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Kim Jeong-min, a 37-year-old company worker and resident of Seoul’s Mapo district, left last March for a solo five-day trip to Hong Kong. She stayed in an eight-room dormitory, mingling with people from the US, the Philippines, and Australia and taking part in festivals in downtown Hong Kong.

“Since getting married, I’ve been one of the staff at my company and someone’s spouse when I got home,” Kim said. “Traveling on my own is great because I can spend time without thinking about myself as ‘somebody’s wife.‘”

Kim has traveled by herself more than ten times in almost five years since tying the knot. She is currently planning to enjoy traveling on her own in South Korea this summer.

More and more married couples are opting to take solo holidays, citing reasons ranging from wanting to be alone to wanting to escape the burdens of child-raising. The child care information community Momsholic frequently sees posts from married users who are thinking of traveling on their own or encouraging spouses to travel by themselves.

“The in-laws are taking the baby so I can travel on my own,” wrote one user.

“I told my wife that I’d take care of the children and the household so she could travel for three days,” wrote another.

A 37-year-old resident of Incheon surnamed Hwang traveled alone for the first time in an eight-year marriage with a trip to Tokyo last month.

“I may be a husband, but sometimes when you’re traveling with someone, you have to give up your time to an itinerary that’s no fun,” Hwang said.

“I like traveling on my own because I don’t have to waste time and I can have the opportunity to think deeply about what kind of person I am,” he added.

A report on “2016 outbound conditions and projected trends” published on June 30 by Korea Tourism Organization showed 14.4% of the 1,075 adults over 18 surveyed who had traveled or planned to travel overseas that year were traveling alone. The number was up from 11% in 2015. The percentage of respondents who reported traveling with their spouse was down to 42.6% last year from 48.4% in 2015, while the proportion reporting traveling with their children was down to 24.7% from 27.1%.

“The rising number of cases where spouses travel on their own are a reflection of how complex and difficult daily life and interpersonal relations have become with work, child care, and other factors,” said Lee Seung-shin, a professor of consumer information science at Konkuk University.

“The current ‘YOLO’ [an acronym meaning ‘you only live once’] trend also appears to have played a part,” Lee said.

By Hwang Keum-bi, staff reporter

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