Lonely planet lone rangers

CHECK IN/ Why wait until you're a couple? Go now, it's just as easy, and cheaper

If you're okay with lugging your own suitcases up a liftless six-floor pensione in Barcelona, and not awkward about eating at a pizzeria in Bologna by yourself five nights in a row, maybe you're ready to take a solo vacation this Christmas. And now there are customised holiday options for Intrepid You.

Of course the obvious choice would be to use a traditional singles destination like Club Med which offers vacation "villages" in over 100 different locations around the world. The original villages were, by concept, very simple, typically straw huts on a beachfront, with guests sharing communal facilities and their target clientele quickly became young singles looking to meet, well, other young singles. Today there are global travel services that unapologetically clarify they cater to singles.

Speedbreaks offers activity-based group holidays like skiing or wine trails for "unattached professionals", sort of like speed-dating with the awkwardness extended over a weekend instead of three minutes, and some tennis thrown in for good measure. We advise you against going along with dating holiday providers without references, though, especially if the only activity planned is dirty dancing with Freaky Frida every night at some Bulgarian bar.

But now there are also packages being created for single travellers without romance on their mind. Intrepidtravel.com has started singles-only tours to places like Nepal. Absolutetravel.com actually pairs up compatible adults so you can travel with a partner but with no expectations of a blooming romance. They ask about your destination preferences and even ask whether you smoke or not as they initiate a correspondence between you and other like-minded holidaymakers.

Singlesholidays.com even offers you the opportunity to save money on holiday by arranging for fellow travellers to share twin rooms. And its not just the niche players that are luring the singles. Luxury operator Abercrombie & Kent from time to time discounts its holiday packages for single travellers.

Of course, as a woman solo traveller, safety can be an issue. That is why ITC-group hotels have women-only floors, and other hotels like the Park and the Taj group properties have put in safety precautions like a ban on room-to-room dialling after 10 pm and various security alarm systems; they even have their women guests escorted to and from their rooms after 9 pm.

Nobody's laughing at lone rangers any more.