12-Day Solo Trip to Nepal Without the Hubby and Kids; One of My Best

Down-to-earth adventure seekers who are short on funds but high on energy and enthusiasm. Those are the best kind of people.

Back in my 20s, I went on yearly hiking trips with my two best friends. We hiked the Inca Trail, trekked in Patagonia, Chile, and went to Angel Falls in Venezuela. We had little money, but a high sense of adventure, so we booked inexpensive hiking tours to take us to our destinations. It was on those trips that we met the best people.

Fast forward 30 years. Here I am 53, married with two teenage boys. While I travel extensively with my family and love it, I miss those trips in my 20s where I didn’t have to worry about anyone but myself.

I also missed those “travel bestie” connections, when I instantly bonded with someone I’d just met, even though we might never see each other again. It’s like kids who meet at summer camp and form an intense and fabulous, albeit sometimes temporary, attachment. I loved my travel besties, whom I met on those long-ago hiking trips. We spent 24/7 together and laughed and bonded in a way that’s hard to duplicate when you’re traveling with family.

The nostalgia for those long-ago hiking trips made me think about taking a trip without the hubby and kids. Nepal has always been on my bucket list, so I started looking there. I wanted a solo trip, but I also wanted a built-in opportunity to meet new people, so I checked out solo tours from various tour operators and landed on G Adventures’ “Solo-ish Nepal” package.

I went during the off-season, when the tickets were more affordable — about $1,500 for 12 days — and I can honestly say it was one of my favorite trips ever.

It was a motley crew of travelers

My fellow solo travelers ranged from a 19-year-old college student from Sydney to a 64-year-old retired police officer. I quickly became best friends with an oncology nurse from Norway who was easily 20 years my junior. Adding to the mix was a geometry middle school teacher from the West Coast (who was hilarious and kept us laughing), a Fulbright scholar, an art teacher from New England, and a woman who worked at Trader Joe’s.

Four of us were older than 50, and four of us were younger, but the group didn’t divide by age; we all mingled together. One person even had a radically different political perspective than the rest of us, and I still adored her and didn’t talk politics.

It was July, the middle of Nepal’s monsoon season, when the eight of us met in Kathmandu on the first day of the trip. And yet, the rain and 90-degree heat didn’t deter the crazy amounts of fun we had.

One of the reasons I think the trip was such a success was because of the tour’s price point. It wasn’t luxury — it didn’t attract those looking for five-star accommodations and fancy experiences. Instead, it attracted those on a budget, who were used to rolling with the punches and pivoting when things didn’t go their way. It was similar to the vibe on my long-ago hiking trips in my 20s — exactly what I was hoping for.

We instantly bonded over momo

Our first day together was a cooking class making momos — a popular Nepali dish similar to a Chinese dumpling. I hate cooking, absolutely despise it. So, I wasn’t looking forward to this activity.

However, as my fellow travelers and I started opening up about our lives — who we were, why we decided on this trip to Nepal — the momo making was just something to keep our hands busy while we did the important work of getting to know each other.

The poor momo chef kept trying to interrupt our conversation to tell us the history of momos and how to perfect our momo-making skills, but the group had instantly bonded. Conversation took off immediately, and we were on our way to becoming instant travel besties on day one.

When we left our momo-making session, it was pouring rain outside, but we just laughed as we jumped through puddles and made our way back to the hotel. The tone of the trip was set.

We had countless adventures together and a minor hiccup

We started in Kathmandu, but every two nights we moved to a new city. That meant we had plenty of places to explore, plus plenty of van time for talking.

In Bhaktapur, we explored Durbar and Dattatreya Square. We hiked through the forest up to the top of Champa Devi, where we took in views of the Himalayan mountains and learned that Nepal is home to eight of the 10 tallest mountains in the world, including Mount Everest.

In Pharping, we visited religious landmarks at the Buddhist Asura Cave, Vajrayogini Temple, and Sheshnarayan Hindu Temple.

We then drove on to Royal Chitwan National Park, one of my favorite spots and favorite days of the trip. Our plan was to bike through a village and end up on the water for sunset, enjoying drinks and appetizers. It was notably hot that day, and one of my new travel besties told me later that she saw me sweating profusely and smiling manically while I kept saying, “I love this so much.” And I did.

Like any trip, there were hiccups along the way — we all took turns having traveler’s diarrhea (we pooled our Imodium and rehydration tablets) — but even the hiccups brought us together. We took turns making toilet paper runs to the front desk for our fellow travel companions.

Why it was one of the best trips I’ve ever had

When I returned and told my husband and kids what a great time I had, they kept asking why?

It was monsoon season (yes, it rained a lot), it was super hot and humid (yes, I sweated a lot), it was not a luxe trip (we couldn’t flush the toilet paper in the toilet, but instead had to throw it out in the trash can next to the toilet due to Nepal’s sensitive plumbing situation).

And yet, it was honestly one of the best trips I’ve ever taken. I got to go to my life-long bucket list destination, and I did it with my travel besties.