Hi, Here is my rather long list of organizations that help put single people together for travel. You should be able to find a group that fits your style and pocketbook. Good luck. Sandy in LA

TRAVEL COMPANIONS

Travel Companion Exchange (TCE) finds traveling companions, all areas, all ages. Includes nationwide hosting exchange, interesting newsletters, 50% discounts in 1300 hotels. Travelers fill out a personality profile, stating their preference in a companion (one who smokes, doesn't smoke, drinks, abstains, enjoys dancing/museums, desires budget travel or first-class). After they scan others' profiles and decide, contact is made through the Exchange. A six-month membership ranges from $36 to $66. For more information: P.O. Box 833-A, Amityville, NY 11701; phone: 516-454-0880. For a copy of the current issue of the Travel Companions Newsletter, enclose a check payable to TCE for $4.00

Partners-in-Travel, 11660 Chenault St., Suite 119, Los Angeles, CA 90049. Miriam (Toby) Tobolowsky operates this service for solo travelers. She produces a bimonthly newsletter containing travel tips for singles, and a directory for those looking to share travel plans. Membership is open to all adults, but the over-whelming majority are age 50 and over. It has about 500 listings. The newsletter is being replaced by four brochures aimed at the mature single traveler, each costing about $5. The directory is $8. For details of the program and the questionnaire for the listing, send a self-addressed stamped envelope to the above address. About 90% of the members are 50 years or older.

Travel Mates helps you get together with compatible traveling companions. After you join, complete a questionnaire, and request a search, you will be sent background information on up to five prospective travel partners in your vicinity whose interests and personalities seem to match yours. You take it from there. Your annual $15 membership fee includes your first search; after that additional matching costs $5 each. There is no age minimum, but most members are over 50. For Information: Travel Mates, 49 W. 44th. St., New York, NY 10036; 212-221-6565.

Solo Flights, 127 S. Compo Road, Westport, CT 06880; 203256-1235; 800-266-1566. Singles vacations have been the specialty of this agency for 18 years. It runs excellent, uncrowded cruises and tours, here and abroad for all ages. Prices very reasonable; and acts as a resource for other tours, cruises and packages for single people of all ages. It will try to match participants with roommates to save the costly single supplement charge. Mature Tours, a new service from Solo targets the 50-plus market.

Elderhostel, 75 Federal, Boston MA 02110; 617-426-8056, for those 60 and older and Interhostel, University of New Hampshire, 6 Garrison Ave., Durham, NH 03824; 603-862-1147, for those age 50 and older, both draw large numbers of singles. Elderhostel sponsors educational travel to more than 2,000 locations in the US. plus others in 43 countries. Interhostel concentrates on overseas learning vacations with programs in 25 countries.

Golden Companions. Devoted to those 45 and older, this firm has regional get-togethers, and a networking program to put you in contact with other solo travelers. For $94/year, you get membership directory, bimonthly newsletter and confidential mail-exchange service thru which you can connect with other single travelers. Info: Box 5249, Reno NV 89513, tel: 702-324-2227.

Grand Circle Travel. A huge tour operator based in Boston with trips specifically designed for people 50+. It will try to match singles. Tel: 800-221-2610.

Merry Widows. A traveling group for women 50+ that brings its own gentlemen dancers along on trips -- generally one man for every five women. Will try to make roommate assignments. Tel: 800-374-2689 for brochures, 813-289-5000 for general info.

Rainbow Adventures. A creative company that arranges outdoorsy trips for women 30 and older. Although not aimed specifically at singles, men aren't included. Will pair off women in double rooms to avoid the single supplement. Among its many trips: walking in Scotland, skiing in Yellowstone, Costa Rica nature safari. 800-804-8686.

The Women's Travel Club has a newsletter with names of members seeking travel companions, group trips, meeting dates; $35/year. Designed for both married and single women of all ages, it organizes unique discounted trips with room-share guarantees. 800-480-4448, 305-936-9669.

The Single-Friendly Travel Directory, that lists hundreds of travel companies, clubs, societies and organizations whose programs and prices are sensitive to the needs of people traveling without a partner--plus tour operators that have share options. The directory comes with membership in Connecting, ($25/year), or it's available alone for $7.95. Details, Solo Travel Network, 800-557-1757, 604-737-7791.

Partners For Travel calls itself a travel resource for single, divorced and widowed men and women over age 50. New members fill out a profile detailing their interests, background, travel plans and what they are looking for in a traveling companion. The information is used to put members in touch with others who have similar interests. For more information on Partners For Travel, plus a free calendar of travel events for single seniors, write 801 N. Venetian Drive, Suite 1102, Miami, Fla. 33139, or call (800) 866-5565.

Vacation Partners, Inc., 853 Sanders Rd., #272, Northbrook, IL 60062-2901 (847)205-2008. $50 per year. Helps you find partners to travel with. Through a custom-designed software program, travelers with similar backgrounds and interests are matched. Major categories include personal life-styles, personality characteristics, health, destination preferences, hobbies, habits and those features that are so important to you and that you would like to see in others. Members are sent a profile questionnaire to complete and return. Registrants are provided with a Profile Questionnaire Response Summary where four anonymous crossmatch studies are available for analysis. After order of selection is made, they are identified so that contact can take place. Suggestions are made to enhance the initial telephone call and first meeting Reference exchanges also suggested. Advance notice of 30 to 90 days is preferred prior to making vacation plans.

Gallivanting, the Club for Adventure, 800-933-9699, emphasizes active vacations in exotic locales with parties and get-togethers before and after tours. The club attracts singles 25-55 with a range of interests.

Single World, 800-223-6490 books escorted groups of solo vacationers on cruise ships to sundry destinations year-round. Land-based trips are scheduled only during summer. There are two age groups: 20s-30s and mixed.

Backroads, 800-462-2848, offers singles only bicycling, cross-country skiing, and walking and hiking trips, in addition to more than 100 other active itineraries worldwide.

Golden Companions has become a popular medium for singles. over the age of 45 to find travel companions of similar age and interests. The more-than-1,000 members range in age from 46 to 89. Golden Companions publishes a membership directory that contains an outline of members' interests (including travel, sports, hobbies and social activities). Annual membership, which includes the companion listings, is $85; a six-month trial membership is $48. For complete membership information and an application-form, write Golden Companions, P.O. Box 5249, Reno VN 89513; (702)324-2227 targets lone travelers 45 and older.

Connecting, P. O. Box 29088, 1996 W Broadway, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6J5C2; 800-557-1757. Main goal is to facilitate hospitality for visitors to new cities and create a network for travelers helping each other. Dating and mating is not the intention. Memberships $25 (US) and include an annual copy of the Single-Friendly Travel Directory, which includes tour-company, lodging and travel-industry contacts but not listings for travel companions.

The World For Free, Box 137, Prince St Station, NYC 10012; fax only, 212-979-8167. This group was composed of young rock musicians who wanted to travel inexpensively. Now there are a couple of hundred members with a variety of back-grounds, mainly in the US and Europe. you pay yearly dues of $25 and receive a directory of other members willing to host travelers. A bonus of membership is that the first 14 pages of World for Free membership directory contains lots of travel tips, including contacts for working as an air courier, ways to get discounts on trains and airplanes, along with a list of other budget travel clubs.