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Who hates Reading Lists?
The Women’s Travel Group usually supplies a list of recommended books plus movies filmed in the area we are visiting. This is not school, so why bother?
Some books like The Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo open up the under belly of a Indian community that the tourist might not notice. Others celebrate a historic Indian Raj romance that brings history to life: Heat and Dust by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala.
Some are fictionalized versions of real events: Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghes, set in Ethiopia, and others are straight history: Charles King’s The Black Sea about Turkey.…
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Icky Toilets and Women's Travels
Women are skittish about using bathrooms overseas. Frankly speaking, it is harder for us to ‘activate’, right? Our noses never had the ‘locker room experience’, and we are more prone to infections.
The Women’s Travel Group tries to find the cleanest facilities on all our trips. Our guides know where to take us; many will forewarn if the bathroom is an un-preferred situation. In India, our guide uses the terms: happy bathroom or unhappy bathroom. You get it.
Advice on bathrooms i personal, however here is mine: Wear pans or leggings you can roll up to at least your knees.…
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Craziest Airline Meals
Some years ago, a Women’s Travel Group member ordered a vegetarian meal for her flight. Here is what she got: a snickers bar and an apple! Well the trip was to our favorite spa, Ixtapan Spa, and she joked the entire time about ‘selling her snickers’ bar to us dieters’. Joking aside, how to make the most of lousy airline food is not impossible.
Lets start with what NOT to eat. Airplanes make you gassy so avoid any foods like broccoli,onions,beans, carbonated drinks that already do that effectively.…
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Why Hotel Rooms Frighten Women
On a first solo trip many of us are scared in the hotel room. The Women’s Travel Group (www.thewomenstravelgroup.com) hears that from its members. We might be veteran travelers, but we are not veteran single occupiers. Can we order room service and calmly open the door? Is the lock working? Who in the hotel knows we are alone? What if we get sick? If the alarm clock malfunctions? If we fall in the shower?…
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Is Godzilla Your Travel Mate?
Many women want to save money by sharing a room on a Women’s Travel Group tour. However, they fear the imagined consequences. Here are some situations and how women solved them:
A woman talked non stop. Her share elegantly said: I am a very quiet person and I live alone in a very quiet apartment. She got the idea and stopped.
Another lady hogged the bathroom counter. Just move the stuff and create a fair division. Duh.
One of my shares broke her foot and needed constant help. …
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Airport Dangers and Preventatives
So we are ready for that fantastic trip. We called our bank to say we would be overseas, rechecked all our passwords and hid them somewhere, stopped the paper, rechecked tickets and passports for the nth time. What now can possibly go wrong?
The most common mistakes are so easy to make!
You don’t separate out the small change you will need for a taxi or airport food. Then you pull out a wad from your money belt, and drop some of it.…
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Worst Airport Behavior
This past week I was in Atlanta. Totally surprised at how terrific a city Atlanta has become by the way. Amazing food (JCT was one restaurant we loved), even more amazing the skyline with new artsy districts. At the airport returning home, here is what happened:
There were few empty seats, no room to plug in a phone. 3 seats held backpacks and plastic bags of bakery items, but were otherwise unoccupied for 30+ minutes. One seat was next to the power outlet.…
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5 Secret Reasons Why I Prefer India?
Everyone has reasons they like to travel.
Everyone has secret reasons also. Here are my secret reasons that I love travel to India. The Women’s Travel Group has 2 rooms left on Colors of India.
On to my secret reasons:shhhh
At home I cannot afford every impulse purchase. In India I can ruffle through gorgeous silk jackets, scarves, textiles, jewelry never feeling out-priced. Some of the swag costs as little as a $dollar like the ten pack sequinned pens I gave friends. …
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China?Vietnam? South Africa? Colombia? Cuba? Iran?
The scene in Havana this morning was deeply poignant for us who remember Castro at the UN, then Castro reviled. If you were old enough, you also remember practicing at school for a nuclear attack, crouching under school desks. In NY we wore dog tags with our name, address, age and religion like combattants in war.
If you are of a certain age, you will remember when Vietnam was our enemy, China, a mysterious megalith, South Africa hateful, Colombia dangerous, and Cuba inhumane.…
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Hesitation-landia For women who stay at home
Again yesterday we spoke with a traveler who repeated: my friends cannot make up their minds or they are dead. Why is it that women are indecisive while still wanting travel?
We believe it is because we are used to our nests; flying out is scary. Travel like fitness is a learned skill; the more you do it, the easier it is. If you have not traveled in 5 years, here is a practice set for you:
Stop reading headlines. Get informed and look at US, Canadian, UK and Australian government announcements.…
