And the last in the series of excerpts from people’s responses to last month’s On-the-Ground question on childfree travel–this one: from Ireland to North Africa and more…
I went on my dream trip to Ireland. I went twice actually….I went solo both times…no tours, completely on my own. (And yes, a third trip is in the planning stages!!) I rented a car, did all the research on lodging and places to explore. I rented a restored famine cottage right on the ocean surrounded by stunning scenery.
Europe: Our number one childfree travel adventure is the one we’re currently enjoying. We’re living overseas for a few years and visit a different European city (at least) every month. We visit a lot of castles, museums, art galleries – in short, quiet places which would not appeal to children and having excess funds (due to no kids) means that we can decide to do more extravagant things on a whim e.g., our vintage car tour through Prague, jumping on a train to Toledo when staying in Madrid, hiring bikes in Tuscany etc., not to mention being able to splash out on nice meals and souvenirs.
The best trip I had was when I went to the UK for two weeks in 2001. There were four of us meeting up — two from Northern Ireland (though one was originally from Wales), one from the US, and one from Canada — all in our mid to late 20s. We’d known each other online for years but we hadn’t all met in person before. I flew into London, took a bus/train to Chester where we all gathered (the two living in Northern Ireland had taken the ferry over with a jeep). We drove around Wales, spent a day doing falconry, and generally had a blast before going to Liverpool to grab the ferry to Northern Ireland. Spent time at the house, spent a weekend in Port Rush, saw the Giant’s Causeway… the Canadian and I flew back to London for two days before catching our respective flights across the pond. It was a lovely mix of staying in someone’s home and traveling around and staying in B&Bs/self-catering/hotels.
My best childfree adventure was probably the time I took an extended holiday in Israel and North Africa. I went by myself and met up with an old university classmate (also CF), and we drove from Tel Aviv all the way to the Egyptian border. It was truly awesome — a learning experience in every sense of the world. Simply seeing how other populations changed my perspective.
We went to Kauai and rented an apartment. No hotel resorts for us. We hiked the na pali coast and then in to a beautiful waterfall. It was so deserted that we took off our bathing suits and skinny dipped in a smaller waterfall on the trail. It was great!
Been to any of these places? Let’s hear it~Inspired to write about one of your childfree adventures? Do it!
Happy New Year!
