Single Persons

It took 18 years of marriage for David C. Wright to decide there was nothing wrong with being single. Now this 65-year-old divorce is trying to help other unmarried people embrace their lifestyle and shed the stereotype that they're lonely bachelors or cat-loving old maids.

Question: I am writing about the discrimination against single travelers when it comes to cruises. Last month I desperately wanted to go on a cruise that cost $13,000, which was a bit steep for me. But when the cruise line got through with me, the cost of going solo was $27,000. I didn't go. Why can't cruise lines give us a break? -- Margery Parker \o7Rancho Palos Verdes \f7Answer: The bottom line is the bottom line.

THE best-matched married couple I know, other than my wife and me, are a university professor and a psychological therapist. They met at an Appalachian music camp where each had gone on vacation to pursue an interest in regional folk songs. I'm not suggesting travel as a means for meeting your future spouse. But for single people searching for an interesting way to vacation, I always suggest -- as I did in a recent column -- a tour that focuses on a special interest, theme or cause.

Here's some bad news for the confirmed bachelors and runaway brides of the world: They don't live as long as married people, especially if they never get married, according to new research. Many studies have found that unmarried adults tend to die earlier than those who are married, but most did not differentiate between those who were separated or divorced and those who never got hitched. In the new study, Robert Kaplan of UCLA and Richard Kronick of U.C.

Unmarried women make up the second-largest group of home buyers -- when marital status is considered -- outpacing unmarried men, according to a recent study published by Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies. Unmarried women increased their home buying by 50% in the last eight years, and made up 20% of the home-buying market in the last three years. Married couples comprised 63% of the market, and unmarried men made up 17% of the buying pool.

For the first time, single adults outnumber couples with children as the most common type of household in the United States, according to new tabulations of the 2000 census. In 1990, couples with children were the most prevalent family type, followed by singles, childless couples and single parents. Previous studies showed that singles had moved ahead of married-with-children households.

In a country where single adults now make up most common type of household, the most "single" place in America may be Manhattan. More people live alone in the Borough of Manhattan than in any U.S. county, with nearly half of all households occupied by singles, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. "I live alone because I could never find a man," said artist Gloria Gentile, 76, a native of New York City.

Buy a house, get a bride. Deborah Hale is serious about that. Well, mostly serious. She listed her Denver house for sale on EBay, with a unique incentive: Buy the house for $600,000, get her as a wife. EBay, presuming that the 48-year-old jewelry designer was actually interested in a transaction that was not of a real estate nature, pulled her ad. But Hale has re-listed her house there (without the marriage angle), and also spells out her intentions on her own website, housewithbride.com.

Donna EDMONDS thought she had realistic expectations when she started looking two years ago for a $500,000 house. "I just wanted a place on the Westside that was not worse than my apartment," said Edmonds, who was outbid by $30,000 to $60,000 each time she made an offer. After commiserating with friend and neighbor Debbie Basch, who was house-hunting in the same price range, the two decided to try co-buying a duplex so that they could broaden their search to $1 million.

The critical edge in this year's race for the White House may be as slender -- and as coveted -- as a needle-heeled Manolo Blahnik. With the presidential race in a statistical dead heat, the single woman has become a sought-after voting bloc, and in recent weeks Democratically aligned actresses such as Jennifer Aniston, Sarah Jessica Parker, Christina Applegate and Helen Hunt have begun urging these unattached femmes to cast their ballots on Nov. 2.