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Driving up highway 1, passing Santa Barbara and Pismo Beach and waving hello to the elephant seals in San Simeon, you understand why this stretch of the California coast gets rated as one of the best road trips in the entire world. With the salt air blowing in your face, music loud, and sunshine on your shoulders, you can easily escape the rest of the world – and any stresses – as you make your way around the rocky, jagged coastline.

This is the perfect place for a solo trip.

Expedia recently surveyed travelers and a whooping 60% said they would take a solo trip in the next year. I’m usually the traveler that thinks ‘the more the merrier’, but after a stressful summer, I was ready to cool off on my own. The idea of doing whatever I wanted, stopping whenever my heart desired, hiking or not, sleeping in or not, all on my own time felt glorious.

Using Expedia’s Mobile App, I planned a quick trip up the coast, complete with car rental and hotel room. You can also plan your own solo trip and get 10% off your hotel using this exclusive code: SOLOTRAVEL. Plus, you’ll earn double Expedia Rewards points every time you book through the app. 🙂

Road trips are great solo travel excursions. You’re bound to stumble upon new adventures, meet quirky locals that you might not need to talk to if you had a travel companion, and, well, just reconnect with yourself. If you need recommendations for your first solo road trip, check out Expedia’s newly released Solo Travel Report, complete with planning tips. *The app even has a hotel taxi card if you’re in an international location and don’t know the language- how cool is that?!

One could easily plan a month of adventures in Big Sur and never see the same thing twice, so I set out with one goal in mind: don’t plan anything but the hotel. This way every day was a surprise. I picked my hotel off the Expedia Mobile App, and then set off to start the trip.

From Los Angeles it’s about 5 hours to Carmel, but with stops along the way, you’re really in the car most of the day. Fine by me. I stopped for coffee at Scout in San Luis Obispo, snapped some photos at the Elephant Seal Rookery in San Simeon, watched the marine layer come and go as I entered Big Sur, and watched the sunset from Carmel Beach.

I stayed at Hotel Carmel, the perfect hotel with a fireplace in my room, daily wine tastings, and breakfast every morning. Hotel Carmel is about 6 blocks from the beach, and within walking distance to anything in downtown Carmel. You really don’t need your car once you park at the hotel. Every morning I started with a quick bite at the hotel and then walked into town for coffee before taking a long walk on the beach. Carmel is a popular vacation spot, but early in the mornings the beach is practically empty – just me and the sea otters.

I brought a stack of unread magazines from home and a book that had been collecting dust on my nightstand. Every night before bed, I flipped the pages of the magazines and got lost in the bindings of my book as the quiet fire light danced around my room. It was a treat to put the phone down before bed.

While my solo trip was only a few days it was the perfect escape that allowed me to return home refreshed and ready to get stuff done. Now I need to let my husband plan a solo trip so he comes back as refreshed as I am! 🙂