddy or my husband are not available. I'm fine going solo and really don't think I would easily find another woman traveler my age who shares my interests or budget. I'm really resistant to the idea of traveling with someone I don't know well because I'm afraid of getting in a situation where I'm stuck with somebody who likes to drink too much or shop too much. And I think the other person would be bored because I walk so slowly and so far, often spending a whole day exploring by foot.

My travel buddy and I did once try a cottage share with friends. We all agreed that we enjoyed hiking. Well, it turned out that the other couple enjoyed power hiking for exercise and would take off over the countryside at the speed of light. My travel buddy and I were strolling about with binoculars, inspecting all of the local bird species and photographing atmospheric little medieval churchyards and stopping in the local pubs for a half. So it was impossible for us to go walking together because they wanted their walks to qualify as aerobic activity and we simply couldn't do what we wanted to do at their walking speed. And that's a case where, before the trip, we all believed we had shared interests!

I think it's rare to find a travel buddy who is a perfect fit and that your buddy won't be so easily replaced. There are advantages to going solo though -- mainly that you can spend exactly as much time doing exactly what you want and no more and no less.

My husband does travel with me when he can, but his vacation time is very limited because of his job responsibilities. Does your husband never travel with you at all? I plan trips with my husband a little differently, because he does not want to get involved with distant time zones or jet lag during his limited vacation time. It isn't that he dislikes travel but that, since his vacations are precious, he doesn't want to spend them all tired out and jet-lagged. If you know why your husband dislikes travel, maybe you could work around it a little and get him to join you occasionally.