Traveling and the single parent! – the silent majority

Statistics show that at any one time there are 95 million singles, over 50% of that number are “single again with children” In round numbers, that is 17 million people who wonder what sort of vacation they can take as a “single parent”

I remember back in the early ‘90’s, as a single dad wanting to travel to Aruba - with my 12-year-old daughter. I stayed at an all-inclusive hotel. In those days, single dads traveling with their daughters was as foreign as email. I paid for double occupancy and spent the days trying to find things we could both do, or do separately.

While I watched her swim from the pool top bar, the ‘all inclusive’ free drinks with more mix than alcohol dehydrated me. Yet my daughter would continue to ask at the end of each swim day “Dad are you drunk”

We rented a 4 X 4 and circumvented the island. I now know what the surface of the moon looks like. As the Atlantic side of Aruba has constant trade winds, rough rocky terrain with no vegetation. There is a really cool natural pool situated at the water’s edge, sheltered by a single rock wall – pounding surf on one side, tranquil yet deep tidal pool on the other. The very rough journey takes forever to get to over the often extremely rocky and often harrowing 4X4 trail.

It was fabulous – after 5 minutes my daughter decided it was time to go. I had other aspirations, which were to kick back in the sun and watch the waves finish their long journey from Africa crashing on the reef surrounding this incredible wonder.

We continued far past the pool in our 4X4, the area still looked like the moon finished off with a 5-foot embankment. Our way was blocked. I had two choices, go back over the 2-hour bumpy hot surface or build a ramp out of the many small boulders. About 40 minutes later I finished the ramp while my daughter inched the 4X4 up the incline as I guided her. I let her drive part of the way on the back Aruba roads – we got some interesting looks as her head could barely see over the steering wheel!

We rented jet skis together, we snorkeled, caved in what we discovered was Aruba’s Bat infested underground, went on some very cool boat tours, shopped, hung out and did other fun things.

The problem was that I think she would have had more fun hanging with kids her own age – and I would have enjoyed some adult conversation and maybe more. After all, here I was on a tropical island. Maybe I’d meet my future ex wife, or so I thought.

That night after a dress up dinner, I wanted to go to the casino and gamble some of the $5K I brought just for a night at the roulette table (plus I wanted to wear the ‘James Bond tux’ I brought with me especially for the occasion). My daughter decided that she was not comfortable and too afraid to stay by herself in the hotel room. However I did end up sneaking out after she dozed off in front of the TV – only to arrive back to a very frightened and upset adolescent. Something that my ex never let me forget about from that day forward. My daughter is now approaching her 21st birthday, and to be sure she has forgive the whole thing.

What every single parent should have is the option to travel with our kids, plus be able to mingle with other single parents, and have our kids meet other children their own age. Edatenow has this solution covered.

The folks at Radisson Cable Beach have come up with an interesting concept geared towards the single parent traveler. They’ve some up with a program that caters to the needs of all the parties. While the kids are leaving their parents out of all the scheduled fun provided by the hotel they’re having, their single parents are left to either lay in peace, or meet other single parents

The single parent traveler can hang out in a safe, trouble free environment that is designed specifically for both parent and child.