Broken heart, open mind: can solo travel heal a breakup?

A broken heart is one of life’s most familiar – and uncomfortable – states of limbo, leaving many of us reeling under a cloud of uncertainty. Living space, life plans, dreams for the future: all are thrown up in the air by a split you may never have seen coming.

“Mindset is key when you go through such a traumatic life event,” says Alessandra, a Connecticut-based blogger who began the Mama’s Guide to Divorce community when her own husband left her suddenly after 12 years of marriage. “You can think, ‘Why is this happening to me?’ Or you take the attitude of, ‘What am I going to learn from this? And how am I going to grow?’” 

“It might be hard to believe but some endings are actually new beginnings in disguise,” adds psychotherapist Sara Kuburic, in a post on her wildly popular Millennial Therapist Instagram. 

It’s this exact crossover between old and new – a jarring nowhere land – that may be behind an emerging trend for post-breakup solo travel. Up to 40% of Flash Pack’s community join our trips off the back of a recent breakup or divorce. 

For this growing cohort of newly singles, solo adventure offers a powerful opportunity to reset and meet new people in an environment where they feel both comforted and stretched. Even for those who have rarely traveled before, the small-group setup is a surprisingly soft landing spot for chaos and sadness within.

It’s not just about being somewhere new, either. Getting on a plane helps, but the beauty of solo travel is being able to connect with new communities in different ways – and to recognize fresh avenues of happiness that perhaps didn’t register with the relationship version of you.

“I didn’t want to be at home over the holidays”

London-based advertising consultant John “JJ” Jones made a last-minute decision to travel to Sri Lanka with Flash Pack, after breaking up with his boyfriend of four years. 

“I booked just two weeks before the trip departed, running over Christmas and New Year,” he says. “I knew that I didn’t want to be at home over the holidays. From the outset, our Sri Lankan group also felt like a very safe, calm environment to share in. 

“I decided to be really honest with everyone about why I was there, and I think people appreciated that. As we became more comfortable with one another, everyone started to follow suit in opening up.”

From these deep conversations to forest dancing and midnight fireworks in Galle, what followed was two weeks of deeply bonding adventure that brought JJ back to himself. 

“I wasn’t in a great space when I arrived but I returned feeling refreshed and rejuvenated,” he explains. “People remarked that I seemed more like myself when I returned. From the lack of distractions to the great company and the opportunity to reset – the whole experience was more than a holiday. It was like an awakening to myself; it had a lasting impact. I made real friendships, too.” 

“It was good to fill my cup. I returned feeling lighter”

Like JJ, Quebecoise fashion buyer Roxanne Bélisle made an impromptu choice to travel over the holidays, after she and her partner ended their three-year relationship.

“I thought, ‘There’s no way I’m going to be here alone in my living room, just watching my Christmas tree,’” she says. “Out of nowhere on a cold and dark Friday night, I just went ahead and booked Flash Pack’s Morocco escape. It was a big gift to myself. But it felt so right, and thrilling, to commit myself to something new.” 

Roxanne soon found herself in Marrakech, bonding with a new group of solo travelers whom she felt immediately at home with. “Like me, other Flashpackers joined the trip fresh from life’s ups and downs. But, somehow, we were able to meet in the same place and connect,” she says.

It was the starting point of an escape full of unexpected joys, from cooking with an inspiring female chef in the Atlas Mountains to an ATV ride through the lunar-like landscape of the Agafay Desert. One of the highlights for Roxanne was New Year’s Eve.

“That night we glamped in the desert, and live performances from local musicians turned into a desert rave. All of us were just dancing together under the stars – it was so liberating and maybe the best party I’ve been to in a decade or more,” she says. “When I woke up on 1 January 2026, the sun was rising over the desert. I thought, ‘How crazy is it that I’m here, in this beautiful setting after one of the best nights of my life?’

“It was good to have a moment to step away and fill my cup with new experiences and fresh connections,” she adds. “My issues didn’t disappear but I returned home lighter, filled with a greater sense of peace, clarity and joy.”

“My world unravelled, but meeting other people helped”

For Becky Turpin, a community health worker from Wisconsin, the impact was even more profound. Becky traveled with Flash Pack to Thailand and Laos as she was going through a divorce from her partner of 15 years.

“It was great to meet so many other people at a time when my own little world had unravelled. I could remind myself that my experience was tiny compared to the huge world out there: that there are so many ways to connect with people – and so many other relationships to value – beyond being married,” she says.

“Looking back, that adventure was perfect timing for the confidence boost I needed to set off on my own, in all aspects of life. I’d been wanting to travel for so long and [the trip] reaffirmed that adventure is something I should be making space for in my life.” 

London-based management consultant and Instagrammer Jigna Patel experienced a similar wake-up call after her arranged marriage ended in her 20s. 

Like “many women from a South Asian background”, Jigna “grew up following a timeline”. And that narrative changed when she finally discovered the delights of solo adventure.

“When I first traveled the world post-divorce, I realized that there are so many people out there pursuing their own version of happiness,” she says. “And often, that happiness has nothing to do with traditional markers of ‘success’ such as marriage, a house or babies. It changed everything for me and I came back a different person.”

Perhaps this returns to a reality of post-breakup travel: that two things can be true at once. You can feel vulnerable alone and find a whole new freedom in exploring that aloneness. Because, as Becky says, an event like a breakup “knocks us off the plateau” of life. But it’s also an invitation “to try something you never thought you would [and] settle on the next plateau with an even more magnificent view”.

Images: Flash Pack