Tourist in MSN

Solo.

I have done several tours with a former co-worker (we are both retired now) and I probably will do more tours with him. But I have also done two tours with ACA that he did not go on. After doing several trips with that former co-worker, there was one trip that I thought he would not be a good traveling partner with, so I bluntly told him that I wanted to do that trip solo, I did it and had a great time. And since then I have done one trip with that former co-worker, and that was a good trip too although it had a few rough spots where I could have predicted they would occur. I also have done one other tour with a different friend.

This year I plan to do another solo trip. The former co-worker did not express an interest, so I did not encourage him.

I pretty much have concluded that if you can find the great touring partner it is because:
- you both have about the same speed and endurance, thus you can travel close to the same pace and distance per day.
- you both have similar interests in side trips or other sightseeing.
- you both are capable of accepting the faults of the other.
- you both are willing to give in, or lose roughly half the arguments.
- as we age, sometimes we develop dietary constraints that are sometimes hard to share.
- if you set a goal of doing 10 to 20 percent more of the camp chores than your touring partner (if you are camping), then you won't get upset about having to do more than your share.

In other words, not much different than spouse hunting.

I am not going to list any faults of a past touring partner because I was willing to accept them, thus they are not worth mentioning.

Good luck finding a good bike touring partner.

But, I would rather go solo than roll the dice with someone that I have not already known for a few years.