How do you prefer to travel?

[Mr. Bird]

Public transport mostly. Convenient,not expensive and I dont have to deal with the worst part of the traffic;the driving part. I don't need to search for a parking spot. With this I can start doing what I wanna do instantly when I arrive to my location.

 

[Nessa]

I travel mostly on my own but sometimes I go to visit people I know abroad, or with an agency in a tour depending of the safety of the country. On place I travel with public transportation. I think that traveling with an activity is great too. For example volunteering, working, studying. I actually plan to travel to China to study chinese in a school.

[Ekaterina]

I enjoy traveling with one or both of my parents. Like, travels abroad, travels to other cities/towns, travels to countryside. I love doing this sort of thing from time to time. What comes to the means of traveling - I traveled by train, plane, river boat, enjoyed all of it. Within the city, by underground, and alone if it's for business (study/work) and again with my family members if it's for leisure. 

[Rook on the Hook]

I want to like travelling alone, but it usually just winds up feeling like work, and a lot of the time, my travelling preference is not travelling at all. After weeks to months of living out of a cheap motel room, only able to keep in contact with loved ones over the phone, and no company off-work hours unless I want to navigate trying to meet strangers in a bar in what are usually pretty insular communities, the last thing I want to do is spend more time alone and away from home.

Really, I think it would be accurate to say I like travelling alone a lot, but I do it so often that it's ruined as a hobby for me, just like I love hiking, but absolutely do not want to join my friends for a weekend hike after a 60 hour week of surveying in the hills. It's a factor in why I enjoy my job, not something I do for fun on my own time. If I'm going to go through the hassle and expense of even more travel, I want to do it with someone whose company I enjoy as a primarily social experience, be that friends or family.

As far as day trips go though? I adore a solo adventure. I definitely appreciate when schedules line up and a friend can join me, but I love the freedom of just being able to go and do cool things, and I operate on the assumption that I'm going alone and if anyone I invited can make it it's an added bonus.

All in all, I think my work-life affects how I travel far more than being aro does. Really, I think the only way my aromanticism plays into it is that I am a lot more free to take per diem work in the first place, as I don't have any obligations to a partner, and even that's specific to me being non-partnering.

[emillioe53]

On 3/22/2022 at 10:32 PM, roboticanary said:

Chatting to a few friends recently reminded me that for so many people travel/going on holiday is something done with a romantic partner. Each of them either went on holiday as a couple or in one case as a family with their kids.

Maybe when they were young they might have travelled with friends a small number of times to party (if they had more cash than I did at that age), but that was rare, and travelling alone was something they just don't do. All the stories are as a couple.

It was only recently, after discovering aromanticism and putting more thought into my identity, that I began to realise my preference for travelling alone was not what people usually want.

So I was wondering, with the diversity of aro relationships there is likely a lot of variety in how we would prefer to travel, maybe you have a love of exploring alone, maybe with a QPR, maybe you travel with friends or family, maybe something else. 

I would love to hear your experiences. For those who prefer solo adventures, I recommend looking into reliable travel booking platforms to ensure smooth planning and execution. One resource I've found helpful is https://cheapoair-canada.pissedconsumer.com/customer-service.html. Their customer service can be a lifesaver when you're navigating travel plans on your own.

I’ve found that travel preferences can be quite diverse, especially within the aromantic community. 

[MulticulturalFarmer]

On 7/22/2024 at 5:25 AM, Hanestoot said:

I totally get the excitement of discovering new places and the joy of the journey itself. Personally, I love traveling by train for shorter trips because it’s such a relaxing way to see the countryside and just unwind. For longer distances, flying is my go-to, especially since it saves so much time. But one thing that has made flying even better for me is finding cheap business class tickets. It’s such a game-changer to travel in comfort without breaking the bank. You get extra legroom, better food, and a more peaceful experience overall. If you haven’t tried it yet, definitely look into it for your next big trip. It can make the whole travel experience so much more enjoyable and stress-free.

I totally vibe with the idea of looking at the window and seeing the landscapes/countryside and it seems fun. I have flown a couple of times before and totally regretted it, but hey, it's convenient and sometimes you need to go places. I guess for environmental reasons I prefer trains, buses, and bikes whenever possible but let's just say the country I live in is totally not equipped for people to take trains daily outside of vacationing. So yeah I definitely feel you on the pros and cons.

[tiger_hoods12]

I prefer traveling alone. I love it that way anyway. It doesn’t matter where I’m going or how far my destination is, I just love being alone and taking the time to for it to be just me and my thoughts and/or music. When it comes to traveling  for like vacations, I enjoy going with family a lot of time. One day, however, I hope to travel on a vacation on my own. Traveling alone like that sounds so nice to me. Where I can do whatever I want and not have anyone slow me down. Really take in the beauty of the places that I go to. But anyway, traveling alone, yes. Traveling with family, also yes.

[ABC]

Since the original question is about travel as leisure, my preference is not to travel.

I will only do necessary commutes for education, business, and daily necessities, mostly with public transport, with a bit of driving for certain locations.

Just like how I don’t see the point of romance, I don’t see the point of traveling in the context of leisure. Both are glorified in mainstream culture as achievements to aspire for, that I see no value in.

If I wanted certain experiences, I can just search for a virtual experience of it, whether it’s a livestream, a prerecorded program, or even a game environment. If the experience requires tactile objects, I would just shop or order the object, if something isn’t sold online, then my commute to a store is travel to achieve a goal, travel for leisure, not as leisure. Virtual experiences don’t count as traveling if I’m physically just staying at home. Playing an open world game doesn’t count as traveling, not because they are of fictional worlds but because I’m physically just staying at home. Even opening Google Maps with 3D renders of real world tourist attractions is technically not traveling, nor is watching others’ travel videos or seeing the desktop wallpaper for today’s Windows changing every several hours into photographs of real tourist attractions. And I’m fine, even fulfilled with that.

To equate it with romance, consuming virtual/fictional media that involves or includes romance in them is not romance. And I have no interest in real-life romance just like I have no interest in real-world travel, excluding commutes to necessary places, they don’t count.

If that’s not a satisfying answer, I don’t see the point of expending so much unecessary time and effort for both travel and romance, when I can get similar but not the same experiences for less wasted time and less wasted resources. Why should I be in a vehicle for longer than necessary just to physically be in a very far place, let alone carry heavy luggage, and pay costs for transport and temporary stays, when I can do without all the unecessary effort and get a similar experience virtually just from a quick search and significantly less preparations. Just like romance, why should I be involved in the emotionally draining activity of keeping track of an individual’s preferences on top of making sure they are, I don’t know what they are trying to achieve, but I know I don’t want anything to do with something I find no value in “achieving”.