Our next tour destinations + Restaurants banning solo diners

Hi Reader,

How is your week going?

I am in Malta, enjoying a bit of a warmer December than I would in the rest of Europe and getting to know the island slowly.

I came here to work mostly, but now that I am here, I see this as a great destination for one of our tours. I can't help but see all my travels through this lens...

So stay tuned for a tour to Malta!

📩 On this week's email

Where we are planning to take you next
More and more restaurants are banning solo diners, what's your take?

Our next / new tour destinations!

We have a running waitlist on our website to join if you want to be notified first when a new destination goes live.

We always announce new tours to the Waitlist before we announce them to the general public and this means you may avail of early launch discounts or the ability to select your spot before everyone else if you are on it. So, go join if you are keen.

I often get asked how we decide the destinations for our next tours and the reality is that it is not a mathematical formula, but the result of many things:

Destinations we feel you want to travel to, after all, we need to get interest.
Destinations where we can have an impact. In some countries, our female focus and insistence in supporting women owned businesses means we truly make a difference. In others, women have more opportunities and therefore we can help less, they need less help. Since we are a small business with limited resources, we prefer to focus on destinations where we can help the most.
Destinations where we have found likeminded women. For us to launch a tour, we need to find local partners who align with our philosophy and values. This can sometimes be very difficult and the reason why some destinations keep being on our Wishlist but haven't materialised yet, we have not found partners who share our passion for female empowerment. Oftentimes, this is also the result of women at these destinations reaching out to us, instead of us reaching out to them. Our tours to Georgia, Armenia, Cuba, Greece, the Caribbean, and Ecuador and the Galapagos are the result of the local partners contacting us to suggest the destination.
Destinations that appeal to me. This is a small consideration and truth be told, I love most places, but since I am the one who has to travel there, scout the destination and then accompany groups, I get to prioritise places I love vs places that I am more neutral about :)

We put all of the above considerations in a basket, we shake it shake it and then we come up with a list of possible destinations. Voila!

The prioritisation of where we go first depends on my availability to travel and a balancing act of mixing popular places with less known ones, so every year we offer new tours that we think will be very popular and perhaps 1 or 2 than will take you to lesser known destinations.

JOIN THE WAITLIST

So, without further ado, this is the list of destinations I am already working on for 2026 and that is almost guaranteed:

Dominican Republic

Melanie and Melissa reached out to us last month saying the kind of things we always say: Supporting local women, authentic experiences that help communities, a female owned team that is starting out, a destination that is overlooked or entirely focused on all-inclusive resort and a culture that is rich, diverse, thriving, and ready to be explored.

This will be a destination I will travel to towards the end of 2026 because we are always choosing the best season and I want to avoid the rainy months, but it is one I am super excited about.

What I am excited about: Pristine beaches away from all-inclusive resorts, waterfalls and nature galore, a cultural kaleidoscope of African influence, Spanish colonialism and a proud local population that celebrates its traditions despite colorism. We will enjoy the type of DR that the tourism board does not want to show you and hear from passionate activists.

Vienam & Cambodia

I have been meaning to offer a tour to Southeast Asia beyond Bali for a while. Having lived in the region for 14 years and traveled so much, this is an area that is close to my heart.

I thought our first tour would be to Thailand, but a local company from Vietnam reached out to us and this made us prioritise Vietnam.

Our tour will start in Hanoi, Vietnam and end in Siem Reap, Cambodia, and will explore Ho Chi Minh, Hoi An, Ninh Bin and the temples of Angkor Wat.

I have not been back to these two countries since the pandemic, in fact, Cambodia was the trip I had to cancel when it hit Singapore, and I am very happy to return. I will be there in Feb / Mar for a month, traveling slowly and working remotely.

What I am excited about: The food, OMG, I loved both Vietnamese and Khmer food, and can't wait to stuff my face with both! I am also keen to take you behind the scenes in what can be a very well trodden part of SEA.

Sailing the Balearic Islands

We will not offer our signature a Greece sailing trip from 2027, but this will be a great way to fill in the missing sailing vibes with beautiful Mediterranean coves and beaches.

Instead of a large boat we will sail on smaller premium catamarans of up to 8 people each, in a flotilla of 2 to 3 catamarans maximum, and stay close to shore near inaccessible coves, cute villages and crystal clear waters. Swim in the warm waters and spend evenings on shore at laid back chic bars and restaurants. We will also explore the islands on shore excursions to vineyards, archeological sites and farms for cooking classes.

We will probably offer two variations: one in Ibiza + Formentera and one to Mallorca.

I will be traveling there at the end of June to explore the area and sail around.

What I am excited about: Showing you these island paradises that are mostly popular with Europeans but undiscovered by the rest of the world, and having really local experiences. After all, I am a local.

French Polynesia

This is a trip that has been long in the making and I am very excited about - who wouldn't be for work to take them to the world's most romantic destination?

I have already been there, I spent 10 days in Tahiti and Bora Bora over 10 years ago, partly solo partly with a friend and I had the funniest moments when dining alone at honeymoon resorts and the staff always insisted in bringing 2 of everything, not believing I was by myself.

Fret not, we will be your +1 and we will enjoy a destination that is so often reserved for lifetime trips such as honeymoons in the best company and in style.

What I am excited about: Waking up in an overwater villa in the literal middle of nowhere, in the Antipodean, next to the most powdery white sand beach. Coconut ceviches, fresh coconuts, swimming with humpback whales (we will time the trip with the season) and learning about Polynesian culture. It is hard to find a place that is as beautiful as French Polynesia when it comes to islands and the sea...This is the kind of place dreams are made of.

Uzbekistan (+ Turkmenistan)

I visited both countries on an extended train trip starting in Kazakhstan before the pandemic, and fell in love with Uzbekistan in particular.

The beautiful blue-tiled mosques, madrasas and mausoleums across ancient cities such as Khiva, Bukhara and Samarkand are breathtaking, and some of the most stunning buildings you will ever see.

I also loved the food, the handmade carpets and handicrafts and the tails of the Silk Road, where trade brought ingredients and influence across Central Asia. I loved thinking of what it was all like in those times and how it has all been preserved until today.

What I am excited about: Sharing the unique architecture with you and photographing it all. This is a country most know little about and it will be great to let you in to those stories.

PS It is possible that the tour to Uzbekistan also includes an extension to Turkmenistan.

Andalusia

I partially did the scouting for this trip when I visited Seville and Jerez last year, but I still need to return to Granada and Cordoba which I visited years ago as a student.

This will be a great trip filled with amazing food (birthplace of tapas and of jamon - Iberian ham), lots of Spanish traditions such as flamenco or guitar playing, incredible architecture (Seville's cathedral, Cordoba's mosque or Granada's Alhambra Palace to name a few) and that I will time perfectly well for the celebrations that make this such a festive destination.

What I am excited about: The food, the Sherry wine, the flamenco dancing and colorful dresses, and showing you all that makes Southern Spain so special and like nowhere else in the country. Expect the unexpected, there is so much still to discover about Spain despite the 90 million annual visitors.

JOIN THE WAITLIST

Restaurants are banning solo diners

Every week I read of a new restaurant not allowing solo diners.

Some, like this now famous Liverpool kebab place, say that it is because of the economics of sitting a solo diner in a small place, others, like the Korean restaurant above, claim "they don't sell loneliness". A pub in Manchester has been under scrutiny after it says it bans solo drinkers after 9pm to avoid harassment.

As we start to claim our independence, to travel or to eat alone, and enjoy more time with ourselves, the number of solo diners will only increase and this controversy will continue.

Loneliness is also a growing concern in developed economies, and not being able to eat alone and enjoy a meal in the pseudo-company of others will only aggravate this issue.

Have you been denied seating because you were alone?
Have you felt that you were given the worst seat in the restaurant (at the bar, near the toilets) because you were solo?Have you instead been celebrated for your time with yourself?

I have, fortunately, never felt discriminated against or treated worse because I was solo.

If I am dining somewhere with a bar, I often request it.

I prefer to be considerate with the restaurant because I am a business owner myself, and have sympathy for their ability to sit 2 people where only 1 would. But also, I don't find the bar worse than a table, in fact I enjoy it.

I get to see the action and I can chat to the waiter / waitress who, typically, have the best recommendations for places to eat and drink and will even know places to shop or check out that are not the usual tourist stuff. I have got some of the best tips from them.

I also like to eat early for dinner, so I can go back to my hotel not too late, so restaurants tend to be quieter and there is less of an opportunity cost for them to sit a single patron.

Lastly, I also eat quickly, I am not there to pass the time but to take a break, eat and move on to my next destination, so I don't sit around either.

Of course, they don't know any of that when I show up, but I have to honestly say that I have never encountered issues eating along, thus far at least.

Want to read more about this trend? Take a look at this article from Time magazine.

Photo of the week

Last week's photo

This photo was taken in Vienna, on our Xmas markets tour. This is a fantastic city if you love the Xmas spirit. There are over a dozen markets all with their own identity and the streets are beautifully decorated.

Come with us to explore it on a history walking tour, a Xmas markets tour and a food safari and cookie baking dinner. Plus, stops in Zurich, Munich, Salzburg, Hallstatt and Liechtenstein!

=> Tour details here.

This week's photo

Can you guess this week's photo?

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