A woman has gone on seven solo holidays without her partner this year - and says people ask her if she feels guilty.<br /><br />Christina Patel, 30, has been with her partner for four and a half years.<br /><br />In that time, the pair have been on multiple holidays together but due to his teaching job, Christina often leaves her partner at home while she jets off around the world.<br /><br />In 2022, the couple had two trips together, while Christina had five on her own.<br /><br />Many people have told Christina that her relationship is "unconventional" but she disagrees saying that her partner is "understanding".<br /><br />Christina, a recruiter, from Ware, Hertfordshire, said: "My partner is a school teacher so we can only go away together in school holidays.<br /><br />"He knew what he was getting himself into - within our first four months of dating I had five trips booked and one of them was a month-long trip to South America.<br /><br />"Sometimes people will say 'your poor boyfriend is home alone do you not feel guilty having fun without him?'.<br /><br />"I mainly get those comments from the older generation or people who hold really traditional values.<br /><br />"I am very lucky that my partner is very understanding about it and knows I love to travel."<br /><br />Christina visited south east Asia when she was 22-years-old and said she hasn't stopped travelling since.<br /><br />So far this year, Christina has visited seven countries and none of them have been with her partner.<br /><br />She said: "I love travelling; it is that feeling of freedom and having different adventures everyday.<br /><br />"I love meeting new people and trying new foods - it is a combination of those things.<br /><br />"It is very different from being at home, waking up, going to work, then sleeping.<br /><br />"I like the spontaneous lifestyle."<br /><br />Christina said her partner is "very understanding" as he works as a school teacher so is only available at certain times a year.<br /><br />She admitted she can be very spontaneous and book a holiday a week before she is due to go.<br /><br />Christina said: "We do have a holiday in August booked and a few weekends booked together.<br /><br />"I think if I was with someone who couldn't travel with their job and was not understanding of my love of travelling it just wouldn't work - I am very lucky.<br /><br />"Most of the stuff I do I book on a whim, when it is the school holidays I will make sure we plan together but apart from that I am a last-minute booker.<br /><br />"When I tell him I am going away he is like 'ok fair enough' he will come back from work and I will tell him how I will be going away next week and he is used to it."<br /><br />LIST OF SOLO HOLIDAYS IN 2023<br /><br />- Barbados <br />- USA<br />- Nicaragua <br />- Indonesia <br />- Singapore <br />- Philippines <br />- Sri Lanka
