Over the past year, we’ve noticed a shift at Tin Poppy Retreat, our offi-grid cabins in the Shuswap. Solo female travelers. Not for a girls’ weekend or a partner getaway, but truly solo. They’re coming from Kelowna, Vancouver, Kamloops, Revelstoke, neighboring towns and cities, and they’re coming for one reason: to become gloriously unavailable for a little while.

A couple of years ago, I took a trip to Naramata by myself. No itinerary, no timeline. I stayed at the Naramata Inn, then rented a small apartment near Nickel Plate Ski Hill. My days were spent on early-season cross-country skis. In the evenings, I’d snack on chocolate, cheese, meats, wine, without anyone else’s schedule to consider.

I think that’s what our guests are seeking when they book a cabin here. Not a curated experience, just to go “off-grid” and do exactly what they want.

One guest wrote in our book about arriving with her young kids still ringing in her ears. She came with her dog, stayed two nights, and spent most of her time in the sauna and on the trails. What she wrote: it was refreshing. Not rejuvenating in that wellness-retreat sense. Just Refreshing.

That’s the shift we’re seeing. Women aren’t booking escapes from their partners or vacations from work. They’re booking time away from the constant low-level demand of being responsible. They’re booking silence.

And Tin Poppy works for that. Our off-grid cabins near Salmon Arm are spread across one hundred sixty acres, each one a five to ten minute walk from the next. You get that feeling of solitude, of being out there on your own, but you’re not actually alone. There are people around. You might run into someone on the trails. But with 14 km of onsite trails and a downloadable map, you’re never lost, you’re safely isolated.

The off-grid setup reinforces it, Violet & Wild Rose Cabins have no electricity or running water, but you have everything that matters: lights, comfortable beds, a wood-fired sauna. When the sun sets, you naturally wind down. When the birds wake you, you’re rested.

The cabins have full kitchens with ovens, barbecues, and fridges, everything you need.

Here’s what a solo vacay looks like: You can open a bottle of wine at night and eat crackers and sardines for dinner. You can sit on the porch with tea into the evening. You can take a morning sauna, you can walk the trails or stay inside and read. You can drive to Larch Hills Winery for a tasting, or you can stay put. If you’re here in winter and you ski, you can wake early and be first on the snow. You can take a sauna at midnight under the stars.

That’s solo travel for women right now. Not optimization. Not Instagram moments. Just time to remember what you want.