Is it taboo for women to travel without their spouses?
While in Liberia, I overheard a conversation between two older African American couples. I would say the couple was between 55-65 years old. I heard one of the guys say, “When did it become popular for women to travel without men?” The little feminist in me wanted to say, “sir women can travel with whomever they choose to,” but I kept my mouth closed. I turn to my best friend and said, welp I have my next blog post.
Is it really taboo for women to travel without their spouses?
I have friends that are older than me who do not understand why my husband and I don’t always travel together. I have been told everything from that’s not how a marriage works to you are asking for your marriage to end. Extreme much?
I personally feel like you should be able to travel with whoever you choose to. And, for the record 90% of my traveling is with my husband. I take solo trips (therapist recommended) and girls trips.
I don’t have a relationship where I feel I need to be attached to my husband’s hip. He travels with his friends as well. We think we should be able to connect with our friends and/or family without each other. Also, we are aware that everyone’s outlook on relationships and marriage isn’t the same, but this works for us. The one thing we have in common is our love for travel. We were traveling separately before we started dating.
I had a conversation about what I heard with my husband and he told me to look at it from a different perspective. The couples are from a different generation. It hasn’t always been safe for women to travel alone. Which is very true. My husband stated older couples normally always do things together so it would be weird for them to see groups of girls traveling without men. I can definitely see where he is coming from. Do you agree?
Times have definitely changed and women’s travel is the future. Don’t believe? There is a whole festival in New York City called Women’s Travel Fest. It’s a festival to educate women on traveling. There’s an array of classes. Everything from safety while traveling, ageism in travel, even budgeting for travel. There’s parties and everything for this festival. I hope to go next year or the year after.
I will say while travelling I noticed multiple groups of women traveling together and it was exciting to see. For me, the excitement came from seeing women having fun and living their best life together. I only seen one group of men traveling together. There were more family and solo travelers. At the resort there were at least three groups of women traveling together including my best friend and I.
I guess we can say a difference in generations can make something seem normal to one group and taboo to another group.
Meals and Miles 
As a married woman, I think it’s good to travel without your spouse. Sometimes absence is good. My husband travels for work a lot and when he’s gone I miss him. When he comes home, it brings us closer.
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I agree, absence does make me want to be with him more when I see him.
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Yikes! Guess I’m no part of the “older generation” full of fearful people, too afraid to travel without a spouse. Here’s the thing, women traveling on their own is nothing new. My grandmother loved to travel while my grandfather was a real homebody. He told her to go travel without him and she most certainly did. They were married 75 years before they passed. There have been and will always be couples that have a variety of views of what marriage is about. And there will always be Nosy Nellies who have to have something to say about it.
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Amen to the nosey Nellie because they love to tell you about what you should and should not be doing in your marriage. Meanwhile theirs is….. nevermind.
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Times have changed a lot from what used to be. That also includes what was once considered taboo for women.
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I vote for both. Traveling solo is one of the most liberating, empowering and centering experiences I’ve ever had. While traveling with a partner can be fun and romantic, I think we sell ourselves short to see it as a one-trick pony. It can be different things for different people at different points in our lives. I think it’s important to explore all of its aspects.
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Totally agree. I do both, but to see people so in their feelings about women traveling without men blew me away.
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The older couple needs to understand times have change. It’s ideal for yes women can travel without men. It’s a great break to have from spouses.and I agree with you about we do what’s best for us, as a couple. My husband personally have no issues about me traveling without him. I have no problem for him to travel without me too. Thanks for sharing this. Sounds like a good rant LOL. I will check out the Women’s Travel Fest (never heard of that before but very interested).
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A friend of mine said people were making comments when her and her friend went to Tanzania. Personally I don’t see the issue lol. I travel without my significant other. Sometimes people don’t want to go or can’t go. So see ya lol
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If you’d asked me before this summer, I would have said yes. That was until I took a vacation without my husband or daughter, and I say that every woman should do it.
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I travel with my husband and the kids all the time. It is important to get out and travel alone or with your girls. We travel as a family. He and I travel as a couple. Then we travel with our girls/guys. It is the perfect balance.
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I believe in balance, I’ve traveled with my girls before I met my husband. That wasn’t going to just stop because I was no longer single. I do family trip, my husband and I so couple trips, and we do trips with our all girl/all boy squad.
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It’s important to preserve who you are outside of being married. If you nurture that side, you’ll be able to be a better spouse. That said, travel however whenever. LOL
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Although I’m not married, I see nothing wrong with traveling without your spouse. Its practicing a healthy balance of time with self.
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Balance is key. While most of my travels with my husband in our 20 yrs of marriage have been together it is now mostly family trips or solo now that we are parents of an 8yo.
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Traveling with your friends and spouse both sound lit to me. I’m doing both when I get married.
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