I’ve seen a lot of travel articles written in praise of solo travel for women. They’re great. I’ve done a good amount of travelling alone and I do love the independence and self-fortification as much as the next girl. Yet, it has its limitations. I’ve found that there are certain things I’m just more comfortable doing within the safety of numbers and these pursuits are often a little livelier in good female company.

I recently had friends around for a dinner party. They’re all in the 50-60 age bracket and well travelled, so we talked about an issue raised by the Local Travel Movement. The question I asked them was whether they travelled primarily to meet and interact with local people in the destinations they go to or to see and experience things as distinct from the personal interaction?