GUWonder

In Europe, I see large groups of Europeans or large groups of Asians being the bulk of those traveling in large groups. Most of those tour buses packed with foreign tourists in much of continental Europe are full of Europeans.

txflyer77

This is a pretty ignorant question, but is there a Mandarin equivalent of Lonely Planet or Rick Steves yet?

Romelle

A quick search on "lonely planet mandarin" yielded only a Mandarin phrase book. Nothing on a similar search using Rick Steves.

A little more on amazon.com, but it seemed to be limited to language guides. Lots of guides about China in English of course.

You might pose your question in the China area of this site, or ask the Moderator to move this one there.

txflyer77

My question was more about the inevitable rise of independent tourism by mainland Chinese. Seems to me that travel resources written in Mandarin are a necessary but not sufficient condition for that to begin.

I doubt that the existing English-language travel publishers are getting into that (maybe LP, hard to imagine RS has the resources). I was wondering if there are publishers going after that market today.

Romelle

I was wondering about this, so looked it up. Seems a little less than 1 person in 100 in China speaks English. BUT, that is still about 10 million people.

I'd guess the English speakers might have the edge in being able to afford travel?

But Mandarin might still be an interesting market for the travel info industry.

I know my foreign travels years ago were done without the benefit of travel guides. They would have been helpful, but I managed nonetheless.

KDS777

I find solo travel infinitely more fulfilling in many ways regardless of perceived language barriers or anything else.

It's the only way to go.

Kagehitokiri

group tours are massive business in many countries. some operators have certain demographics sure, but it really is style preference which is separate from demographic.

and the tours are across all price levels.

most groups do not know each other, but many do, or are multigeneration family etc.

JustineG

I typically have encountered this as well especially with American women. This is purely based on my observations. I do not have statistics or anything so don't get all upset!

I am a solo woman in my early 30s and usually have traveled solo since I was 17. I just prefer it. Whether I was in a hostel, cheap 1 star hotel, taking a tour, Airbnb, on a cruise, or staying at an all inclusive (you get the picture...) people were usually surprised to see that I was a solo traveler. Usually I would get comments like "You are brave" or "Good for you", which surprises me because I thought people would think I was a loser or something with no one to go with. Once in awhile I like to lie and tell people that I planned this trip with my now ex husband and that only 1 of us was going now: me or him. They get a good chuckle.

k374

Eating dinner when traveling solo can be challenging... say you want to eat at a waterfront restaurant that has great reviews and a terrific view, now a restaurant like this may scoff at a solo traveler occupying a full table when they can seat 2 instead, especially during peak hours. Or worse, they may relegate you to some undesirable table in the back without a view. To you solo travelers, how do you handle this? Do you go a little earlier for dinner before the crowds turn up? Or do you just go during peak hours and if there is a table available expect the restaurant to seat you the same as a couple... and if the restaurant tells you there is no space when you do see tables available would you just go to a different place or take it up with the manager?

tmiw

My general policy is that I don't go to any table service restaurants with a wait. I also sit at the bar and order there if the establishment has one, which adds flexibility if I can't eat at an off-peak time. Haven't run into any problems so far.

Cloudship

As a habit, I tend to eat slight off schedule anyways, usually just by chance, but sometimes by choice. I think it is calmer and better even if I am eating with someone else.

That being said, yes if I was going to a restaurant just for the view or for the ambience, I am going to ask to sit at a table with the view. Why would I even bother dining there if I only came for the view in the first place?

It's the American in me, but I am the customer, they need to earn my business - they don't just deserve it. No I wouldn't talk with a manager, I would get upset and walk out before even getting to that stage. And probably write a review on Chowhound or Yelp or TripAdvisor about it. I am not going to go out of my way to let the manager try and salvage the situation.

Stampy

Is 30% a drop from several years ago? A 2011 stat came up with 48.36%, along with the percentages for each state: http://chartsbin.com/view/1147.

Having said that, I'm unsure how reliable the figures are in that link.

pinniped

When I travel solo, I usually end up eating a lot of sushi. Sushi bars welcome solo diners, almost without exception.

Healthier and more interesting than standard pubgrub or fast food. It cities where sushi is really hard to find, I'll experiment with the streetfood, which is often really good.

I have yet to find a place where I can't find good food as a solo diner. It's just usually not the standard restaurants I'd visit as a couple.

Madone59

+1

Traveling with my wife or family is one thing....and it's great, but traveling alone is a whole other type of enjoyment.

caverunner17

I'm torn.

I just got back from a 18 day stint in Europe yesterday (my 6th time in Europe). Honestly, I found myself getting lonely. The language barrier isn't an issue for me doing things around the country, it's more of a "I get tired eating by myself" kind of thing. That, and I'm not really staying in hostels anymore. I enjoy my sleep. Listening to someone else snore or come in at 3AM from being out drinking all night sucks.

Most of my trip was via AirBnB this time, and my hosts were a hit or miss as to being around. I'm not one to do group tours either, so even going around museums and such get lonely every day.

I did meet up with 2 friends who happened to be in Rome the same time I was for a day. I had a blast because we found every single statue with a penis in the Vatican museum and posed next to it. I wouldn't do that by myself.

Also, as a westerner, I feel like it was a lot easier to make travel companions on my two Asia trips. Seeing a white guy sitting at a street vendor's table and asking, "Hey, how's the food here" is a lot easier when there's not a lot of white guys in Asia vs saying the same thing it an Italian place.