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Room Share Scare
How I Re-learned to Share
A hotel room that is. My first experience sharing a hotel room with a stranger. On one of Women’s Travel Group’s first trips- in partnership with a university professor of Chinese, I agreed to share a room with a stranger. I had a room mate in college. I had ‘trained’ my husband. And now I was going to learn all over again how to cooperate with a room mate.
Like most of you reading this article, I was apprehensive, though she seemed quite pleasant. …
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Obey or Pay: Travel Insurance
Yesterday we chatted with one of our travelers from Minnesota. She questioned the validity of travel insurance. While traveling in a remote area in Egypt, her husband became ill. They immediately consulted a doctor, who diagnosed a bad case of Covid. The doctor suggested they NOT go to a rural hospital, but hire a nurse and stay in their hotel room. They called their insurer (not the one we recommend); hold time was very long on a US cell phone. They followed the doctor’s advice.…
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5 Bad Trends for Boomer Women
Five bad travel trends for Boomer Women and One good one from The Women’s Travel Group.
Business travel is up; no more working in your pajamas at home. This means more corporate flights which eat up business class upgrades.
Airline lounges are full. If you are lucky enough to have access via your credit card or air ticket, still expect a wait to get into the lounge.
Smart tags and baggage. Another electronic alert to worry you.…
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First day of First Grade vs. First Solo Trip
My mother walked me across the street to the facade of Public School 9. A stranger directed first graders to a classroom, full of mysterious things. We sat in wooden seats with an attached pull up desk top. I was 5 and terrified and promptly pee’d in my pants.
I recall that moment and the extreme relief at going home for lunch. Day two in First Grade was different and wonderful; we learned our first ABC’s.
This was my first ‘solo trip’.…
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Who says Too old to Travel?
Today we had another telephone call : Am I too old to travel? We live in a young society where internet celebrates youth: movie stars to humans called ‘influencers’. Travel brochures display handsome, fit, groomed, ‘seniors’. In our best days we will never look like these fake brochure passengers.
To travel you need attitude, mobility, organization, health, diet, overall strength. Most importantly– resistance to your family.
Attitude: Assess yourself as a person not as a senior.…
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Tipping Trauma-Women’s Travel
Tipping from The Women’s Travel Group. It seems that each time we turn around, we have to tip someone? Tipping used to be at ‘sit down’ restaurants’, in a taxi, for a porter who actually carries your bags. Now the Dunkin Donuts cashier has a tipping jar. Restaurant bills end with tip suggestions from 15%-25%. Even the cashless bakery, where I buy one lone cookie, now has a suggested tip on its credit card form?
What is this trend?…
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Travel Apps, bribe your grandchildren
Thanksgiving is around the corner. So you are not electronically savvy but need to learn if you are going on our single special river cruise in July? Bribe your grandchildren at turkey time, and upgrade your travel app skills.
There are a few bits to learn, that is if you intend to travel and have a smart phone.
1—-Go to your airline site via google on your phone. Do not click a site other than the official one. Example, delta.com is the official site for Delta.…
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How to Lose Your Trip Reservation
All travel tips from The Women’s Travel Group are based on real experiences.
Reason One You booked on line. Your credit card was declined. This snafu can happen with a valid credit card if booking an unusual airline, or paying via a third party agent. On a real site like kayak.com you might see cheap fares. Kayak lists all kinds of tickets. I bought a one way ticket Mexico City to JFK on Kayak. The ticket was issued by a consolidator in Canada; rules were different.…
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What I Always Carry on
Yes, I arrived in Delhi on a plane which had no luggage. The computer at Heathrow malfunctioned; no one on the BA plane to India had luggage. Here is what I learned below. PS once I bought basics,had some sleep, it was not a big deal.
Always carry on:
Medicine. toss in a few optionals as ‘just in case’: bandaids, ibuprofen type pills, Immodium type liquid, eye saline. Don’t do what my son did and put all pills in one container then call his mother from Pakistan for information.…
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What are Junk Fees?
So what is this talk about junk fees? The Women’s Travel Group never adds them. Simplifying the definition: hotels are listed by price on line. The cheapest appear first. (Sponsored ads above them). We, normal people, are likely to click on the cheapest link if for the same hotel.
Once you click ‘yes ‘you want that property, you then choose your room type. All good so far. But to book that room you will see a list of extra fees in a shockingly expensive invoice.…