A 30-year-old woman with access to cheap airline tickets and remote work flexibility is grappling with a dilemma many travelers face: how to maximize adventure travel before starting a family. Her post sparked 38 comments discussing solo travel, finding travel partners, and prioritizing adventure trips that won't work with young children.
"I love travelling but my partner is happy travelling 1-2 times a year and has a way less flexible job than I do," she wrote on r/travel. "Now I'm starting to get a feeling that I should try to travel more before I have kids which I want to within 3 years or so."
The destinations on her list reveal the heart of the issue: Machu Picchu and the Amazon in Peru, extensive travel around Vietnam, hot springs in Iceland, and South Korea. These aren't weekend city breaks—they're physically demanding, logistically complex adventures that become exponentially harder with small children.
This taps into a broader millennial trend. Travelers in their late twenties and early thirties increasingly face the "now or never" moment for adventure travel before parenthood. The rise of remote work has made extended travel more accessible than ever, but biological clocks don't pause for bucket lists.
Solo travel among women has surged in recent years, driven partly by this exact scenario: partners or friends with different priorities, limited vacation time, or less flexible work situations. Rather than postpone dreams indefinitely, more women are choosing to travel alone.
"I have never travelled abroad by myself," the poster admitted. "I honestly feel hesitant because I like exploring together and create memories. But I'm considering it, because otherwise I think there's a possibility none of this will happen."
The advice from experienced travelers was nearly unanimous: go. Comments emphasized that traveling solo often becomes easier with practice, that she can still share memories through photos and stories, and that waiting for the perfect travel companion often means waiting forever.
