I used to think Mr. Right might show up on one of the biking trips I was booking. Or at the Club Med. Or on the river where I was rafting. I've heard many stories of people meeting on active vacations and falling in love. 
Sure, love could strike somewhere between biking a butte and doing an endo (the maneuver of flying unexpectedly over one's handlebars, sometimes cracking bones, sometimes not.)
I've had my vacation flirtations. After a biking-from-Banff adventure, for instance, I met up again with Joe from Chicago, for a biking weekend in Wisconsin.
But it dawned on me after awhile (sometimes I'm not too quick) that most of the people I meet on these trips are from far away. If I'm looking for a keeper, I'd really rather meet someone in my home town than someone from four states to the left.
The chances that someone within a 100-mile radius of where I live will sign up for, say, the Italy biking trip, the same week in November that I do, are akin to the chances of me ballroom dancing with Brad Pitt this Saturday night. Give or take.
Still, "singles" trips are appealing to many people. (I define singles trips as those where guests are single and looking, and want no marrieds on board. As opposed to a solo trip, where you just happen to be on vacation on your own, with a mix of different people.)
Singles trips attract a fairly large following.
Maybe "geographic desirability" isn't that important. Maybe it's just preferable for
some travelers to vacation only with unattached people. Maybe the fantasy
of meeting someone is worth playing the odds.
For those people, I offer some tour company Web sites to visit:
Just Singles Adventures
says it's the largest provider of singles group
vacations. "We go on adventures where everyone just happens to be
single...so we say, 'relax, forget about being single and just come out
and play!' ...And hey, ya never know!
My question is, why would you want to "forget about being single?" How would you remember to flirt?
All Singles Travel
is a service of Travel Services Worldwide and North Coast Passage
Travel. It says it's the "source for the solo traveler to meet and
travel with other fun loving singles." It promotes "fun in many ways,"
including "dress-to-impress cocktail parties" and pool/jacuzzi parties
where you can sip a pina colada.
And, with other singles around, someone's bound to be able to pull you from the bottom of the pool after all those pina coladas.
Best Single Travel,
which might or might not provide the best singles travel, asks, "Need
sometime(sic) away from work, the boredom of life, or just want to have
some fun? Join other singles and solo travelers on an exciting
international vacation. Dreams Do Come True..."
I can't tell what Dreams come true, exactly. The dream of an exciting international vacation? Or something else? It's ambiguous, don't you think?
Singles Travel International
markets to the 35 to 63 crowd. 63?
STI says it's the "only" choice for singles traveling worldwide. Hm,
clearly they haven't read the information above. Anyway...STI has
"mastered the art of the single traveler by bringing singles together
so they don't have to be alone on vacation anymore!"
Sites that aggregate information about singles tours include:
Solo Travel
CSTN, or Connecting...solo travel network.
Third Age
Fair
warning. Not all these trips are going to be very active. Choose carefully. If you don't want to end up on a sedate bus
tour or cruise, ask a lot of questions.
Photo: mbollino
Icefields Parkway from Banff to Jasper
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