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First Solo Trip, Where to Go
What are the best places to go for a first solo trip? Travel tips from The Women’s Travel Group.
My first solo trip was to Geneva, Switzerland. I was 15 going to a French speaking school near the Chateau de Chillon on Lake Geneva. In those days, Americans, especially teens, were exotic. With the 3 other Americans I met at the Institut, we acted fearless and, truth be told, naughty. (There is a doctor somewhere in Italy who, as a teen, gave me a first grown up kiss).…
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Airline Marketing and Your Seat
Travel tips from The Women’s Travel Group. What is the big deal about airplane seats? When I started traveling, we sat wherever we were put. We were next to a chain smoking passenger. We were always next to a smelly ashtray embedded in the armrest. We wore uncomfortable clothes: stockings and high heels. Flights were longer. Turbulence detectors less sophisticated. We never discussed seating.
So what is the big deal about seating today? The deal is that Americans are bigger; seats are smaller.…
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Women and Toilet Terror
Clearly this plane in Africa had no bathroom; so no worries.https://www.thewomenstravelgroup.com/tours/ In grade school, we asked permission for the little girls’ room. In high school, we also asked then went to the bathroom to gossip or put on make up. In college, we did not ask permission, we sauntered out of class. Public toilet Terror is non uncommon in The Women’s Travel Group.
Saudi Arabian toilet, cleaned after each use!https://www.thewomenstravelgroup.com As senior women today, some of us dread public bathrooms.…
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Things for Double Taking When Packing
Travel packing tips from The Women’s Travel Group. Saline, bottles are tiny and can fall into an airplane seat. Dry eyes are exacerbated by the dryness in airplane cabins. Flying to Santa Fe with us May 1? You’ll need saline in high deserts also.
Photo by S Leavitt one of our travelers. Thank you! Chargers for phone and iPads. Hoteliers say chargers are often left in the wall, bathroom socket or behind a bureau or end table. …
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Room Share Scare
Portugal www.thewomenstravelgroup.com 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.
Tuscany Cooking April 28-May 5 Join ushttps://thewomenstravelgroup.com/tuscany-april-2024-v1/ 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?
Tuscany Cooking Trip April 2024 www.thewomenstravelgroup.com 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?
Group included meal in Northern Italy 2023 What is this trend?…
