For a travel addict 2020 was deeply painful and depressing. Personally a sighting of a suitcase brings tears. In The Women’s Travel Group are many travel addicts reading this post. Here is the story of others just like me and probably you.
For me addiction started at St Agnes Public Library, 444 Amsterdam Avenue, in a then dangerous NY neighborhood.
Haven’t we survived historic health problems on airplanes? Yes of course. And we tolerated these health problems on airplanes as the ‘norm’. Moreover remember smoking on airplanes and in the airport? We flew anyway and sat next to smokers in the departure lounge. Smoking was the ‘norm’. Therefore, there will be new ‘norms’ now. We argue that none of them is worse that what we had before.
(Image source: CDC Public Health Image Library)
Here are some of the proposed changes that might effect you when you next travel.…
We have time right now for insights into The Women’s Travel Group travel psyche. Do we have travel worries? Or travel addictions?
Do we really miss travel?
Do we really need travel?
Why do we miss travel despite what we don’t miss about travel?
Five things we really miss
We miss the anticipation of a trip: thinking about our first sighting of the domes of Florence (VisitFlorence.com Source), from the air or the crooked cobbled streets of a Moroccan souk.
Shocking reasons women travel. To get away from routine or boredom. Many women travel to reaffirm independence. Many women travel to learn. Even more travel to avoid loneliness.
Who doesn’t like to get away from routine and miserable weather? Going South in winter is a welcome break. However, that women travel break can also include going to a beach alone with no one to hold your wallet. It can include trying to enjoy dinner amongst talkative families. My first trip to Ixtapan Spa in Mexico was alone (admittedly at the invitation of the owner.)…
Please share with friends who are widows who wish to travel. Vacations for widows?
Being quarantined has made loneliness worse. This blog post was originally sent out only about taking a first trip alone. It is revised to reflect what we are going through during the pandemic: March-May 2020. Vacations for widows are even more intimidating now.
Let me start by saying these thoughts come from talking to you out there and from my friends.
Planning a trip as a solo is a different exercise.…
A note about Jewish Travel. Visiting religious sites when you travel makes a difference in understanding history. Today is Passover, and The NY Times tells us that a Passover Service was held 5th century BC on Elephantine Island in the Nile, Egypt.
The Women’s Travel Group is multi-ethnic; however when we find a unique historical site of any religion we share it and try to add it to our trips. For those going to Greece with us end September, we contacted the Jewish Community for a Yom Kippur service.…
Video creation is new to most of us. In this post, Phyllis Stoller shares some treasures she brought back from The Women’s Travel Group trips. We are used to our phone cameras; but not to our video production. While at home and isolated, why not learn the art of video making. I am going to walk around my living room as a trial and talk about a few of the souvenirs brought home.
How to Order Food When You cannot Read the Menu? This is especially important now when you are all watching our health.
Enjoying lunch together
Here are suggestions from The Women’s Travel Group. Let’s use Paris as an example. You will have a wonderful local escort to translate for you, but she might not be by your side when you want a crepe on the street.
What are your favorite foods? Fresh fish, sweets, red meat? Google translation is your new best friend.…
We love them but we hate them. Travel brochure photos tell a story about who is welcomed on the trip and who is not. A look at many brochure photos says this to women:
Don’t come alone. Dining photos show either couples, families or groupings of people who seem to know each other: toasting together or looking familiarly at one another. You don’t ever see a captain’s table with an empty seat not yet taken? In fact, you don’t see travelers shaking hands and meeting each other either.…